Welcome to Saturday and the unofficial start to summer in the U.S. a.k.a. Memorial Day weekend. Frankly, I’d rather see a little more memorial and less emphasis on holiday fun, but I guess it’s better this way. Just be sure to take a moment to think about the people who gave you the freedom to relax this weekend. OK, stepping down off the soapbox now.
David and I are back at the bar, after missing a week while I was away. We will try to figure out how to use Linda’s prompt phrase in our conversation.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “that time.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
SoCS—by Linda G. Hill.
If we were having a beer, you’d be concerned with my choices of late.
“Welcome back my young friend.”
“Thanks David. It’s good to be home.”
“Familiar faces, favorite beers on tap, Teagan’s mushrooms on the menu and all that?”
“Are you guys ordering food already? I haven’t even poured your drinks.”
“No, Curley. We’ll start with the drinks. I was just reminding Dan of the reasons why there’s no place like home.”
“Geeze Louise, David, it’s not like I traveled to Oz, killed two witches and helped a friend get a brain.”
“Speaking of brains, Dan, you sure seem to need a lesson in going on vacation.”
“I know you didn’t officially order, but here’s your John Howell’s Special and a pint of Modelo.”
“Cheers, David. Now, what’s all this about my not knowing how to go on vacation?”
“Well, you’ve traveled twice this year. In Pittsburgh, you walked for miles and climbed a thousand steps. In Iowa, you replaced an exterior door. These are not the things travel agents would suggest.”
“Ah, but I enjoyed myself. Isn’t that what vacations are about?”
“Then you’re an odd duck. Where’s the fun? What did you do to relax? What about seeing the sights?”
“I’ll have you know I witnessed incredibly rare events in both places.”
“What rare event did you see in Pittsburgh?”
“The Pirates won a baseball game, and Faith and I were there to see it.”
“And you say that’s rare?”
“That time was one of only seventeen games they’ve won this season. Not only that, we saw them beat the Yankees.”
“Okay, that’s rare enough. What about Iowa, and watching corn get planted doesn’t count.”
“Most of the corn had been planted before I got there. But my brother and I saw Stink Floyd.”
“Stink Floyd? Is that a bad cover band playing Dark Side of the Moon?”
“No, it’s a Giant Corpse Flower.”
“Huh? Corpse?”
“Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus titanium. It’s a flower with a huge bloom—up to ten feet tall—and it smells like rotting flesh.”
“Joy. What’s so rare about it?”
“It only blooms every four to five years, and the bloom only lasts one or two days.”
“And you saw this, in Iowa, while you were there?”
“Saw it and smelled it.”
“Where was this thing?”
“At Reiman Gardens. My niece and several others had been monitoring the plant for over a week. They had planned a series of viewing events for when it bloomed.”
“Viewing events? How many people want to smell death?”
“We waited in line for about forty minutes, Saturday night. According to my niece, the line on Sunday was twice as long.”
“Saturday night? How late was this place open?”
“Viewing on Saturday was from six-thirty until eleven pm. On Sunday, it was open six-thirty am until eleven pm.”
“I think this calls for another round. Curley, bring my young friend another Modelo, and kindly top off my bourbon.”
“Here you go, guys. You want to make this a truly rare event, David and put an order of those mushrooms on your tab?”
“Soitenly.”
“Hey, no Stooges humor allowed.”
There is exactly one week left to enter a creative project in response to the Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. As you read this, we will have more than 50 responses to the challenge. As I’ve said before, I have read them all, and they are all worth your time. I assure you, you will enjoy them.
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