Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

June bugs in May

Monday, May 29, 2006
10:00 p.m.
Just now, at 10 p.m., the clock started to strike, but because I had wound it earlier last night, it got through one stroke and then stopped, which meant that I had to leap out of my chair, pull the chain, let it finish chiming the hour, then wind it the rest of the way. It�s funny how this clock runs my life, makes my routine, forcing me to wind it at a regular time or else it just stops, as though time is suspended.

I lie in bed at night, counting all twelve strokes at midnight, always waiting for the thirteenth which never happens. There was a book I read as a child, T0m�s Midnight Garden, in which the thirteen chimes of an ancient grandfather clock open a portal between the present and the past and allow a young boy to have a �coming of age� experience. It was a beautiful book and now, thinking about it, I�m hankering after reading it again.

I miss my computer. I don�t miss working on it, but I miss playing on it. Hubby has forbidden me to download instant messenger programs on his laptop, Buddy Boy�s laptop has all sorts of blocks in place (school-board imposed) so that he cannot download anything from the net, and our old G3 is too primitive to run my programs of preference. Besides, Little Princess has that one tied up most of the time.

I really ought to do something about my social life. At the moment it consists of inviting the singer in my daughter�s band in for a cup of tea when he drops her off after practice, and that�s about it. Patsy is still suffering the after effects of shingles and called to let me know she won�t be coming to belly dancing at all this spring session. I can�t really call belly dancing a social outlet because all the other ladies are francophone and I don�t really talk to them. I really need to get a life.

Oh, and the June bugs have been banging at the windows and doors and giving me the willies.

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