Boredom of the Day
Saturday, March 31, 2007
There were heavily severe storms forecast for that afternoon. The chilling types of storms. And outside the house the bush had burst into bloom as a lilac, just as Mrs. Lord-Welches had predicted. This was also accompanied by a fresh crop of dandelions, although none of the neighbors seemed to have the same weeds themselves.
Collette had dreamed of France the night before. Not having slept very well, her dreams came and went. But in France, her family had arrived on a day where the sun was bright upon the shore and, as her dreams were sometimes wont to do, the haze on the horizon on all sides of the sky was a heavy gray. The ends of the world. Most everyone was on the shore that afternoon. But Collette went to the village and took pictures of bright red houses under a collective roof where a magnificent garden bloomed beneath the glass and the grated balconies of the houses looked upon it. The lines of the streets were crudely painted, thick misty lines. And the village skirted away to a larger city towards the gray horizon.
OLeif was off early that morning. He would be several hours to the Pi’s for (at least) the first round of Magnus’ senior photos. Magnus’ mom didn’t seem to mind if they came up with some crazy or “artsy” shots, but she did tell OLeif that it was required for Magnus to have at least one “normal” photo in suit and tie.
By the early afternoon, Collette had run out of things to do around the house. Boredom. Sometimes it did strike. She could only imagine what it must have been like for prisoners in years past – dungeon prisoners, deep-dungeon prisoners in ancient Rome who could be sentenced for years to chains inside pitch black. No light, no visual stimulation, no fresh air, absolutely nothing to revive the mind. How could a person not go absolutely crazy in such a place? Living in total darkness for years… that would be more than mere boredom.
In the afternoon, OLeif returned.
After awhile, he said, “What do you think of my haircut?”
Collette had somehow failed to notice. His hair had become so long over the last months that it could be pulled into a small ponytail. But even with the haircut, it was still long. Collette thought that she liked it.
Magnus’ pictures included a series of traditional cheese-ball senior shots for the fun of it and dozens of odd and assorted photos with books and chairs for props, some of which made him look somewhat like a cartoon. Yes, there was even a sequence of Magnus kissing a tree.
In other news, Diana was in Kentucky for the weekend with friends. And Wilbur Hobcoggin had flown over to Washington, D.C., for the upcoming three months, having something to do with the FBI.
Come later in the afternoon, Augustus and Molly dropped in for several hours. The wind was flying through the trees and Collette opened the front window to see what she could catch in the screen. Bean-pods grew on both the tree in the front and the tree in the back, although this time, unlike at the apartment, they were not red-buds. A shower passed by as there was discussion around the viewing of Magnus’ senior photos and the bag of taffy.
“You know they’re planning on digging up Houdini?” Augustus said, out of the blue. “Yeah, his family wants to see if he was actually poisoned and not hit by a cannonball… I don’t know how that’s debatable.”
Around dinnertime, OLeif took the two over to a shop to look for bike parts. Somehow during the day, several pieces had fallen off of Jo-Jo’s bike, which Molly had been using. And they had plans to attempt fixing it. They returned with a movie and bags of Quizno’s and chocolate milk for Augustus and Molly.
Meanwhile, through the open window the tulip trees down the road rustled purple blossoms at the dark skies in the west.