Genevieve; Spring Rushes Forth by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 2

Genevieve said to her skeptical, but politely captivated audience; “One of my earliest memories is of the time when my Uncle Schaller exploded our television set. When I first became aware of the detonation he was crouched in the back ........ “

Sunshine interrupted her to ask; “What’s a television?”

Genevieve didn’t immediately have an easily handy way of describing something which she had never previously realized that the kittens had not seen. “Oh, dear,” she thought. “Okay.

Picture your computer screen housed in a boxy cabinet on legs.

Rather than keys, it has four or five knobs to control what it plays; which was only in real time.” Genevieve was proud of herself for having cooly said the “real time” part, as it sounded tech savvy to her. “There were thirteen website choices, five of which were perennially blank. The other eight generally received poor reception, if any.”

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Early television set; property of the author.

Tippy said; “That doesn’t sound very good. Why didn’t you just use your computer?”

Genevieve responded in an odd tone; somewhat amused and somewhat exasperated; “I didn’t say that it was very good and computers had not yet been invented.”

The five kittens whispered things to each other which were out of the range of Genevieve’s ears; though she thought their faces cute for seemingly sympathizing with her “deprived,”

youthful plight.

The hushed tones ended when Puff-Puff eventually issued a decipherable; “Please go on.”

Genevieve continued her story; “Thank you, Puff-Puff.

Though I couldn’t see him at first, Uncle Schaller was crouched in the back of the blonde wooded, four legged floor model when I

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entered the room. I heard a faint noise much like that one usually doesn’t detect when a particularly vociferous lightbulb blows and then I saw a spiraling urn of thick black smoke dancing on top of the television. As it dissipated, Uncle Schaller rose with a blackened face; his white bulged eyes saying something like; ‘Uh oh. Am I still alive?’”

Wailer said; “That’s kind of a dumb question.”

Genevieve replied; “I think he was joking, but am not completely certain of that, as he was not smiling. Having had the advantage of being what some might call a precocious pup, the ostensible result of having already read a few books, I sensed that this was one of those tragic times not intended for conversation. So, I left the room, lied on the bed, put my face tightly in the pillow to muffle the sound, and proceeded to laugh my little butt off.” Genevieve digressed from her story when she looked through the window and excitedly added; “Oh, look the flowers have started to bloom.”

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Genevieve; property of the author.

The kittens had no immediate interest in the window or the allegedly blooming flowers, perhaps a result of their never having previously seen any real ones. Instead, Teddy bleated;

“You were a surreptitious troll!”

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