sounded like this -
" Oh hello how are you ? "
but before I could answer -
" Well I washed and waxed the floors
and polished all the
doors
by 8 am and then I did
the laundry - 4 loads
while processing mountains of
paperwork
and then I vacuummed the family room
and I still need to
dust in there
but it's only
noon
and later on I have 16 errands to run
and groceries to buy
but I will stop by
again
before I go home to make dinner and
start on the bedrooms upstairs . . . "
and my jaw dropped slightly
while contemplating
this
and closed again tightly
at the word "again"
again and
again
for I was not looking forward to this
recently or then
as the hyper-vigilante Auntie Daughter Sister Mother
continued with her
list
and I didn't/don't understand
the meaning of this
or why I needed to know
any of it
each and
every time she shared
and I almost asked once
why she was telling me this
but before I
had a chance to
she asked how often I washed my sheets !!!
I can hardly speak
at this point
but
I joke -
" who wants to know ? "
and we laugh and she gets
nothing
from me
rambling on like she's
praying out loud
as if Pine Sol and Clorox were selfish Gods
requiring constant adulation
attention
worship
and praise
and I am so bored I start
yawning at the
diatribe
as she recited specifics
of her day timer
and to-do list
ad nauseum
as if I were supposed to
be interested in this
and all the time
she was not hearing
what I was saying
at all
or maybe perhaps selectively
and surely processed my utterance
out of context and
absolutely
repeated it
wrong
but I got free of
it
a few weeks ago
finally
and I wonder if this really is what pushing 60
with 40 years of married domesticity
brings ???
I will never know personally
but her competitive brother mentioned
candidly
theoretically
possibly
" It is really full of OCD
and obviously she's stuck in a rut
with her dust
and she's highly competitive and
fearful we know
and the INCESSANT CLEANING is all for
SHOW
and she has a chemical imbalance we all think
but she's just evil as far as I know !!! "
OH FOR GOD'S SAKE !
Okay but whoa
that's some scary shit
when it never occurs to me
to give anyone
my list of everyday trivial chores -
I just
do
them . . .
Domestic Violet
Semper Vi ~
Survivor . . . from the VORTEX
