Sailing Beyond the Sunset
Atlanta, GA
May 5, 2018
My resistance to unexpected turn-of-events often resembles a newly paved road: initially firm and unyielding but, under exposure and pressure, soon starts to crack…and ultimately caves like limestone in Lakeland.
This morning’s plea caught me completely off-guard, as if I had come across an open bar in a Mecca mosque.
Today was the annual “Taste of East Cobb”, an outdoor festival offering selective delicacies from local eateries, opportunistic politicians from local districts, and crafts from local artists…all enlivened by the smooth strains of the Walton High Jazz band – featuring the tantalizing trombone of Alexander Breen.
Rita has for the last couple years volunteered to help set up and manage the event on behalf of the band.
While doing so this morning, she and Alexander came upon a particularly popular tent amid the maelstrom of this makeshift market.
Within was the frolicking swarm of a half dozen puppies, each eligible to be conscripted to the arms of sentimentally impulsive recruiters.
Meanwhile, David and I were en route to his basketball game, an hour north of Atlanta, blissfully ignorant of events unfolding to our south, but still within cell range.
The phone buzzed…
A text arrived from my wife, bearing an image, ominous yet irresistible, like Helen suddenly adorning the horizon from the hills of Troy.
The photo contained the precious visage of a 10-week old black lab, beckoning adoption and daring denial…a face that, once in our home, would no doubt harken to Helen by launching a thousand sh*ts.
Next came the pitch.
For a moment, the question just lay there, like an unexploded bomb in a crowded city park, demanding immediate action and tactful reaction:
“Do you like him?”
My mind raced to soiled floors, chewed furniture, torn curtains, exorbitant veterinary expenses, overblown boarding costs, our two terrified cats, twice-daily walks, my need for business travel, my desire for leisure travel, the travesty of the third Godfather movie, and all the lies our sons will inevitably tell about how they will take care of these concerns.
“Yes, I like him.”
Of course, I did. How could I not?
Particularly when I anticipated (correctly) the reaction of my sons when they learned of their new pet.
The papers were soon signed, and tomorrow our home receives four more paws.
As I see it, I had a couple options.
I could have slammed the brakes on the idea…forgetting that I would in any event have continued sliding across thin ice, landing ultimately in Fate’s lap.
Or, I could follow Tennyson, discard my curmudgeonly robe, and develop a desire to sail beyond the sunset.
As it happens, the sun descends as I write, and we (and our poor unsuspecting cats) enjoy one last peaceful day, like the last sips of a good wine in the trenches of Dien Bien Phu or the last hours of a picnic on the slopes of Pompeii.
Meanwhile, as I anticipate the earth beginning to shift a bit beneath our feet, the pavement is starting to crack.
JD
