Miri's Got a Basket

2009-07-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

"We saw this video-http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?artist=5224&vid=189601 and it was so funny! We decided to have a show next Saturday! I bet you could be in it! It'll be fun!"

2009-07-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

"You know what? Kayla is just out of this. Maybe she'll be more up on what you might like. I"ll call her."

The door closed. And then opened.

"Ooh, my goodness. Come on, let's go get something, the kitchen's this way. What's your name? Where're you from? Okay, you like Cheetos? I was big on popcorn. Want some popcorn? Okay, Sister said Dr. Pepper, but really, plain soda tastes better. Okay, Dr. Pepper- you'll like it, it's a Texas drink. "

Kayla led her to a large kitchen. The cupboards were made of plain plywood, and cheap handles. She sat at the large center table. Kayla set an acrylic bowl printed with red poppies and field flowers in front of her. And a pressed restaurant weight glass in front of her, filled with ice, and a fizzy dark soda.

The soda tasted pretty good. The cheetos tasted tinny, after the soda. The kitchen had painted white sills, and the windows could open. The walls were painted light blue. There were ruffled top curtains, white with lace along the bottom. The air smelled like lemons, or apples. No, both. She breathed. The spokes of the chair pressed onto her lower back. The soda had some lemon taste. That was it. She kept eating.

She stopped, finally. She looked round. The walls looked nice, painted blue. The ruffles, too, at the top of the windows. The windows sparkled, and it looked like a beautiful shiny blue day outside. The chair had a squishy seat cushion tied onto it, making for a comfortable seat.

She looked at Kayla, who was sitting across from her, drinking a soda, just like her. She looked okay, too.

"Um, the people- when I got here? with the wild makeup...."

"Oh," Kayla started laughing. " You did see that, didn't you."

2009-06-09T14:49:00.001-07:00

Swimming up, there's a light, there's a light- why isn't the water blue? Why is the water pink? Why am I breathing? Still headachey, need to throw up. Did I roll over dive? Pink.......

Pink......still nauseous. No headache....light..

"Oh, good. Oh, stay there, don't sit up for a while. You look beat. Would you like something to drink? I'd say mint tea. You look green- maybe a green tea will help."

The afternoon sunlight filtered in through pink curtains. The sofa she was laying on was a pink velvet. When she turned her head a little, she saw she was laying on a smooth cotton pillow, covered with pink roses. The place smelled like light flowers. No dust, no cleaning smells, no lys...

"Oh. goodness. Let me get that."

She heard a chair scrape. Then a door open, and steps. She closed her eyes, and started crying. She'd be sent away. She knew it.

"Okay, " and there, a hand was using a cleaning rag to wipe her vomit onto a dustpan. The hand was plain. No rings, a watch. no nail polish. She closed her eys.

"Well, it's green, so I don't think you've eaten anything that you can hold down. You're early along, or you haven't held anything down. Let's try some food. " The voice wasn't angry, or even upset. It sounded......

"Do you like Cheetos? I know you're supposed to eat crackers, but I always think Cheetos taste better, and they are sort of the same thing. The doctor allows them, if you're worried."

The voice sounded marvelous.

At the door

2009-03-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

So she was facing the big house, it was bright yellow, the sun was shining yellow down on her, and the trees, even the trees were kind of yellow, too. The air smelled lemony over the dust, an ammonia cleaning concoction lemon, though. It was too bright.

The suitcase was too heavy. It wasn't hers. It smelled like dust, and machine oil. It had been in the garage for 16 years. It had everything she thought she could use for the next six months.

She could hear, wavering in the air, guys yelling. They were cleaning windows, down the street. "My beer! Dude!" The guy who said it was laughing. The other guy sprayed him. They both laughed again. "Rat b-!" They both had plaid shirts tied around their waist. They both had khaki shorts on. They both had tans.

Three blocks. They had a shiny house. She had a shiny house, if only she would walk up. It would be okay.

She squared her shoulders, and marched up. The door was too tall, and wood. There was an iron lamp hanging down. The doorbell............she pressed it, no she hadn't, no, maybe. Okay. It's going to be okay.

She pressed the doorbell. She could hear a ring inside. Then yelling.

It was still too hot, too sunny, she could smell lemon polish, she could smell paint, she could smell the faintly rotten smell of the pizza place's dumpster, she had passed it a block ago, she could smell.........

The door opened, and three enormous women stood there smiling at her. They had towering hair, curling like a waterfall, spilling over. They had blue and green splotches on their face. They had red and pink splotches. They had on big white tee- shirts, poorly fit over their giant pear shapes. The tee- shirts had kind of splotchy screen printing. "CHOOSE LIFE."

She could smell dust. The lemony sky looked farther away, and grayer. The women were upside down. She could smell evening. She

"Fainted! Let's get her inside."