Crash at June's House

Sounds bad, doesn't it? Well it wasn't too bad really. There was no actual 'crash', Ms J.

Here, then. Sit back and I'll tell you the story.

June is my sister. I've mentioned her here before Even posted a pic or two. You can click right here to refresh your memory, if you'd like.

She and I have wanted to watch the movie "Crash" together. I first saw the film last summer with Girl Alex and I thought it was quite inspirational. When I told June about it, she suggested we get together one evening at her place and watch it. I finally had a bit of free time, so at the last minute I phoned her to ask if we might do it tonight.

"Sure," she said and I could hear her smiling on the phone. "Our big screen tv is not working, but we can use the small one. Would you be OK with that, Dale?"

I told her that would be fine and rushed off to rent the DVD. Then I drove to her place. She is married to a great guy. Rob is his name. Rob's an auto mechanic. He's done lots of work on my cars over the years, and saved me lots of money. They have two young kids. Shauna and Ryan. Good kids. I really like them.

My sister is a good cook and we enjoyed a delicious dinner of roast pork and boiled potatoes. There was even some apple sauce June had made from Dad's apples. I made apple sauce too, Ms J. Remember? But alas, June's was tastier than mine. Sweeter, I think. Better. The meal was so good, in fact, that I over-indulged a tad. I ate a bit too much. I ... Well, I ...

OK. I ate like a starving man, Ms Journal. I ate like a pig. No, I don't mean my table manners were bad. I mean I ate enough food to sate three men. I was in agony after dinner. I felt like the enormous customer in the restaurant in that Monty Python sketch. He ate a mint after dinner and exploded. My belly did not detonate, fortunately, but I laid on the couch after supper and moaned for twenty minutes. Eventually, I found the energy to get up and go outside for a walk. That seemed to help.

While I was out, I observed the season's first light snowflakes as they swirled about the street lamps in the wind. It's always strange to see the first snow. It's both a blessing and a curse, isn't it?

June put the kids to bed around 8:00 and the three of us sat down to watch "Crash." But there was a problem. The posh, new DVD player they have is not compatible with their ancient and diminutive television. The big screen model is broken, remember? So there was in fact, no "Crash" at all. We were disappointed, but things turned out alright. Rob fell asleep watching SUV, or CIA, or something. It was a police story and it had three letters in the title. SIU? Whatever. June and I ate a bag of potato chips (i.e. crisps, for those across the pond) and chatted until after 11:00.

"I'm not kicking you out," she said at last, "but I have to get up for work in the morning. You can stay if you want, but I really have to go to bed."

I rose and kissed my sleeping brother-in-law on the top of his bald pate and hugged my sister.

"Bye, Goon," I said. (I still call her Goon sometimes, Ms J. From when we were kids.) "Thanks for dinner."

June laughed.

"Yeah. You're welcome. I know you enjoyed it."

I'm still full, Ms J. I feel like one of those huge African snakes that has just eaten a wildebeest. I won't have to eat again for a week!

***