Saturday, August 17, 2013

One Ringy Dingy

Oh. My. God. I have internet.

Has dealing with the phone company always been a nightmare? Remember Lillie Tomlin's Operator sketch, "We don't care, we're the phone company"? It's not that, it's incompetence. When corporations are allowed to grow obese, they do. Incompetence is round, puffy, slow, and the right hand can't see what the left is doing. How many other trite phrases can I insert here?

Tommie was not only pretty, she was a snappy dresser and she also had enough brains to be hired by the Georgia Department of Revenue. I would say all in all a sexy package. In some ways Tommie is teaching me what it's like being a desirable woman in a neighborhood like this. Wishful thinking? Maybe. A good-looking single woman in her forties or fifties can attract the wrong type. Oh right, I forgot. I am 60.

There is only one explanation for the bars on the windows. But! what about the splintered door? I assume it's evidence of a break-in, but it could have been the cops breaking in to save her. Somebody called 911 when they had not seen/heard from her in days, while she lay on the floor in her own unspeakable mess, declining from dehydration.

Last night I lay awake with the realization that in all that mail and all those papers, there was not one reference to a boyfriend. Tommie Fields, tall, elegant, comely widow, apparently never once took up with another man after she lost her husband. She cared for her ailing mother all those years. But not one scrap of evidence of a romantic interest? I can only hope that she or the family, for sake of privacy, removed all evidence.

Mamie called tonight about the car. I got a feeling she was anxious I might be burdened by its presence. Little does she know I am borderline schizo and talk not only to her dead cousin but also to her cousin's car! I told her all was well. She says her daughter will not be able to take the car but she wants to donate it to charity. If I am confirming territory the car is definitely encroaching and Mamie's update is just. But I have realized hence that the car is my road to security nirvana— it gives the impression someone is always here!

Mamie told me Tommie was her idol when they were young. She thought Tommie was so fine in dress and manner, and sought to be like her. I remember a teenage babysitter whom I thought was way cool, I wanted to be everything she was. I saved up 45 cents to buy white nail polish like hers. Only when I got to the PX it cost 50 cents. It was a major defeat.

You did well by your cousin, Tommie.

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