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This story will be a continuing work as I have many ideas roaming around.....so look for other pages to follow.




Marianne was on a break.
The final straw was the "dog".
Marianne had decided to clean house today,
and started by watering the flowers in the yard.
Because it had been so dry for weeks now,
and her water bill was $85 this month,
she chose to just go around the flowers with the hose instead of leaving the sprinkler on.
The dog, who was normanlly Marianne's companion, was chasing after and barking at the hose.
He would try to bite the stream and Marianne would spray him and laugh as he ran away.
The last time he got totally drenched and ran away across the yard.
As Marianne moved to the few vegetables that were struggling to grow, and produceing almost no fruit, she noticed the dog rolling around and snorting.
Because of the drought, there was a very dry are near the fence.
Really just a patch of dirt that nothing would grow because the dog was always on guard there
to protect his yard from the neighbors' dog.
Now he was rolling around in this dust, after being completely soaked with her hose.
What a muddy mess.
Giving him a bath was not the worst unexpected part of her day,
it was that she had just bought two white easy chairs.
She ran to turn off the hose as soon as she saw the dog head for the house!
Why did she ever get white furniture?
She thought it was a cool classic design as she was trying to fix up her recently emptied nest.
However she had always been keen on letting the dog on the furniture since it was just she and him now most of the time.
What a mistake.
The chairs were always covered now with quilts unless company was coming, but that was rare.
Marianne scooped him up into her arms and carried him to the bathroom.
Once in the tub, he relented to his fate.
He got her back though, and shook all the muddy water all around the batrhroom before the soap even hit his back.
Now she will have to add the shower to her list of to do items.
One of the few things next to dusting she hated to do.
Since her girls had moved out, and her husband, the pilot was in the air mst of the time,
things never really got too dirty.
Marianne did realize though that she cluttered her environment with day to day stiff.
She really needed to get more organized and put things away right away, instead of waiting for the weekend.  It shouldn't be this hard to NOT put everything on the bar as she walked in the kitchen door.
If something was missing though, that was the first place she looked and usually found the lost treasure.  This was the first place people, and she saw as they entered the house, and it always made Marianne feel better if at least the kitchen was clean.
Today however, she was taking a break after the dog's bath.
Her oldest daughter Vicki had texted and said she was going to a cafe downtown to do some writing,
and she had invited Marianne to come if she wanted.
If she wanted?!
That was a silly question.
Marianne knew that her daughters were growing up and needed some space to find their independance and she had let them do that after a few months of tears and longing right after they had moved out.  Figuring out who she was again after twenty years of being a mom was very difficult.
As Marianne was finally getting on her feet again, the girls had started to want her company.
It felt almost fair that occasionally when they texted, she had been out having lunch with a friend from church or having margaritas with her best friends, and was unable to join them.
However, most times Marianne jumped at the chance to spend time with her girls and dropped menial chores and errands.  She knew that eventually she would see them less and less, especially once they moved away or got married.
They all had a wonderful relationship though, and knew that holidays and vacations would be what she lived and planned for!  Hopefully retirement would bring her to a town close to both her daughters and her stepson and grandchildren.

Peering out the cafe window with her notebook open and pen loosly between her fingers,
Marianne sipped her breve latte.  This was one thing on her very strict diet she could have.
Her youngest daughter had mentioned that it was great that her mom was loosing weight, but there was never anything in the house to eat!  She also complained that the dozens of homemade bird suet in the freezer and the meal worms in the fridge were very unappetizing.
Marianne did love her birds.  She rarely went to movies or spent money on activites.
She spent her self appointd allowance on bird food and feeders and all things garden.
She loved reading on the porch and watching th oriels eating homemade grape jelly, or the five different varieties of woodpeckers sparring for her suet.  It took alot for Marianne to go fill the feeders in this heat, and the fact that there were so many grackles and blackbirds eating most of the birdfood, frustrated her.,  She was getting very good at hitting the feeders with the bb gun from the family room window though.

