Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Luke finds a new place to hang out

We took it easy this weekend, in part because I was still recovering from a cold.

On Saturday, we got up and The Gryphon made us breakfast. Then, since I was still tired, I went back to bed until shortly before an afternoon assignment I had scheduled.

In the afternoon, the Dormouse came by to meet our new kitty, Luke. We've asked him to look in on Luke over Thanksgiving vacation, since he lives close to us, his family is in the area and he likes pets. He also, it turns out, grew up in a house with cats.

We can't take Luke with us to our Dad's, because he has two grown cats, one of whom is very aggressive. Poor little Luke would be miserable, spending the whole weekend hiding. He might even get scratched. We don't want that.

I know my family is probably anxious to meet him, but maybe we'll do that sometime when we're only staying overnight and it won't be as stressful on Luke.

We put Luke in the upstairs bedroom so that it would be a nice, relaxing environment for him to meet the Dormouse. It helped that it was the afternoon, which is when he tends to get relaxed and mellow, as opposed to the morning and the evening, when he's playful.

The Dormouse got along quite well with Luke, who was curious about him and kept coming up. The Dormouse petted him and played with him as I told him specifics of Luke's care. Of course, my voice at that time was even worse than it is today. I would frequently break down in coughing fits and have to take another cough drop.

A certain Broadway performer, The Dormouse told me, was forbidden to talk between shows in order to save his voice.

"I could never do that," I said.

"You said it; I didn't."

Even when I was reduced to a whisper earlier this week, I couldn't stop talking entirely. Of course, it helps that, for much of the day, I only use my voice for talking to pets, since I'm a telecommuter and communicate primarily over the computer with both The Gryphon and with work.

After we'd spent some nice quality time with Luke, we all went out to dinner at the Iron Hill Brewery in Media. It's a brewpub, but the food is actually almost gourmet. I had the salmon, which filled me up, but when The Gryphon suggested splitting a dessert, I decided what the heck. I'd been very good this week; in fact, on some days I wasn't even up to eating what I normally should have. We had a devilishly chocolate confection.

Then we all went back to the house and, after my dog, Una, settled down, we let Luke out of the bedroom so he could come socialize. He kept approaching the Dormouse, even hopping up on his lap, so I know they'll get along.

We watched Bubba Ho-Tep, which The Dormouse had brought with him. We all agreed that it was an interesting premise but drawn out too much. You could tell it was based on a short story. The movie features Elvis and John F. Kennedy, both of whom are in a retirement home, having not died when people believed they did. Kennedy, incidentally, is now black. The two of them fight to save the retirees from a reincarnated mummy.

You've seen Bruce Campbell do a lot of strange things in his movies, but wait until you see him in a white sequined suit, taking action in a motorized wheelchair.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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