I live with my mother on a street with a Do Not Enter sign on the corner. My mother is old, and although I love her, it is often like living alone. Except without the privacy.
The street is a quiet one because of that sign, sometimes so quiet -- especially at night -- I 'm not sure that there 's anyone else alive except me and momma. If you can count her. Sometimes I 'm not so sure.
Every once in a while somebody steals that sign, and traffic gets confused and noisy until someone else comes by and puts up a new one. …show more content…
She 'll chatter on all day then, about things I don 't have any idea about. But as long as I nod and laugh with her, she 'll go on all day and night, and it 's so nice to hear her voice I try my best to be who she thinks I am.
The street sign is back up again. I never see anyone take it down or put it up. It 's almost like it does it all by itself. Like it does its job for a while, then takes a little vacation. I 've even tried to catch whoever it is in the act, peeking down the street at about the time it should disappear, but I could sit all night and not see a thing. Then the next night would go by and I 'd forget, and the next morning -- it 's gone.
"It 's the damndest thing," my mother would say if she had a mind to. "One of life 's little curiosities." That 's what she use to call me, too. One of life 's little curiosities. She hasn 't said that in a while, though.
I wonder sometimes what it is like to be her, sitting around all day, eating Fruit Loops, not saying anything. Then I realize, I know what it 's like because I do pretty much the same thing. Just for different