“Black cats, they don’t bother me
I smile in bad company
And I’m cool as the day is long
But takin’ my car, Jack
That’s dead wrong”

-Royal Crown Revue, “Friday the 13th”

 

Sometimes I wonder if I did something to mortally offend a Model T. Ford in a past life.  I have suffered two flat tires in ten years of driving…and they both happened last week.  BAM…tire disintegrates.  We fix it.  BAM…the spare pops (less than a mile down the road).  AAA to the rescue!

 

Then, a few days later, on my way to Torrie’s single’s party in Springfield, my car dies on me.  AAA to the rescue for the second time that week (paying for itself in towing costs)…only I was stuck with an angry tow truck driver who was not happy that I made him tow it to Springfield, rather than let him repair it at his shop in Lincoln.  All I could do was smile   So I had to get the timing belt and water cooler replaced (and eventually decided to replace the rest of my decrepit tires).

 

Luckily, Torrie allowed me sanctuary in her apartment for a couple extra days.  One night, sleeping on the downstairs futon, I awoke, early AM, in the dark, with that vague feeling we all get, time to time, that eyes are watching us…that something might be stalking us.  And like most sane folk I dismissed it and was about to close my eyes, when a black blur flew across the floor and Torrie’s adorable black kitten (who had been stalking my toes) sank her little teeth and claws into my feet.

 

I was at once filled with the startling epiphany that every time I have ever felt like something was watching me from the dark, every time I felt that way my entire life…something, indeed was…

 

My Eureka week is over.  I’m back home.  I need to finish co-writing the magic show, get my second draft of my epic poem done, and start piecing together my White Wolf novel so I can cream the other four writers and take first prize.

 

…and I have to do laundry…