Building With Me
So, this morning, I decended the stairs, checking my wallet to see if I had a five dollar bill for the parking lot. Without a five dollar bill, I have to park, go somewhere to get change, which generally involves buying breakfast, which is OK, and then return to feed a five dollar bill into the metal slot, which is as good a reason as any not to drive. I had a five dollar bill. I turned and entered the garage instead of decending the stairs to the front door and then, at the last second, turned right and exited the garage to the sidewalk. Close call. The sun was just rising so the tops of the buildings were bathed in sunlight, shadows down below on the street, and the air just warm enough now for walking in your shirtsleeves.
Now, after work was a different business. I crossed the street and waited for a bus that would drop
me off at the base of my hill. Number 58. Not quite the same route as the one I take when I'm walking, but the climb up the hill is more gentle and I had my dollar bill and my quarter clutched tight in my pocket. The bus took its time. Other buses with other numbers arrived. I waited. Still no 58. The afternoon sun was bright, the breeze cool, another perfect day. Well, thought I, I'll walk along and catch the bus farther down Broadway. So I started walking. A mile and a half later I was home, another day over and walking had not, in fact, killed me or called me names. Do I detect a lack of determination? A flagging of resolve? Is walking into work on Thursday and Friday in doubt? Is this too exciting for the middle of the week? I don't want to make anyone nervous. Not before the Memorial Day weekend arrives.
Mr. Wuss seems to be doing OK, although he spent a couple of nights sleeping in the closet rather than on the bed and he didn't wake me up in the mornings demanding breakfast. This passed, but I was ready to return home from work on that second day and take him to the vet. He seemed to be peeing OK and now appears to be eating again, but these things, I am told, are serious. A cat who doesn't pee has a couple of days. A cat who doesn't eat, well, a cat who doesn't eat has usually been eating over at the neighbors house unless he lives cooped up on the fourth floor of a building with me.
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