Oh, I Think So

She was keeping her eyes out for Kevin, Handsome, and the flesh-toned Fiat 500 as she went about Christmas shopping.  The family had decided to have a grab-bag for adult gifts and she'd drawn her nice cousin's husband, a man who lived, breathed, slept, and ate for two things:  his family and woodworking. "A Dremel tool.   That's the word from the basement.  He wants a Dremel tool," she told her when they spoke on the phone. "Okay!  That's great!" she said, her life being made easier.  "What's a Dremel tool?" "Now you want to know too much," the cousin answered. "Did he say a particular model?" she asked. "Oh!" she said.  "Something about 12 volts being plenty." "That's good information.  Do you know where I can get one?" she asked. "Again, too much," the cousin said, "but I've seen the word Dremel at every major hardware store in town." "S...

And then it was Christmas and planning for the annual office party. Unlike most companies, she worked for a very cheap bunch that never acknowledged the holiday season in any way than to pay them for Christmas Day and January 1st.  They all accepted the stinginess of the company owner and since he and his wife wintered in the South of France, they never had to worry about him strolling in to see how his employees were faring. They had a sign-up sheet for their party and people brought in their best creations or their favorite store-bought items to share.  It was a nonstop eating festival from the time they came in until the time they went home.  A co-worker made a ham every year and she gave him half the money and that was their contribution.  One year there was ham, Puerto Rican pork, fried chicken, with sides like marinated green beans, guacamole, goat cheese crostini, and tater tot casserole (which was a pound of bacon, a pound of breakfast sausage, cream of c...

They had a nice long walk around the neighborhood.   In the mid-afternoon light, they were able to look at and, of course, criticize the Christmas displays that had already made their way to lawns and houses. "What the heck?" she asked at a home that offered up Santa and his reindeer dashing in the front of a row of yew, a snowman as tall as the two-story house, a jack-in-the-box with the clown out and waving int he breeze, a single giant Rudolph, and an inflatable Nativity scene, complete with camel, three wise men, and an inflatable manger that was empty, awaiting the birth of the inflatable Jesus on Christmas eve. "It's actually not an inflatable baby," her cousin advised.  "There's one of these in my subdivision and the baby is actually a doll for those who like to add the baby on Christmas Eve.  There was no way to get the baby in there and have him inflate so the company added a doll that was weighted to stay in the manger." She stopped...

Panorama lights at Old Orchard in Skokie

She had a dream sitting there in the TV room near the snacks.  In it, she was getting married.  She'd was wearing a cream-colored dress with a full, ballet-length skirt, cream colored flats, and a silk, fitted bodice with long sleeves.  Her hair was in an elaborate updo.  She turned this way and that, looking at herself over her shoulder in the dream, smiling at her image.  Her two cousins were there, wearing dresses that were best described as "Hooker's Lime Green Dream" with black patent stilettos and her aunt was also there, wearing a witch's pointed hat with a black Chanel-style suit and mid-heel leather pumps. "Why the hell did it have to be lime?" her less pleasant cousin asked in the dream.  "And it's so short and tight you can almost see the outline of each pubic hair." "I have to agree," said the nice cousin.  "It's a bit, well, revealing.  You look so pretty and demure and we look like we're going to t...