Ten-Finger Exercises

scattered showers

First of all, I did make the call last night to the social worker who got fired. She talked a lot about her visit to her brother who is dying of cancer, and then launched into her firing. She thinks it's because she just made a claim to the EOC because, despite doctor's advice, she was still having to use a desk setup for a right handed person, and she is a lefty. She's been in physical therapy for her hip, due to twisting, and actually hasn't been cleared by her doctor to work full time yet. Her trouble with her back and hip began after a car accident twenty years ago, but have recently gotten much worse after a period of pretty normal activity.

I'm sorry that she doesn't take any personal responsibility in the loss of her job. But I'm also sorry management encouraged her to go visit her brother and had the "pink slip" waiting in the mail when she returned. She was at her most vulnerable then. If they'd done it earlier, she could have used the money she had to spend to make the visit toward a more permanent move. Plus, she could have gotten vacation pay. As it is, she is really strapped for money and is planning to sell furniture and whatever she can to pay her rent, which has just gone up $100. I certainly hope she'll be able to get unemployment.

I just came from delivering a figurine to her that was left behind on a window sill. Her apartment smelled of stale cigarette smoke, and now I do too.

As I pulled into my driveway, a couple who live in the next block walked past with two toddlers in a stroller. I didn't know they'd had a second baby, and are expecting another. Actually, the one they're expecting will be their fourth. Their first baby died in a terrible birth accident with too short a cord. I was on call when it happened, didn't know they lived in my neighborhood at the time. In fact, maybe I didn't even live here yet. The dad has gone through nursing school and works at the hospital. The mom has written a book about the loss of her first child. The family looked happy and healthy.

Here's the kicker. Their house is beautiful. No, it WAS beautiful. I remember when I was looking for houses in this area, I was disappointed, after seeing the For Sale sign, then to see it had been sold. Seven years later it is falling apart. The wood has been so long without stain or paint that it is splitting. Shingles are missing, windows are cracked and screens hang half off. Their car is no better. It's one of a number of vehicles in their driveway, and it's obviously been in more backup accidents than I have even. The bumper is pointing at the ground. The fenders look as if they hooked a few posts, and one door is dented. These accidents didn't all happen at once either. I walk the dog that direction, and I've seen the damage mount up.

The first few years I wondered if they really needed money to do a little fixup. He was still in school. I even thought of offering to help, although they wouldn't have known who I was. But by now I can't think of any excuses for them. They've just trashed the place.

Now, to throw some positive notes into this blog, because today's showers were scattered after all, I got to the Y today for a workout. That's two days in a row! And I got to my second meeting of the Christian Scribes, which was helpful and fun.

The seven ladies who were there represented various levels of skill, and all were pretty good. Several are published. Four of us had something to present today. Three of the offerings were all first person true stories, two of which were chapters from books they are writing.

I brought one of my Wren and Margot dialogues and talked about my characters and my idea to actually use them in a novel. The episode I shared was about a blogger whose latest entry had infuriated Wren.

One of these ladies did not know what a blog was, and had it confused with spam. Another was curious about how much of my day I spent blogging, and I could sense a little judgment there. I told her that Wren and Margot probably only read five or six regulars a day, and might spend an hour at it. (I didn't tell her how much time I spend!) She seemed relieved.

The two published authors were very interested in the dialogue and the characters and thought it could be quite entertaining. So that was good!