Friday, March 28, 2014

Rain Is Coming Down



The rain finally came in this afternoon. It patters down, it falls gently, it is a soft gray curtain around my world. The wild birds do not mind it. The chickens, on the other hand, come up to the kitchen porch and sit out of it, Elvis bedraggled, his fancy feathers an old sorcerer's cape, none the better for wear.


Still, he is my noble rooster. 

If Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday were days of pricking nerves and anxiety, today has been a day of contentment, of peace. On my walk I encountered the Sheik. "You running late today," he said. "Yes I am," I told him. "And who cares?"
He told me that yesterday he'd heard a woman screaming and he'd hoped it hadn't been me. 
"If it had been, you'd have come to save me, right?"
He assured me would, although I rather doubt it. I think, however, he would have taken note. 
Ms. Liola came out of her trailer home to talk to me and I stopped to chat. She gave me a hug! The first time ever. She was so glad to see me because she, too, had heard the woman yesterday. Turns out she and The Sheik had worried over me. 
"You seen her yet this morning?" the Sheik had asked her.
"Not yet," she had told him. 
It was nice to know that I'd been worried about. That they were concerned. I hope that whoever the screaming woman was is okay, too. 
I told Ms. Liola that if I see anyone whom I do not know and who raises my hackles, I just turn around and go the other way. 
She agreed that was the right thing to do. 
We are so different, Ms. Liola and I. She is dark-skinned, I am light. I doubt she ever went to college. She lives in a single-wide and I live in a big house that I would not be surprised to find out that some of her forebearers built. When they were slaves. 
And yet, we have so much to talk about. So much common ground. She loves her yard, the blooming flowers as do I. She wants to plant a little garden. She is talking about starting to keep a few chickens. I showed her the picture of Nicey on my shoulder and she got a kick out of that. We both grew up on dirt roads, playing hopscotch and marbles in them. We climbed trees as kids, we ran in the woods. She has grands, I have grands. 
We never run out of things to talk about. 
We hugged again before I proceeded on my way. I apologized for my smell. I do sweat when I walk. She said it did not matter and I don't think it did to her. 
I need to take her some eggs, some mustards from the garden before they all bolt and are gone. 
I love living in this community where we are so mixed, so different, yet in some ways, so much the same. 

I went to Publix but they had no wild shrimp and I refuse to eat shrimp farmed in Thailand or somewhere far across the world. Fuck no. So I drove the miles to Mike's seafood which started out in the Oriental market next door to it in the strip mall with The Dollar Store, CiCi's Pizza, and the Big Lots. The seafood market outgrew the oriental market although I know they still own it. It was packed at 2:00 on a Friday afternoon. Everyone in Tallahassee must be eating seafood tonight. People were buying grouper and salmon and oysters and bay scallops and crabs and lobsters and one lady dragged her ice chest in there. It was like a party, those of us waiting in line, visiting with each other. Talking about what we were going to do with our particular seafood purchases, perusing the vast selection of crab boils, seasonings, grits, corn meal, hot sauces. 
I got two pounds of head-on Gulf shrimp, right from the Apalachicola bay. They are still on ice in my refrigerator and I am going to cook them tonight. 


That's the view from the front porch where Mr. Moon and I just had a martini. Our Friday nights are so special. We sit and we talk about all the stuff that's important that just doesn't come up during the week, somehow. I read him the comment that Hank wrote on my post yesterday about divorce. 
Can I say that there are almost always tears on our Friday nights?
They are good tears. They are tears of heart-filling-up-and-spilling over. 

And now, y'all, I am going to go pop those shrimp heads. I've got brown rice on and I do believe I am going to make some spicy mustard shrimp which is one of the most delicious things I make. The rain patters, it has been a very, very good day here in Lloyd, where I live, which is the tiniest place you can imagine, a flashing red light in the road, a truck stop and a post office and a place where we sit and watch the rain off the front porch, where the oak trees rise up in branchy skeletons, adorned with new-made leaves and Spanish Moss. Where we can stop and talk to neighbors about things that matter. 

Where my heart overfills with it all as I discuss grandchildren and soul-things with my husband on a Friday night and the church next door wails with drum and bass and soprano and if we do create our own reality, I done real good.

Love...Ms. Moon 



10 comments:

  1. This.

    "Where my heart overfills with it all as I discuss grandchildren and soul-things with my husband on a Friday night and the church next door wails with drum and bass and soprano and if we do create our own reality, I done real good."

    oh yes.

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  2. I would have and have done sought out anyone screaming. My brother told me his little peeps were sitting on his arm and I thought of your peep on your shoulder and my brother said he was going to become like one of those old geezers in Key West who carried parrots on their shoulders and had shit running down their backs and I said I doubt it. He is infatuated.

    I was thinking about your post below one of them about what we eat and your fresh shrimp vs farmed shrimp and I have been living close to the land for a long time when I could afford. I did eat mainly from my garden every year and I usually eat whatever food is in season so in summer I eat green food and in winter I eat orange food and in autumn and fall I eat purple food. It's a strange system but I bet you understand it.
    xor

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  3. Angella- How the hell did I get so lucky?

    Rebecca- You know I understand. Glen and I were talking tonight about how it just seems right to eat what the fields and garden and woods and ocean provide for us as the seasons progress.
    As to the peeps- we have also discussed letting the dogs trip on the rainbow and letting Nicey be our housepet. We agreed that chicken shit is way less nasty than dog shit. You would love this rain coming down tonight. I know you would.

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  4. Housechicken! I vote yes. It may not even be a choice if Nicey learns to use the dog door.

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  5. Mr. Downtown- I went out this afternoon to give the chicks some cut-up grapes. They were all in the little elevated shelter but oh my god! There were only seven! And then, something crossed my foot and I looked down- Nicey. What is the deal with this chicken? I picked her up and put her with the rest to eat the grapes.
    She is a human-loving chicken. I hope this doesn't hurt her in the end. But if she wants to come in the house, I will sure welcome her.

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  6. Someday I am going to have to come to Lloyd. I can see all these places so clearly in my mind, the stoplight and Ms. Liola's trailer. I'm sure it looks like a lot of the tiny towns I used to know in Florida, though my part of the state is much more built-up now.

    I wonder who was screaming? That's kind of scary!

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  7. Isn't it (nicely) odd that something as small as sitting on the porch can really put things in perspective? I've had a particularly rough week, with a few of the same feelings you've so eloquently described. Then, my grandsons pop out of their mom's van, and somehow all's right with the world. They're not babies anymore, but the fact that they want to spend the night with their MawMaw and PawPaw makes those dark, damp feelings seem just a little silly. Grands....they're good for what ails ya!

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  8. I'm going to eat my weight in fresh seafood when I get to the coast, I cannot wait. I'm going to eat lettuce that is actually green and full of flavor. The worst part about living in the north is the lack proper lettuce.
    Proper lettuce. Let that sink in.
    It's cloudy here too, more snow in the forecast. I can't get out of here fast enough.

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  9. Steve Reed- Since it was sort of near the truck stop, I am thinking some woman might have gotten out of a car and decided she just couldn't take one more second with her traveling companion.
    Okay. That's just a story I made up in my head.
    You should visit Lloyd. We could go for a walk.

    Catrina- They are good for what ails us. You are right.

    heartinhand- I'm so glad you're going to get out of that frozen hell hole for a few days of sun and good lettuce. And SEAFOOD!

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  10. It is great to have people in town who know and love you. And it's good to be part of a community. Our Friday night was rainy and a bit chilly for the porch. Soon though!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.