Smile

I had one of those “can’t get comfortable” nights of sleep and when I finally did the alarm went off. I had a conversation with myself about getting up or not getting up I did not have to be anywhere until 9ish. I decided to get up and make coffee, have a slice of cake and get to my meet a wee bit early and make another cup of coffee. I went down stairs put the kettle on and prepared my tea tray for tea. I do not know what happened to the coffee idea? Strange.

Shaggy and I ventured out on a walk last night and were set upon by a mutant cricket. It jumped from the dark grass and landed by her foot. She screamed and jumped landing right where I would have been if I had not jumped away. I start laughing, she starts laughing and asks what it is. The cricket is sitting, looking at us with a smug grin on its face as though it had accomplished some sacred mission and will be blessed by the Pope. “Mom, I was nearly murdered by a Ninja cricket.” Yes honey but, you weren’t. If that was his mission, to murder you, he failed. The mutant Ninja cricket is no longer grinning. He turns his little Ninja body toward us. Shaggy yelps and we quicken our pace away from him.

But, that was not all. Further up the road we come upon a street light. I notice what I think is a twig tremble slightly on the pavement. A breath later it crosses my mind as I see a flash of something long and shiny, that there is no breeze to move a twig and twigs do not reflect light. I stop, Shaggy stops, I turn and step back as Shags moves closer to me. She follows my gaze and gasps as a quiet “bloody hell” flows off my tongue. We lean down closer to the twig that is now not moving at all. It is a praying mantis. About three inches long, dark brown and starring up at us with its head cocked to the side and looking a wee bit nervous yet predatory. What does Shaggy say? “Cool Mom, is it a male or female?” Like, I am an expert on the sex of insects. Does she want me to pick it up and check? Perhaps ask it? “Excuse me dear but are you a male or female?” Why, Shaggy? “Because if it is a female she will bite someone’s head off tonight and that is disgusting and if it is male he will be losing his head and that would be cool.” Maybe a raccoon will eat it and it will not matter! We walk on.

But that was not the end of it either. Still further on as we are crossing under another street light what I thought was a crack in the street moves. Then, moves four more times and as Shaggy is about to step on the moving sidewalk crack she sees it and screams and as she screams the poor creature moves four more times and vanishes under a car. “MOM!!! What was that?” I am laughing uncontrollably. A toad Shags it was a toad. “No mom it was something else and it tried to kill me!” It was a toad and it was trying to get away because you nearly killed it with your big feet. “Seriously?....No mom! It tried to kill me!” Perhaps we should go home it is dangerous out here. A bloody war zone. “Mom we need a dog to walk. A big dog, real big dog. OK…..LOL

Horatio was stalking us yesterday. We pull into an office building across the street from the library and there he is, parked on the street side facing us. At first I thought there was a frightening mess in the fiction isle, maybe mayhem was on the murder/mystery isle, blood in the biography section, gore in gardening. But later he shows up parked one row over from us at the airport. We were picking up Grandma, what was he doing? Was he also waiting for grandma? What had she done? She is always threatening to strangle Grandpa….mmmm?

After we dropped Grandma off with her friend we cruised back through the neighborhood and there he was; Spiderman looking all bad on his Spidey bike. He even had on a Spidey helmet and Spidey shoes. You go Spiderman!!!! Where was he while we were walking through the hood later that night being attacked by viscous insects and amphibians?

Yesterday as we drove around the terminal parking lot looking for a spot to park, Shaggy, with awe in her voice exclaimed “Mom, Look a smiley face just for us!” Sure enough, there on a wall was a huge smile and two eyes glowing as though the concrete was on fire from within. They were coming from an Audi that had parked near the wall. I will explain what happened. The sun was coming in over the wall at just the right angle and was reflecting off the front bumper which caused the light to arch down in the middle so it looked like a smile and was also reflecting off the chrome frame of the headlamps. These bounced on to the wall and created the smiling face. What we saw was happiness, joy and mystery. We both giggled with glee at the welcome we received from a parking garage. I will think of that smile all day today. I hope you will too, and pass it on to others. Cheers!