4th March 2012
Dear Cassi,
One of the
events that has stayed with me over the passing years is something that
happened a few weeks after my mother’s passing. As I have said, it was the
practice of the family for a few months after the loss of my mother to have my
siblings and I sleep over at my paternal aunt’s home on weekends.
This aunt part
of a set of two, one being round like a cabbage and the other thin like a stalk
of celery. This was my cabbage aunt and my cabbage aunt was a mystic who grew
marijuana for her own use and thought the stars governed your life. Now, I have
always said that folks are entitled to what they believe, but it is a sore
point on my skin that Cabbage tried to shove her beliefs down my throat.
In this world,
I’ve met folks who had that idea that they knew the answer and that you should
listen. In a week or two they would have a new answer and again you should
listen so that their eternal truth changes with the tides. There is good reason
that ships sail on tides and navigate by stars, and that would be that the
heavens look down on us with an indifference we can count on but the tides
treat us with contempt.
On this
occasion my cabbage aunt came to me with a smoldering match and held it in my
face. I was confused by this as I had no idea why I would have wanted to see a
match. As I gave her no reaction she brought the match closer to my face and I
feared she would burn me. Mind that I had little contact with my aunts save for
holidays and this woman was a mystery to me in general terms, so any action on
her part was one of which I had little understanding.
I blew out the
match before it could touch my skin and she was furious. The ash fell into the
couch cushions and she shoved me out of the way to get it out. Then she told me
that the match had been made with incense and that she had wanted me to smell
the aroma.
Never play with
fire, little sister,
Richard Leland
Neal
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