Bad Manners

My mother didn’t raise me up to be so rude. Scornfully examining a friend’s rather scraggly Christmas tree tonight, I asked, “Is that—”

“Yes, it’s fake.”

“Boy, if *I* were fake, I’d sure look better than that.” This is how I reward someone for a delicious dinner and great company.

Esmeralda moved in this morning. Here’s how her room looked before I left to take Lulu back to college.

Esmeralda’s and Lulu’s farewell embrace…

After bravely taking leave of my girleen, I drove Stella to Tom & Karen’s where Jane gave a demonstration of her new Christmas present. The TV prompts her to press certain buttons to a certain beat, and if she does well the TV audience approves.

I tried next. “It’s harder than it looks,” they all told me. It was harder than it looked. Within seconds I got booed off the TV’s stage.

Characteristically, Karen had the best form.

Through all this, Tom watched. Here, he thinks I didn’t see what he did with a certain centrally located finger.

Finally, here’s how Esmeralda’s room looked when I got back tonight.

T’is lovely to have her here. But I still miss Lulu and Stella already.