Monday, December 22, 2008

Lookin' Good



I was pushing my cart down the canned goods aisle,
when I thought to call home and ask if we were out of waxed paper.

I was feeling good,
purposeful,
baseball cap on,
there to get the job done.

Then I remembered that my cell phone was not in my coat pocket,
but in my sock,
because my clothes had no pockets today,
and it just worked out to keep it there.

So I hitched up one leg of my pants,
and suddenly I felt sort of cool.
I actually had the thought - fleeting, ridiculous -
that I hoped nobody would become frightened if they saw what I was doing.

Like maybe I was pulling a gun or a knife out of my cool,
concealed leg-holster.

Of course I was wearing big clompy boots,
pushing a cart full of groceries,
clutching a list written on a well-worn spiral notebook
with "Writing Journal" scrawled in a child's handwriting across the front.
And I had a purple washable marker that I was crossing stuff off with.

Yeah I looked pretty dangerous.

Anyway, the illusion was shattered when I reached into my sock
and tugged only half of my phone out, since the back panel had come off and,
inexplicably, adhered itself to my calf.

I peeled the rest of my phone off of my leg,
slid it back together and made the phone call.

Unperturbed.
Uber-cool.
Lookin' Good.

*

5 comments:

Carin said...

oh.

you are good.

really good.

erma bombeck and anna quindlen have nothing on you.

nothing.

inspired.

to write about everything.

and nothing.

you are good.

Heidi Lee said...

I could picture the entire thing, and I am smiling at you my dear half-of-cell-phone-stuck-to-her-calf sister.

Karaeleanor said...

You are cool mom.
Peace out
KEK

mrc-w said...

Hahahaha - smooth! :)

kool kenna said...

this will definetly be one of the 'there once was a lady' stories im telling at the lodge to your daughter next year. ha