Saturday, July 28, 2007

"The Reformed Dumpster Diver" or "Boopsie Gets a Friend"

When Uncle Kemtrail reached his forties, moved away from a college town (where semester breaks create wonderful "trash"), and wasn't quite so agile any more, the reformed dumpster diver became a garage sale addict, so Friday and Saturday mornings, we all wait eagerly for him to stop by for coffee and show us the bargains he's nabbed.

Today's finds included a great wall hanging for his home:


I was on the phone when he arrived this morning and let himself through the back door, near where I was seated at the time. Because I was having a phone conversation, and because he was clutching to himself a rather large ball of fur, he didn't get a verbal greeting, a wave, or even a smile. My brows were knitted, as I tried to determine whether or not there was life in that furry bundle.

At the conclusion of that phone call, I discovered he'd brought me a minky-looking teddy bear, and when I commented specifically on liking the bear's eyes, I explained that I'm smitten with close-set teddy bear eyes, and I really don't like wide-set ones.

"Well, Boopsie has wide-set eyes, doesn't he?"

"Yes, I suppose he does, but that's different," and the mention of this old friend prompted me to open my closet door and take from his perch my beloved Boopsie, who many decades ago had much of his fur loved off and lost his voice, though his belly-held, exhausted larynx is now prominent in his furless, compacted body.

"How old is he now, or do you even know?" inquired Uncle Kemtrail.

"Sure, he's 53."

"Wow, you should take him to the Antiques Road Show or something," said Uncle Kemtrail, which prompted Charles to display for us the disgust with which the appraisers would lift him from me, holding my friend by the ear and as distant from their airspace as possible. Poor Boopsie.

Uncle Kemtrail, still examining Boopsie, said, "What'd you do, bite his toenails or something?"

"Uh-huh. I chewed most of them off; gave him a manicure and a pedicure." I remember doing it. I don't remember why I did it. My sister was a nailbiter. I reckon I preferred Boopsie's to my own.

I'm reminded now of a song I learned in Brownies:

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
And the other gold



A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches,
[and] loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Proverbs 22:1

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