Suddenly, through he window, Marianne noticed a young man walking back an forth on one stretch of sidewalk in front of her.  He was a nice looking young man, maybe twety five, shaggy hair but not too long.  Dressed nicely in tran pants and a plaid shirt.  She was always looking at young men these days as possibilities for her daughters.  They both had boyfriends, but Marianne knew they cvould be happier and better off single if not with someone else right away.  This was not a subject to be broached again however, as Marianne had finnaly learned to keep her opinions to herself.  What a tough lesson that was.  So she just gazed out the window and wondered about this young man.
He was carrying what seemed to be a video camera, and he looked like he was waiting for someone.
Marianne wondered if he worked of rone of the local news stations.  She looked around to see if anything was happeneing outside downtown.  He pace for maybe fifteen more minutes.
Marianne so desperately wanted to go out an talk to him.  Ask him what was happening, find out the scoop.  She was very nosey like that and always liked to be aware of things going on around her.
She had been asking for a police scanner for years, but no one in her family would get one for her.  Maybe she should ger her own.
Also, if this young camera man was interviewing people, Marianne would love to be a somebody on tv.  She wanted to be on a jury but was never picked in all her fifty three years.  She never won the lottery or had any luck at all with the slot machines she sometimes played with her daughter.  She never wanted to risk everything in one machine becasue if she lost quickly, she would have to go home as she was pretty strict with herself about over indulging on gambling.  Not that she owuld ever bet the car or clean out the bank account, but losing money on something so frivilous seemed wasteful.






(not sure I will keep this next part)

............

In her early marriage they had been very poor and had to learn to be frugal with everything.
Now that Doug was making really good money, Marianne didn't have to worry at all, but she was trying to save for their retirement.
 Doug was gone most of the time these days, as he was taking more flights to also help with retirement.  They both wanted to live on a small farm in Tennessee or Texas.
Looking back, she never thought they would make it to retirement together.
Being so young when they got married had caused them both to grow up quickly.
Raising a family and moving around so much was stressful enough, but two independant people who were always right and the other always wrong was hard to get through.  When Doug had decided to become a pilot, they both breathed a bit easier.  He studied hard and took all his tests and exams and instructions very seriously.  Then he bagan to travel.  That had saved their marriage for sure.
They had to begin to learn how to really talk to each other instead of shutting down when the other was wrong or hurtful.  They began being reallyhonest with each other and thinking aobut what they said to each other befror actually speaking.  Now Marianne realized what older couples in her life ment by the last years of marriage are alwyas the best.  Hang on if you can, wade through the tough times because in the end, you will have become a better person yourself, and all the other's faults will seem unimportant. 
It was so true.  Marianne didn't want to know what her life would have been without Doug in it,  They were comfortable togegther.  She didn;t have to pretend or put on heirs with him., 
She sometimes felt boring with other people.  She didn't have a lot to say, and wasn't informed on current events and politics.  Her hobby of spinning yarn was definately not a hobby many other people had any interest in, so she struggled with meaningful common conversations.
This was ok with Doug.  Bless his heart, he was trying to learn all the vocabulary and have interest in her blathering on about different types of fiber and spinning terms.  In turn, Marianne was really trying to follow politics as best she could for him.
Being comfortable with each other, and also having seperate interests is what Marianne learned to be one of the secrets to marriage.  Spending all your time with your companion proved to be stiffling.  And Doug was always there for her when she needed an ear or shoulder, as she was for him.
They had definataely been through some hardships with inlaws, children and finances.  Somehow it all worked out and they were on a new adventure together looking forward.
.............



Marianne took notes on ideas that were forming in her mind about this cameraman and what the possible reasons for his presence there, until he left.  No reporter ever came, he didn't talk with anyone.  Just a blip on her radar that started her mind wandering.  She sipped the last of her latte adn wondered what her day would turn to next.