The Young Man And The White Laundry Basket

When just don’t know what to do with myself, I write.

The day was sunny. That was nice. The day was above freezing. That was nice. All the snow is gone. That is nice.

It is bug season here at Mist Cottage. Bug season is a precursor of spring, which as it happens, arrives on Tuesday of this coming week. Not a moment too soon.

I took Friday as a “sick day”. I stayed in my pyjamas all day. I curled up in my chair, with my crocheted blanket wrapped around me. I read, I ate, I sipped tea, I gazed out the window at the trees and the sky, I dozed off. The computers remained unused and silent all day long. The telephones did not ring, nor did I call anyone. It was good to spend a day contemplating life, the universe, and everything. The funny part of it was, I assumed that because I dozed off and on, that I would have a difficult time sleeping on Friday night. Such was not the case. I retired at my usual time, and immediately fell into a restful sleep, awaking at 4:00 a.m., which now, with my altered sleep patterns, I consider sleeping in.

On Friday, during the day, I happened to be looking out the living room window, when I spied an unknown young man, he could have been a teenager, he might have been 25, I can’t tell anymore, walking up the street from the scarred land that is being cleared at the end of the street. He was carrying a white laundry basket. It contained unidentified items, none of which were fabric. I didn’t recognize him, which is still of some relevance, as this is still a short dead end street. By this time next year the street will be full of strangers, more than 50 new families in rental units, all the foot traffic and all the vehicles, needing this narrow little street to reach, or to leave, their homes.

Back to the young man with the laundry basket. I wonder where he came from, and where he was going. Did he have some sort of secret place in the woods, where he kept “stuff”, which he wanted to remove before the rest of the trees were felled? Was he crossing the chewed up land as a short cut, moving some sort of gear from one house to another? He does not live in this neighbourhood, I know that much.

The weekend has been quiet and uneventful. Uneventful is as good as it gets these days, and considering the state of the world, it behoves me to be grateful for finding myself in such a context, even if it isn’t what I would like it to be.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

-2°C
Date: 8:00 PM EDT Sunday 11 March 2018
Condition: Mainly Clear
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -1.7°C
Dew point: -4.5°C
Humidity: 81%
Wind: SSW 17 km/h
Wind Chill: -7
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.”
Robert Lynd
1879 – 1949

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WendyNC

Maggie, is sounds as if you had a healing day. Glad to read of it.

Bex Crowell

I have such a brain freeze when I want to recall a word. I was going to say “Maybe the young man was looking for ____________’s — but that word has escaped me totally. Try as I might, I cannot recall it. What are those mushroom-type things that they —— OH YES! Truffles! Maybe he was searching for truffles!
(A mind that works is a terrible thing to lose!)

Sandy

My first thought was marijuana plants but truffles make more sense. I did know a man from BC who was a survivalist and very suspicious of government. He would purchase gold coins and other gold. He put them in some sort of lead containers and buried them vertically on his property. He said it would deter anyone with metal detectors. Then he became ill and passed away. I always wondered if he had shared a map with his family. I think your young man would make a great short story 🙂

Joan Lansberry

I’m glad you had a restful day, so well deserved!