May 25, 2010

• Halfway House

  Last night a doorbell rang in my little sister's dream, so she woke up and went downstairs to see who was at the door.  That no one was there was her first and most powerful clue as to what had actually happened.  Later when she woke me up at 1 in the afternoon, I thought it was 7:30 in the morning. 

  Our family is in general a very confused breed.

  We went on a coffee outing, but Melody got cold from the frigid indoor temperatures of the Starbucks, so we went outside.  Once outside I felt like I was in a surrealist painting; all the tables looked like they were about to fall over.  The legs on some tables were several inches of the ground, giving the tables an incredible tilt.  I sat down at perhaps the only table that had all four legs on the ground, but Melody sat down somewhere else.  Having seated ourselves at different tables, we began our conversation.

  "So, what's going on?" she began casually.

  "Oh, not a whole lot," I responded without emphasis.

  The ripples of our speech disappeared into the silence.

  "Oh just come to this table over here!" I cried.

  "No, you come over here!" she rejoined.

  "That table is crooked, look at that leg! It's completely off the ground!"

  "But this chair is amazing," she said with a voice full of drama.

  "Well this table is amazing."

  The battle's facetious intensity facilitated a steady rise in the tones of our voices, until we were practically shouting.

  "Bring the table!" she said with determination.

  "BRING THE CHAIR!" I cried out of common sense. 

  At that very moment the line "I'll meet you halfway!" intruded loudly from the music playing overhead.

  We both burst out laughing.  A few moments went by before we recovered, at which point I said, "I can't believe that just happened." 

  "What?"

  "The music," I said, thinking it obvious. "Didn't you hear the music?"

  "Oh no, what did it say?"

  "You said 'Bring the table!' and then I said 'Bring the chair!' and then at that very moment the girl sang 'I'll meet you halfway!'  It was completely in sync with our tone and everything.  What was it that you were laughing at?"

  "I don't know, I was just laughing because you were laughing."

  We are in general a very confused breed.  And it is true that while she wasn't laughing for the same reason, she was at least laughing. So I guess she did meet me halfway.

  • 3:40 pm
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