Sunday's Tale

I woke in that hour just before dawn, when the eastern sky is layered with shades of deepest blue, waiting to lighten. I lay there in the darkness and listened to the simple sounds of a quiet city morning, to the birds, calling out and planning their day.

I went to Hickory Pit and had breakfast, an omelet with pepper jack cheese and mushrooms, hash browns, wheat toast and Italian roast coffee. My conversation with my friend Tyrone was about the spark that brings a character to life, that mysterious something that makes the written character take on a life of its own and transport you to unexpected places.

From there, I drove to the Laundromat on San Tomas Aquino, in Campbell, next to D&J Hobby. A load of shirts, a load of underclothes, a load of towels, a load of linens. Incidental errands to Ace Hardware (glue and small mounting screws) and Walgreens (cinnamon supplements, band-aids and assorted odds and ends).

Home, to fold and hang and put away those great smelling clothes fresh from the laundry.

Packing a box with my old Playstation 2 and 30 or so old games, all functional, but that I hadn’t played either often or recently. Unhooking and moving my extra computer monitor near the door. A call to Bob.

Picked Bob up and then with his help, hauled the old white recliner down the steps and loaded it into the car with the other donation items. Dropped them at Goodwill.

A stop at the grocery store so Bob could buy big bags of salt for his water softener and a big bag of dog-food, as well as gallons of milk and juice and incidental other liquids – in short, all of things either too bulky or too heavy to carry comfortably on his bike. Bought some incidental items for myself – Greek Gods Yogurt, fresh muffins, and a loaf of wheat bread.

Dropped Bob off and borrowing a finishing saw. Drove home.

Took everything on the desk off. Sawed one inch off the legs of my computer desk, a strange little thing that I have been meaning to do for quite a while. The desk was 29.5 inches tall, just an inch too talk to be comfortable, so I shortened it to 28.5 inches, which is the exact height of my work desk, which is very comfortable. Put everything on the desk back on.

Took a long hot bath, followed by a quick, hot shower.

Tumbled into bed to take a nap and noticed that the big tree outside my bedroom window had opened up and was covered in beautiful, tender, new green foliage. For the first time in 2011 felt as if spring was actually here and not just approaching.

Woke from my nap with my hair three times as tall as normal and sticking out in every direction. Showered again quickly so I didn’t look like a mad scientist.

Met Tony at El Burro off Bascom for a dinner of enchilada suizas, rice, refried beans, iced tea and a green salad.

Drove home, watched Camelot on HBO, then wrapped the evening with TR.

Sunday night’s sleep was deep and restful and dreamless.