spynotes ::
  February 26, 2006
Run serpentine!

SCENE � Harriet, the husband and AJ are in the car on the way to Harriet�s mother-in-law�s. It is a beautiful, sunny winter morning with a few clouds drifting across the sky.

AJ: Mommy, let�s find pictures in the clouds.
Harriet: Okay. I see a horsie. Look!
AJ: Look, Mommy, that one looks just like the Nile!
Harriet: (not understanding) Like the what?
AJ: Like the Nile. You know, the longest river in the world?

* * * * * *

I have been percolating an entry all weekend, but haven�t found time to sit down at the computer until now, when I am so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open.

Saturday, I spent the entire morning being trained in CPR and the use of a defibrillator. I walked the mile or so down to the lodge at the rivers edge. It was cold and windy, but sunny and the birds are returning, so it�s sounding like spring. The water in the upper ponds was sluggish, as if it was trying to decide whether to stand still and freeze altogether or to keep moving and wake up. The ducks quacked at me in reproach as I crossed the narrow board that serves as a bridge between the first ponds. I skirted the mud next to the stone bench where the neighborhood boys like to turn their bikes around by spinning on the back wheel, and crossed the street, jogging lightly down the hill and around the turn where I could see the fields laid out before me and the gentle slope down to the river�s edge.

When I arrived at the lodge, the paramedics were setting up � there were featureless torsos littering the floor. Outside the window, a flock of geese rose into the air from the river. Coffee was steaming in the kitchen. I grabbed a cup and sat down.

The training session lasted three hours and was both more informative and more entertaining than I had expected. We watched a film with remarkably poor acting, practiced on adult and infant dummies, and took a written test at the end. I suppose I feel more competent. The class was more interesting than I�d expected, the paramedic trainers, one of whom was the husband of AJ�s preschool teacher last year, were entertaining.

The rest of the day was spent trying to keep AJ entertained. He was in one of his less resourceful moods. After his nap, we took him to the batting cages to watch the big boys hit fast balls with aluminum bats and to play some air hockey. We wound up at a pizza place that must have employed an army of taxidermists to support its d�cor. We sat under the musk ox. He was kind of cute and fuzzy. We wanted to pet him. We played I-Spy while waiting for our pizza and had a great deal of confusion over the difference between a plane (the mode of transportation) and a plane (the tool). By the time we got home, AJ was spent, as were we. I dozed off around 8:30 in front of The In-Laws (the movie) and never really recovered.

We spent most of today with The In-Laws (the family) and consequently got very little accomplished. We always intend to do things when we go to my mother-in-laws. We plan to walk uptown or take the train into the city to see tall buildings and taxis and street musicians and pigeons. But inevitably, we end up sitting around the living room with assorted sporting events flickering on the TV for hours at a time while my mother-in-law cooks all day.

Today my sister-in-law came over with her new electric cello. She is learning to play the cello and has purchased this instead of a traditional instrument since it can be operated with headphones and her neighbors will no longer have to listen to her practice. We tried to set up the instrument � it�s quite beautiful and sculptural, like an elegant sketch of an actual cello � but try as we might, we were unable to get any sound out of it.

And then we ate and ate some more and we came home and put AJ to bed. And my husband read me �Ralph the Duck� in honor of the death of Frederick Busch. It may be one of the most perfect short stories I�ve ever read. I�ll be thinking about it for a while.

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