The rest was a blur. We had a barbecue. The kids toasted marshmallows. I loved to see the sparks of burnt offerings flit into the air and extinguish into nothingness. Each time a spark began to die, I followed it until it was carried by the wind, even into the blindness of nightfall. I know I tried breathing in the sweetness of the cool air but it was contaminated by the smoke emanating from the cigar languidly hanging from his fingers.
We got the kids into bed after the usual battle to get them to brush their teeth and settled in front of the TV. I alternately smiled and nodded my head and rhythmically commented to prove my presence-to myself.
Zeitgeist! I knew I was not alone. I was a member of the Stepford Club: unwilling, but finally cognizant!
The next morning I opened the side door to feel the sun on my face. The kids were off to their last school day and he was off to work. I knew that the kitten would be somewhere for me to discover. It was a little girls ballerina shoebox and there he lie in a minute bundle smaller than I recalled from the previous day.
When I decided to name him after my dad, I researched it’s origin. I had not known that Felix was Latin for happy or fortunate. Then I remembered a phrase from my Latin studies at the girls’ academy. Fortuna sequatur, let fortune follow.
It was then that I designated tiny Felix as my lodestar.
Copyright © 2008 by m.m.sugar
Halloween Giveaway - A Haunted History of Invisible Women
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In the past, I've normally done a giveaway for my birthday or to celebrate
the anniversary of Scandalous Women, but this year I decided to do
somethin...
1 year ago
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