• Pub Date: May 31, 2012
• Publisher: Black Rose Writing
• Format: Paperback/Ebook, 234 pp
• Age Range: Adult
My mother once told me if I looked at my reflection long enough, my features would become obscure, and I would gradually become a Picasso. I never asked how long it would take, this transition from me to something I didn’t recognize. It may be minutes for some. In my case, it took a few years. Thirty-four to be exact.
I guess it wasn’t that I’d become a Picasso. I guess I’d become more of a pooka. A pooka is an invisible creature, like the rabbit in the old movie, Harvey, starring the incomparable Jimmy Stewart.
The distinct difference between me, and the pooka known as Harvey, was Harvey had always been invisible. I hadn’t. I’d simply disappeared. Over time.
I watched Harvey repeatedly, long before I understood the similarities I’d one day share with the big, white rabbit. I loved the rabbit, but I loved Jimmy Stewart even more. Every year, at Christmas, I’d hunker down with my mother, father, and my beloved Aunt Ida, and we’d watch It’s a Wonderful Life, and string popcorn for the tree. Aunt Ida would watch through cataracts, I through tears, and by time the credits rolled, I’d be emotionally spent, and Aunt Ida would have half a bowl of Orville Redenbacher’s sewn to her skirt.
My mother, ever the teacher, would turn the movie’s message into a lesson, one of many she’d pass along, and it was her voice I’d most often heard in my head as I battled my darkest days.
“Wear good shoes, Mona.”
“Wear good underwear, in case you crash your car, Mona.”
“Never miss an opportunity to tell someone you love them, Mona.”
I guess two out of three ain’t bad. I wear good shoes, and good underwear. It’s the third one I screwed up. Big time.
I was thinking of this as I pulled into my driveway on a Sunday evening, after an uneventful shift at WalMart. My old Jeep emitted a familiar groan as we pulled into the driveway that was once smooth, and now felt like driving a Radio Flyer down a washboard. I shut off the ignition and we both sighed. The old truck and the unhappy wife.
About Author:
Holden Robinson, born Catherine Ann Holden resides in upstate New York, in the land of trees, road construction, snow belts, and four seasons. Robinson is a passionate animal activist, and shares her life with six four-legged children. Robinson aspires to merge her love for writing with her love of activism, and is at work on a poignant animal rescue story titled, And Her Name Shall Be Beloved.
Buying info: Amazon
A signed copy can be ordered by contacting Holden at her website, Holden Robinson.
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