Dearest Rachel –
Well, I knew it was going to happen; or more to the point, it wasn’t going to happen. And yet, at the same time, it was necessary to be prepared.
I’d gone out shopping a little more than a week ago for some candy to donate to the church for the whole Family Fun Fest. And while we used to find loads of lollipops at Costco, there really wasn’t anything to work with there. But as I didn’t want to come home empty-handed, I put things in my cart like boxes of rice crispy treats and individually wrapped bags of Oreos. Then, a couple days later, when I was searching for the makings of my costume, I found some more conventional bags of candy on sale at the party place, so I bought those to take to church.
Which was probably just as well at that point; I really wasn’t keen on taking the boxes I had gotten at Costco to church for a donation, as they didn’t seem to fit in with the rest. Not to mention the fact that, when I set them down by the pantry, Daniel took the liberty of breaking into the boxes and eating some of the rice crispy treats for breakfast.
My own fault, I suppose. I hadn’t said anything to indicate that those boxes were off-limits, after all. Indeed, I’d probably given off the vibe from the beginning that I wasn’t sure that it was donation-worthy material in the first place. So I started having some of them myself for a quick breakfast when I was short on time.
Besides, I reasoned to myself, I needed something in case we have any trick-or-treaters coming by on Sunday afternoon.
At this point, you might chide me good-naturedly for doing so. Even on the busiest of Halloween nights, we would rarely get more than a handful of kids coming by throughout the course of the evening. And now, within the plague years, that number has dropped to zero. On the other hand, you’d have to agree that, by not having anything prepared, that would guarantee visitors, much like going out on a cloudy day without an umbrella guarantees you to be rained upon.
But in this case, it would be more than justified in teasing me about this. As far as I know, nobody came knocking. And if anybody rang the bell, well, you already know I would never find out.
Of course, it might help I’ve been entirely possible that I didn’t hear the knocking either. As per usual on a Sunday, I spent the better part of the afternoon (after Daniel and I had a casual dinner with Mom at the folks’ house) playing video games with Kevin.
However, if any frustrated visitor came by and, realizing that no treats were forthcoming, decided to play the most logical trick upon us…
Nothing seems to have happened to the pumpkin. To be honest, I would not have been surprised or particularly upset that had been smashed in retaliation for our inattention. But either no one came by, or our neighbors are just that kind of nice. Either possibility is plausible, but the former would still be in line with our past experience.
As Kevin had to leave after but a few hours of gaming, I found myself downstairs in our room shortly thereafter, watching videos and waiting for Daniel to come down from his bath. I’ll admit it’s comfortable here in the bedroom, but I feel like it’s somewhat antisocial of me to be in here when he’s downstairs.
So, once he was finally finished (and it was plenty dark in the house by then – the perfect vibe for watching something Halloween-y), I made my way to the family room… where he was already on his own computer, watching (or at least listening to) the latest news on how everything is coming apart for the folks on the other side of the aisle.
Now, as much as I don’t like talking about politics in these letters (because, after all, you know where I stand, and besides, you of all people already know how little it ultimately matters in the grand scheme of things), I will admit to finding it mildly amusing to hear that the wheels are coming off the bus for the man who supposedly was the most popular politician to ever walk the earth, in terms of votes received. And the way the press is clutching their pearls over a euphemism for a certain indelicate suggestion to said politician (although it may well be because they realize that it’s mocking them as well as him) after years of uttering similarly indelicate and anatomically impossible suggestions about the previous occupant of the White House is also somewhat risible. But the idea that he and his entire team will be removed before the end of the year gets old. If the State is as Deep as Daniel’s sources claim, they’re far too entrenched for that sort of thing to happen at all, let alone happen virtually overnight, without benefit of the actual democratic process of a new election.
But I don’t want to interrupt him while he’s listening to them, and for me to turn something on in the family room will just result in him putting on his headphones – which defeats the whole purpose of hanging out in the family room with him. So I wait for him to finish.
And wait.
And… suddenly I find myself waking up at nearly one in the morning.
It’s no time to start hanging out together now; it’s time – and past time – for me to go to bed. All that waiting, for nothing.
Oh, well, tomorrow (or rather, today, now) is another day.
Talk to you later, honey. Love you.
Letters to Rachel 