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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Part III: Good Night, My Glove, Sleep Tight

The culminating frustration of the last few months met half way up and half way down the staircase last evening in an emotional hand-clasp that made the pictures on the wall shudder in relief.

Rightie has come home.

Forced into a hand-to-hand existence amongst Minneapolis’ homeless, she was found in a snow bank outside the bus stop just two stops from home.

Rightie and Stinky: the best of gloves, the worst of glove stories. Kept apart by the complex bus-riding patterns of the homeless and an unrelenting cold front, the two gloves have reunited.

There, on the stairs near the living room, they face each other for the first time in months.

Rightie’s fingers hang dejectedly. “I – I – Stinky, you don’t know what I’ve been through.”

Stinky shakes slightly from side to side, raises his index finger. “It doesn’t matter. We did what we had to do.”

Rightie blushes, her palm hot with shame. “You don’t know.”

“I don’t need to know. Nothing will ever change the love I have for you.”

The ends of Rightie’s fingertips assume an air of hope. “Then we still have time? To be together?”

Stinky pauses, runs his thumb up the inside of Rightie’s palm. Again, he shakes slightly from side to side. “It’s too late, my love. She has new gloves now. Word on the staircase is that we’re to be washed, pressed flat, placed in a reasonably airtight container, and stored in the basement until next October.”

“A good, long nap.” Rightie smiles ruefully and sighs. “I’ve missed you so.”

Suddenly, there is the sound of a door opening; and with that, the gloves fall, limply, to the floor.

On the heel of the sound of footsteps, the woman sweeps into the stairway, laundry basket bouncing off a hip. She grabs both gloves and the circular scarf Mary has given her, and they join the load of towels destined for the washer.

And safe within the tumbled world of the laundry basket, Rightie and Stinky’s fingers intertwine.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Together at last. A woolen love story.

Pearl said...

Delores, I like that. :-)

Shelly said...

A love story worthy of Romeo and Juliet, Gomer and Hosea- these two were meant to be together. Forgiveness conquers all, even in the woolen glove world.

Pearl said...

Shelly, the power of glove. :-) But yes. Forgiveness is key.

JeannetteLS said...

Oh. My God. Happy endings. Bad puns. REALLY bad puns.

Up Love Story music, "Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a glove can be?"

Thank you VERY much. That will be in my head all day now. ... sigh...

esbboston said...

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie

laughingmom said...

somebody get me a tissue!...sniff!

Ach du lieber said...

They're sMITTen!

Love it!!

Simply Suthern said...

They have more adventures than me. Wishin I was a glove. Well maybe till someone shoves a hand up.. Well you know what I mean.

Vicus Scurra said...

Pearl! Pearl! Have you checked that when they are in that box till next winter that they don't start breeding?

terlee said...

Ahh, glove triumphs over evil..er...winter.

raydenzel1 said...

Boy glove reunites with girl glove together until October? Now that sounds like fiction to me. October is a long way off!

fishducky said...

Picture this: Rightie & Stinky are at the altar. The mittenister pronounces them married--a pair for life. The strains of "I Glove You Truly" waft sweetly from the storage box......

Unknown said...

Ahhh a sweet love story!
Rosemary

Argent said...

Awww, what's not to like? I found one of my hand-coverings in the china cabinet. It was a glove-plate relationship.

Cedar View Paint Horses said...

I'm reading a story about animated gloves....and loving it.

JeannetteLS said...

Sorry, I should not comment again, but... a glove-plate relationship?

Argent said...

Sorry, terrible pun.

Anonymous said...

Aww. I'm a sucker for reunion stories.

Pearl said...

I love how these stories bring out the worsted in you guys.

:-)

Camille said...

Pearl - You romantic you.

"And hand and hand,
by the oscillating fan,
they danced by the light of the
Ummmm...closet light".

Pearl said...

Camille, oh, how I wish I'd written that. :-)



I am in love with the comments today.

Argent said...

... And when it came to the bedroom scene later that night, it was a disaster: they were all fingers and thumbs.

CarrieBoo said...

I'm laughing too hard to come up with another punny... oh my.

Anonymous said...

I gLove a happy ending.

Unknown said...

a touching ending!

Gigi said...

Unfortunately, I'm not clever enough to come up with a witty comment; but I did love the happy ending.

tony said...

I dont Know this world :)

Unknown said...

Reunited, and it feels so goooooood, reunited, like all good gloves should...

What a glovely story. Thank you for the sharing.

Elephant's Child said...

Thankyou. I do love a happy ending.

River said...

This is sweet Pearl, I love happy endings.

Pat said...

And if they shrink in the washer - they'll shrink together.

Indigo Roth said...

*sniff* S'beautiful.

the walking man said...

Open that storage box every thirty four days and see how many right stinkies they have made. Better put some yarn in there so the wee ones don't starve or have to eat their parents.

Notes From ABroad said...

Lovely and what a nice way to start the day - a sweet glove story ..

Rita said...

OMG! I am sooooooo glad you stopped by my blog! You had me at "I’m feeling particularly Scandinavian lately." Reeled this Swede in with the fjord knife throwing and dirge whistling--ROFL!
Despite my being transplanted to Fargo away from my homeland, I swear I'm a Minnesotan born and bred and raised in a Minneapolis suburb. Truly, I swear it!
You have a delighted new follower. :):)

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

You had entirely too much fun with these posts. You know that, dontcha? (And I'm glad you did. I woolly am.)

Pat Tillett said...

Righty and Stinky...
When you take them out again next winter, be carefull of all that woolen (and friction) induced static electricity...

Worapoj said...

i come to visit you blog