Monday, February 09, 2009

Pad Locks & Pixies

It was just a crazy dream with an image of my Vilulah girl standing in the doorway of the shed outback, doors swinging wide open, but it stuck with me all day.

And then it was real...only the doors weren't swinging, they were just wide open.
And Vilulah wasn't standing, she was sitting.

It was cold, real cold but not rainy or windy, so I simply let it be...

When the weatherman threatened rain a couple days later, I slid the padlock back through the male and female parts of the latch, spun it so that it would appear locked & cinched the doors shut again.

It wasn't but a day later when the doors were found open again, this time swinging in the rain, padlock clanking coldly, dangling from the male part of the latch.

In nearly 8 years this has never happened, but it was cold so I just let it alone....knowing.

After the rains came and went, I fed the padlock through both sides of the latch again. I looked around...out into the shadows, to see if someone was watching and I ventured back into the fire-fed warmth of my house.

I found myself once again, just a few days later...outback, after dark, re-latching & mock-locking my shed. It was just too dang cold to snap that padlock locked.

Really, I live in the friendliest ghetto in town. It really quite quaint & I am afforded some of the best people on this green earth as my immediate neighbors.

Sometimes I forget to deadbolt my backdoor when I leave. Sometimes, I forget to do that for weeks or months at a time.... until something small reminds me....
like a 5 gallon change jar left empty in the yard or a broken piece of pottery with all of it's splattered shards gathered and tucked safely inside, resting safely more centered on the table or a long forgotten jewelry box pulled from the bowels of the bottom shelf, emptied of it's costumed artifacts and left sitting on the pillow ...little reminders that Pixies are real.

But they never take the trash out.

While at work, a neighbor with keys to my house came to borrow something off of my entryway table.
She was surprised to see Vilulah inside & Smokie out on such a clear, sunny, even if cold, day, especially knowing that I would be gone for 12 hrs. I was equally surprised when she called that evening to inquire because Vilulah was out when I left & out when I returned.


So it began with a dream & it ended with one too. I dreamed of a boy I once faintly knew, a boy who knew my dogs better than he knew me and better than I knew of.... a boy I once knew to be homeless.

Trash day...

I stumbled in the pre-dawn hours to the back door and found a tiny pane of clear stained glass window to peer through and I some him.

He wore all blue and jumped my fence. I thought about popping the backdoor open and saying something & thought better.

Even in my foggy morning head, I knew Spring was just around the corner.


So, I gathered the trash & took it out.

Two days later, I popped up out of bed & headed right back to that same little window pane. I don't know what I woke up looking for but I know what I saw.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes, re-focused... there he was.


In the alley, just outside my fence... peacefully getting into the back of a police car.

Later that night, after work, I checked out the shed. So, maybe I am missing a couple sleeping bags...a tent...

I cinched her shut tight, spun the padlock & clicked it tight.

And when I left for work the next day,
I deadbolted the back door...
knowing Spring is just around the corner.
..

7 comments:

Mel said...

*sigh*

skinnylittleblonde said...

Mel!
Hahaha...why you sigh?
If it makes a matter, if the kid getting arrested was the kid I think it was and the one I think seeking shelter here...he is able bodied and able minded. He could work and provide for himself. None the less, I opted to play dumb during the bitterly cold snap we had. To me, it really doesn't matter much why someone is cold. When the temps are below freezing any kind of shelter helps regardless. Much Peace Mel, Much Love...No Worries, k?

The CEO said...

You have such a good heart, and you are so very kind. He should have left the sleeping bags if he wanted to use the shed to stay warm. Same for the other stuff. Honesty pays. So does work. I'm with you here.
p&l
monty

skinnylittleblonde said...

CEO...I imagine if he took the bags/tent it was because he planned to use them in the woods since the temps were picking back up. SOme people have no work ethic & I doubt I could instill one upon him, so I just chose to ignore and play dumb while it was so brutally cold.Had this happened in the summer, I would have not allowed it

Shimmerrings said...

Interesting story... and what a kind heart you have... but you were right to snap that thing tight, he shouldn't have taken your things, especially after you had been so kind... he had to have known that you knew...

Maithri said...

Your heart of compassion moves me so deeply my sister...

Selfless love...

This reminded me of a story i was reading about the Buddha of compassion... (i'm really not that deep, i got it as a gift lol)

The story goes there was a man named Asanga who spent many years waiting in meditation waiting for the Buddha of compassion to appear...

Frustrated, he decided it was of no use and left the temple to return to his home...

On the road he saw a stray dog, who had cut his leg open....

The wound was infected and there were maggots inside....

(Stay with me lol ;) )

All of a sudden the man was filled with deep love and compassion...

So he took a knife and cut some flesh from his own thigh and spread it on the ground so that the maggots might eat that instead...

He was going to pick the maggots out of the dogs wound but he was so filled with compassion that he thought he might hurt them...

So instead he decided he would use his tongue to remove them...

As he close his eyes and lowered his head towards the dogs wound, the Buddha of compassion appeared before him... and said "I was always here, and I will always be here when you love."

Your love is powerful my friend,

Keep burning through the night,

M

skinnylittleblonde said...

Shimmerings...I agree. I think after that last night, he knew that I knew. Still I think we both find it more peaceful to choose not to acknowledge ;)I was afraid if I acknowledged that it would be deemed as an invitation. When I moved into this little old village I said "I just stepped out of the real world and intoa Stephen King novel.' Experiences like this remind me how accurate that description is.


Maithri...Compassion, along with all the other salves for our spirit, sometimes just gets buried in the brush...buried under fallen leaves, we cannot always see the spores of moss popping up on the base of the mighty oak...but they are there. Much Peace, my friend, you are an inspiration.