For his homecoming present, I bought him a large bag of of hot peppers. The kind about which Basho wrote

a red pepper

add some wings

a dragonfly

Words failed to express how much he’d enjoyed the camping experience. Words weren’t all that necessary anyway. He’s an expressive type. Happiness  flies off him like drops of water when a dog shakes himself dry. As for anger or despondency…no cue cards needed.

He wanted to sleep “at home” and left, as light-hearted as the Happy Wanderer. I’ll follow suite this morning with my laptop, my notebooks, my reading material, and the red peppers. I tried to grab a clear shot of the birds feeding off berries on a tree in the neighbor’s garden but my ear captures the chirps better than the camera grabs the birds.

Tomorrow, we’ll run through the list of required school supplies and buy the requisite number of blue, black, green and red Bic pens, copy books, colored pencils, etc. Some day, the Child Care services will honor their commitment to provide a wee bit of money for food, clothing, bus tickets and such.

But the hot red peppers are on me. Just for the heck of a grin that bounces off the walls.

Writing fiction. Maybe I’ll get the knack some day. As in: just letting the characters be who they are. Easier said than done. They all try so hard to impress with one more line, one more joke, one more exchange, one more…

a red pepper

add some wings

a dragonfly