And now... for dessert!

Right Jolly! So it is nearing twelve on the o'clock and I pull up to my good Riverside house in my car (maroon). I am not sure what to expect - I never told my parents when I would get back, not sure if I would stay in the apartment in Winnipeg for a few nights, and quite frankly unsure of when Somewhere Else West was supposed to end. So I walk, feeling very much like Jean Valjean, better yet, Hamburgler, into my childhood home trying first to be quiet so as to not wake anybody, then loud so as to not make them think I am truly a thief breaking in. But there is good news. Mother is merely resting on the living room couch, and sees me illuminated in the oven-light glow. She rubs her eyes, then gets up, startled, as if she has just seen an imp that has passed through a netherworldly gate. Yes, it is I, your oldest imp child! The three globe lights in the kitchen are thrown on, and I am welcomed back. There is more good news - it seems I may be one of the first back home. Shane is working the night shift at the Super 8, Chase has gone for a party after the last performance of "The Music Man", and Dad is working on the field. Sure enough, the door opens again and it is father, quite covered in grease. A pizza is produced warm from the oven, and I have a few slices of late supper and even a bowl of salad. Why, there is even some entertainment as dad finds he is the carrier of several black wood ticks! And then Chase shows up, still dressed from the play and dropped off by a friend. There are more things to talk about - dropped flowers and a music CD that skipped because of possible sabatoge by fingerprinting.

I intended to write about the other things that happened in the early part of the week: feeling rested enough to go to church, a good Sunday lunch at Grandma's, a baseball game where I reunited with friend Tracy (called off in the 6th inning due to lightning), a quiet evening reading Spoon River Anthology, a day raking and burning the flood-mess, having a big group of highschool friends over in the evening to watch 24 and play Wide World - and it is... it is a wide world and we have moved about it in so many ways. It would take a string of words from here to the rolling Cypress Hills to fully describe every step. And that is why, though indeed I tried to tell you more, I could not, and you must be forever content with the contents of that hour, that single hour, that took place after I got home from Somewhere Else West, figuring that everybody else was asleep.