Genevieve; the Third of January by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 7

After Willy made a few back-and-forths to his house for materials, the roof was fixed and was once again doing what roofs are supposed to do; being impervious to the elements.

Tardiff and Lenta were most appreciative, jumping all over Willy as if he had just won the World Series, and they had a bet on it. Willy did a polite and humble “De nada” and he and Genevieve left, him saying; “Let’s make sure that the others are all right,” on their way out. His fur hid any possibility of anyone detecting that he was surely blushing.

Since carrying them around without a cart would be very difficult, and with one would be difficult in the snow anyway, Willy brought his repairing materials back home. Then he and Genevieve went off to view the neighborhood roofs; he with ladder and she with his broom. They made entrees into every property on Pacific Lane. It was initially looking very good with either all the snow removed from the roof or someone up their shoveling off the last bit when they arrived. Then they got to Maureen’s place and Willy shook his head side to side and said; “Umm, umm, umm. The lady needs some help here.”

After a few knocks, Maureen opened the door and said; “Hey there, Genevieve and her new companion. Willy, uh, right? Merry Christmas.”

Genevieve; the Third of January

Page 25

Genevieve said; “And a hey there to you too, Maureen. My new companion, Willy and I are on a mission of preventative neighborhood maintenance duty.”

Willy said; “Hi,” and put his ladder on the ground.

Maureen looked concerned and said; “You guys aren’t planning on bombing Isis or anything. Are you? I mean she’s a bit of a mystery, maybe controversial, maybe misunderstood, but in every Western sense of fairness, the jury is still out. And she’s not even allowed to be here to speak on her own behalf.”

Isis; public domain.

Willy said; “That’s funny.” He saw Maureen staring at him with no kind of mirth apparent. He soon added; “No, no, not at all. We’re just here regarding all the snow up on your roof.”

Maureen stifled a laugh not all that well, and said; “Yeah, um, right. It snowed? Wow. Great. White Christmas. But, what’s

Genevieve; the Third of January Page 26

the problem? I mean like if it wasn’t up there, it would be in here, and then I’d be like cold and snowy and like ........ How can I say this politely? That’s what roofs are there for.

....... Well, you know it helps with other forms of precipitation too, ....... bugs, birds ....... all that stuff you want to keep out minus a couple of the nice ones. That’s a shame, but nothing is perfect.” Maureen started openly giggling and chuckled out; “I did one of those profound ones. Nothing is perfect. ....... Get it? Nothing in the sense of our true general perception of a deity or the world of forms which Plato concocted and Derrida made sophistry of. ....... Not really.

....... Never mind. What was it you said you’re here for?”

Genevieve said; “The snow on your roof.”

Paw on head, Maureen said; “I’m surprised that you noticed.

It just started popping out sometime this winter, and I thought of touching up a bit, but I just rebel at the scent of those un-natural dyes.”

Willy said; “No, no, Maureen. We’re worried that the snow is going to crash through your roof.”

Maureen said; “Snow! Wow. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” She looked around and said; “Wow. I’ve been spending too much time reducing these fractals. If you keep zooming in to the limit of the program, take the result into another program, expand it, and then bring it back to the original program as a

Genevieve; the Third of January

Page 27

new image, zoom in again, and keep repeating that you get to these interesting little, colorful, symmetric images. You can kind of do this forever. I got it down to where the images look like a colorful katydid or ....... like the ...... or like the burst from those centered candies you can’t see because they’re bursting in your mouth. You wanna see? Watch out for the Morrison tryptych.”

Genevieve said; “No. No thank you. Not right now. We are rather busy with work. But, you might re-consider your choices of words, as katydids are neither colorful nor symmetrical and you can’t see what you can’t see.”

Maureen’s tone changed from cheery to exacting as she said;

“So, you’re here to be critical and nit-pick? You got any idea what you can kiss?”

Maureen; the kind courtesy of Pexels,com under their CC0 license.

Genevieve; the Third of January

Page 28

Willy said; “No, no Maureen. We friends. We here to help.

Bad snow hurt roof. We get on ground.”

Maureen said; “Oh. Me bad. ....... Roof snow bad too.

Please sweep. Thank you. Fractal’s zoom freak. Sorry. Wanna see?”

Colorful fractal ca. 1967; property of the author.

Genevieve said; “Really like. No now. Now roof. See Willy sweep. Me help.”

Maureen said; “You guys are weird, but nice and trustworthy. Thank you again. Go ahead and sweep all you want.”

Genevieve said; “Great. Just stay inside while we’re doing it as you can get hit with some as it comes off.”

Maureen seemed puzzled and said; “Okay. But, if I don’t come out, how will I like know when you’re finished and like be able to come out again?”

Genevieve; the Third of January

Page 29

Willy said; “We’ll knock on your door and tell you.

Shouldn’t be more than an hour. Okay?”

Maureen said; “Cool. ...... Um, back to the fractals I guess. You really have to see them someday. They can be kind of scary when you go from one period to another.”

Genevieve said; “It will be our pleasure.”

Maureen smiled, closed the door, and with foreboding eagerness returned to her fractal reduction project.

Ca. 2017 rendered fractal; property of the author.

On the roof Willy said to Genevieve; “She’s all right. You just have to know how to talk to her.”

Genevieve swept and said; “It can be difficult you know.

You can go low or you can go high, and generally be all right, if you recognize the humorously intended parts; but the tranquility is hidden somewhere in the undefinable middle.”

Taking note of Willy’s silence Genevieve just shrugged and nodded and the duo took turns sweeping until all the snow, save

Genevieve; the Third of January Page 30

for a tiny, resistant, and ultimately un-removable residue, was harmlessly on the ground. They let Maureen know when they were finished and again received a “Thank you,” a “Merry Christmas,”

and a brand new “Far out.”

Genevieve; the Third of January

Page 31