Hamsters

K. Jackson
Aug 28, 2017 · 5 min read

I have catalogued a list of good FRIENDS in my phone because I am so far away from all of them. If you think you may not be on this list of friends and you think you should be, please call or text and we can work out the details. Citizenship is never an easy thing, if you’re not on the list, you should at least know my cat’s name, that’s a gimme.

I have this list of good friends because sometimes I get lonely here and I like to scroll through the list and think about why I love my friends like I do. Each one of them kicks ass in a certain way, and I really don’t think I have that much repetition in my little cluster of joy, either, which for some reason I am really proud of. Oh, yeah, I guess I do benefit from that.

Anna Bell-Fairchild and her husband Jacob came to visit yesterday. Anna Bell is a longtime friend of mine, since we were the tiniest of beans, in fact, and it is always good to see her. Jacob came along about six or seven years ago, and now they are married and they are happy and they are the cutest, most genuine and hilarious couple you’ve ever seen. Anna Bell is on the list, I’ll have you know.

She and Jacob came inside to see Sara and Clark before they swept me away to their place, and Anna Bell was roped into helping Sara a little with envisioning Sara’s design changes to the house. One of the tools in AB’s bag is that she is an interior designer, so when she told Sara that one of the yellows she picked out for the walls would be a little like building a mirror to burn out a bug, Sara listened and we threw that yellow away. “I’ve been thinking about built-ins,” said Sara, looking to Anna Bell for certainty. “Oh, I think built-ins would be great.” AB chirped up,”Let’s measure that side wall to see how much room you have.” And on they went like that for two whole minutes. Women.

We were getting hungry, and since all Anna Bell had eaten the entire time they’d been here had been fried shrimp, we decided to go to Big Shrimp and get fried shrimp burgers. I got fried apple sticks with my order and Anna Bell and Jacob were jealous, I knew they would be, sumptuous apple pie filling all fried up and dusted in cinnamon and sugar. But the shrimp burgers themselves were out of bounds and control, both at once and all together. Ed’s just can’t do it like Big Shrimp, and that’s the truth.

After Big Shrimp, we went back to AB and Jacob’s for a pool party. Lucky for me, I had stuffed my orange suit in my rucksack. We lathered up and grabbed their towels, and then Jacob had to get something from the car. Anna Bell stood by the top of the railing waiting for him and she looked just like a beautiful empress of sovereignty, her flaming red locks like thick strands of Twizzler snakes creeping down her back.

Finally we got to go to the pool. We put our towels down and Jacob was the first to run out and jump in. I was right behind him, and AB took the stairs so she could wear her flip flop Saturn hat so the unabashedly enviable and cascading crimson fur on her head didn’t get too messed up. Oh, and so her Sunbeam loaf skin wouldn’t burn.

We were the first people in the pool, and we floated there in a little triangle, talking and laughing and laughing and talking. We floated while families wriggled their way in through the gates, carrying skinny-legged children and floats on their arms. We floated while little girls who couldn’t touch the bottom slid their way down the ladder and blew air underwater underneath the rungs to breathe. And we floated while all the families left, one by one. Our fingers were pruned and our toes were, too. We stayed in that drink for three hours.

When we were sufficiently wrinkly, we arose out of the water and descended onto our things. Jacob and Anna Bell let me take the first shift in toweling off, which I appreciated. We were sharing two towels. It was cold in the wind, and I pulled on my clothes with a quickness.

We showered, changed, and dove into JAB’s car looking pretty pretty and smelling pretty pretty and feeling damn good. “Where do y’all want to eat,” Jacob asked, obviously thinking of a place. “I’m down with anywhere,” I answered, my stomach eating itself. Being in the pool all day does it to you. “Let’s go to Frank’s!” Jacob proclaimed. “Yes! Yaayyy! Yeee Haw!” We all said together.

Nothing much happened at Frank’s except that we ate outside and there was a four-piece rock band playing so loudly that we had to scream at each other over the table to be heard. “HOW ARE THOSE FRIED SHRIMP, ANNA BELL??” I yelled straight at AB’s head. “ARE YOU EVER GOING TO GET YOUR BURGER?!” I shrieked at Jacob. I was hoping one time the band would stop playing out of nowhere and leave us hanging up high with loud voices in the air, but it never happened. “YOU GUYS ARE REALLY REALLY GREAT AND I LOVE YOU INTO A THOUSAND PIECES,” I said, subtly. “What’s that?” asked Jacob. “Come again?” called Anna Bell.

On the way home, the meaning of life randomly came up in the car and nobody knew what is was. I grew uneasy, concerned. Who was driving this vehicle? Jacob? Shouldn’t he have had some more answers for us? I know the Jacob in Lost did.

We said goodbye and when I got out of the car I started thinking. I texted Anna Bell and waxed on about how awkward the end of the ride was with all we were talking and not talking about. Awkward? “Never awkward!,” AB said. “May we always be searching and contemplating.” So few words, and yet, so wise. One of the many reasons why I love AB. One of the many reasons she’s on the list.

So, to reiterate, if you think you may not be on my list of friends and you think you should be, please call or text and we can work out the details. Please know the number of hamsters I have hidden in the playroom, and how many times I can jump rope in a row without tripping up.

Thank you, and goodnight.

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