The forest in the icebox

The forest in the icebox

“Great” This is what sarcastically sauntered out of my mouth after I had opened the icebox door. It had been happening all over everywhere for weeks. It was one of those things you just assumed would never happen to you. Even if the guy right next door had it happen to him. As he told you about it you would listen to him earnestly and tell him how sorry you were and then finally ask if there was anything you could do to help, feeling more than a little relieved that there wouldn’t be. I opened the door a second time. The cold chilled the air around my head. “Damn it” fell from my lips and hung in the below room temperature air. A miniature doe bolted for cover behind a bag of Lenders onion bagels. I closed the door. There was definitely a miniature forest in my icebox. It reminded me of how last week my mother had phoned me to say “Veronica you really need to be careful.”  As if you could avoid the problem by doing a specific thing. Her friend Betty Warner had come home from work to find a hole in her garage about the size of a beach ball. On the other side of this hole was an ocean. Betty’s words rushed from her lips filling in all spaces in a flash flood of fear and concern, “ I saw water all around and an island. Rain and lightning were coming down. There was a ship with one of those skull flags flapping and cracking in the wind.” She had said the rough seas on the other side of the hole had poured in over the starburst-splintered wood and completely ruined all her potting soil. Salt was not good for her garden. Perhaps she could use it to dry out the slugs. I had rolled my eyes and said convincing phrases to get my mother off the phone. I just could not understand why these “hole/portal” things were such a big deal.

I mean seriously just get in your car and make the trip to home depot. Right?  Of course now that I had my own other world to deal with I was feeling a little differently. Maybe that’s why it was in my icebox. Perhaps I just needed to think about it another way. After all I liked the woods. The scent of pine was one of my favorite candle scents. I went camping at least three times a year. Small deer had to be easier to deal with than sea creatures didn’t they?  I would have to find another place to store my heavenly hash but besides bagels that were really the only important thing I kept in there anyway. My head was starting to ache from all the positive thinking. It felt good too though. Reminding me of how my muscles ache after leaving the gym. I crushed up some birdseed. Then opened the icebox and sprinkled it on the bed of pine that now completely covered the bottom of the icebox.

Three popcorn kernel size doves flew down from their perch. One looked at me. A whispered hello broke over the forest. Pine scent filled the kitchen. Yes this was going to be just great.