Snippets, thirty-eight

Here are some short pieces based on things that have happened in my life recently.

Fog

It's a foggy morning. 

I'm not used to these in the summer--they feel like an autumn creature to me.

But that's when I smell it.

The opaque air is not an atmospheric mist. It is smoke.

Or smog.

But no, that distinct scent means that, somewhere, the world is burning.

My corner of that world is not burning, but it does have the smoke.

And, if my corner does nothing, it too soon shall be aflame.

Jump

I shivered.

A friend once told me that was death jumping over me.

And by once, I mean enough times that I remembered it, and now whenever I shiver, I think of her and death passing me by.

I wonder where death is galloping off to. I do not wish truly wish death on anyone even though I can acknowledge there are people in this world who do far more harm than good and will continue to draw knives as long as they draw breaths. Yet, I find myself unwilling to direct death to any certain location. Perhaps the idea of having such a being at my beck and call feels like the kind of power that would corrupt me.

Folks often tell me how nice I am, but I fear they believe darker thoughts have never crossed my mind. I think--or, perhaps, hope--all of my fellow humans have had cruel wishes like I have. I do not act upon them though.

As the saying goes, there are two wolves inside of me, and I do not feed the more beastly one.

So, when I shiver, I let death jump over me, and I do not feed him.

Pink

My friends are dying my hair and it feels so nice. We're in my new condo which has barely anything in it, but I got a camping chair that can hold my weight and all of the hair dying supplies I'd need. Getting this kind of attention in a space that is mine--even if empty--feels like a long-awaited exhale.

I picked out the red color called "Wrath" from a company that I'd bought hair dye from before. I expected to get a vibrant streak of red where my grays have clustered and for the rest of my hair to be more of a natural red.

It took until later in the evening, but my hair turned out a pretty shade of pink.

Not what I had planned or expected, but lovely.

And, isn't that the best thing?

Shades

I picked out the four shades of green knowing that some people would say they're too similar. But what is the point of having so many shades of green paint at your fingertips if you don't take advantage of the tinted nuances?

I wanted to put wacky wallpaper in my two bathrooms, but I decided not to because of the price. Instead, I'm hoping to do wacky curtains in each room (that do feature different shades of green themselves) to bring something a bit whimsical everywhere.

Wafer

As I eat the wafer cookies that have "cream" between the wafer layers, there is a part of me that wonders how similar to cardboard the experience is. I decide to just enjoy it anyways.

I usually prefer chocolate desserts, but these wafer cookies I think are best in their strawberry flavor. I tend to eat a lot of these at once and I don't know why. I don't eat all cookies this way, but these wafer cookies are sweet and I do love the texture (I again push the idea of cardboard from my mind).

I assume I ate cookies like this as a kid because of the nostalgic feeling they give me, but I can't conjure a specific image of me eating them as a child.

But I can seem to conjure one of eating cardboard.

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

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