Susan Senator

There I was, feeling immensely sorry for myself; I had no idea what to write and I was convinced that a dear friend of mine had given up on me, or that perhaps I should give up on him. Plus the rain! I sat here, on my beige checked windowseat, looking at the pillows, selected lovingly and carefully by me over the years, a tableau of cream and blue-green: two very large white linen square shams; two smaller green and beige striped throws; one lace inset rectangle; one large sage and blue with ribbons; and one long rectangle blue-green with white pom-poms. I tell you this to give you a vivid picture of my surroundings. Precious, my computer which helps drive me crazy (like Gollum Smeagol‘s ring), was mocking me with her blank expression.

Anyway, Ned came in. First, he said that I should write about the Special Olympics State Games, coming up next week. He told me he had heard a Penn Gillette podcast, in which someone had likened something to the Special Olympics, implying that it was this dumbed-down thing where everyone wins. After the red had cleared from my eyes, I agreed that, yes, this was a good thing to write about. I was now in one of my chip-on-my-shoulder moods and thought for a moment about facetiously calling it, “Retards?! Sign me up!” But that, of course, was not what I really wanted to say. What I wanted to say was that the Special Olympics are actually very competitive, with the same a**hole parents (me especially) you’d find at any sporting event, who’ll do anything to see their kid win, and the same great people who become your friends for life.

But this is not about what I wrote. This is about how I felt better. Because after Ned gave me the oped idea that can’t lose, he sat down at the piano. He sits with his back very straight, a little dorky I must say, but so sweet. And he played a Ben Folds song we both love, and saw together performed last summer. And he sang along, totally off-key. I joined in, my voice trying to lift his to the right set of notes, but to no avail. So we kind of harmonized together in pathetic cacophony that pleased us very much.