Wordzzle

Every week, I tell myself I just don't have any idea what to write for Raven's challenge, and every week (almost) I manage to come up with something. Not necessarily something good, but something, nevertheless. So, here's this week's effort. I was too lazy to think up two separate entries, so I used all fifteen words in one.

This week's words were:

cranberry sauce

amber

laundry list

coffin

Morning glory

shalom

mystery

sparrow hawk

pumpernickel

stained glass

margarita

gum wrapper

spring fever

Darfur

lace

“Mornin’, Glory,” trilled Amber, as she slid a mug of coffee across the counter to me. I get that all the time. Mornin' Glory, Gloriosky! Glory be! and on and on. For the millionth time, I wondered what kind of demented parents would name their daughter “Glory”. Not Gloria. No. “Glory” isn’t a nickname. It’s the whole name.

“What’ll you have, Glory,” asked Amber, and, “Shalom, Rabbi”, she called to another early morning regular as he exited the Stained Glass Café. “Your favorite? Cream cheese and cranberry sauce on toasted pumpernickel? It’s a mystery to me how you can eat that for breakfast every day, but to each his own, I always say.” She does always say that. Every. Single. Day.

As usual, I moved to a table by the window. While I waited for my order, I pulled out a small note pad and looked over the laundry list of things I needed to do that day, before I could go home to an icy cold Margarita and a good book. I contemplated smoking one of the three coffin nails I allowed myself per day, decided that I might need it more later, and put it back in the package.

I picked up the newspaper someone had left on the table and scanned the headlines. Darfur was in flames, again. The atrocities never went away. Putting down the paper, I glanced out the window and watched a sparrow hawk land gently on a tree branch. She had a piece of lace in her beak, a rather unlikely decoration for a nest. As I watched her, I was overcome with spring fever and, suddenly, my to-do list didn’t seem all that important.

“Here you go,” said Amber as she served my breakfast with a smile, “Do you have a busy day ahead of you?” I smiled, too, as I put my half-chewed Juicy Fruit back in its gum wrapper, took a bite of my breakfast, and said, “Not today. Today, I’m going shopping.”