A Rock In Sheep’s Clothing. Or Not.

Me: Beau, where are you going?

Beaumont: To the sea. To the sea. To the deep blue sea.

Me: Beau! Not today. I don’t want you getting wet.

Beau: And I don’t want you disappearing without me. Yet here we are. So, tell me Louise. Where were you all last week?

Me: I was helping my daughter unpack after their move.

Beau: Shouldn’t you finish unpacking your own life before unpacking everyone else’s? … What happened to your “give yourself medicine first” philosophy, Louise?

Me: It was medicine. I got to spend time with her.

Beau: Lovely. And what was my medicine?

Me: You got to stay home with your dad.

Beau: Ah yes. The Participation Ribbon of Abandonment.

Me: That’s a bit dramatic.

Beau: Says the woman who promised I was coming this time.

Me: Well…

Beau: Don’t ‘well’ me. You promised.

Me: Plans changed.

Beau: Fascinating how promises always lose to plans.

(Long pause.)

Beau: Rather like this blog.

Me: Ouch.

Beau: When was the last time my adoring public heard from me? Last Sunday? No. The Sunday before? Also no. Around here it’s become ‘Sundays When Louise Gets Around To It.‘

Me: I’ve been busy.

Beau: There it is. My most favourite word after ‘walk.’ Only because you use it so much, btw.

Me: But I have been busy.

Beau: Editing your book?

Me: Um …

Beau: Preparing for your staged reading?

Me: Um…

Beau: Unpacking your own house?

Me: Um…

Beau: Writing my award-worthy observations?

Me: .Um..

Beau: You see my point.

Me: I’ve been… distracted……. Working things out….. Inside my head.

Beau: Hmmmm. That’s different…. Busy fills the calendar…. Distracted empties the soul. (He starts trotting toward the water.) Keep emptying, Louise. There’s a lot of old junk in there.

Me: Beau! I said no swimming!

Beau: And I said there was junk to wash away.

(Splash.)

Me: You planned that ending, didn’t you?

Beau: Louise… I plan all the endings.

And he blithely swims off to determine whether that rock is really just a rock… or a seal in rock clothing.