Thanksgiving!

Every Thanksgiving my siblings all come home to celebrate. This Thanksgiving was no different. My brothers and sisters were all here in Montana, waiting to taste my mom’s homemade apple pie. One thing was different this past Thanksgiving, and that was one of my sisters moved out of state less than a week before. I helped her move, and then helped my mom prepare the house for company and make all the food for the dinner. Needless to say, this was a very busy week for my family. After we had Thanksgiving dinner, my brothers and I decided to use the snow to our advantage and go sledding with the four-wheeler. This was a lot of fun, but I do have several nasty bruises from being tipped in the toboggan while being pulled by the four-wheeler. Other than a few bumps and bruises this Thanksgiving was very relaxing, and I can’t wait for the next break!   

Got Milk

                The snow was falling fast. Driving, even less than twenty miles an hour, the snow was zooming past me, giving the illusion that stars are rushing past like it does on Star Wars. The weather man on channel three called this the “worst blizzard in fifty years.” He seemed so excited as he said this, as if he thought the snow would end world hunger. 

                I didn’t understand why milk was so important, so crucial, for morning, I don’t see why he couldn’t go one morning without his blasted cheerios, and we had plenty of other breakfast items. Nonetheless I was still driving in the worst road conditions known to man.

                The car in front of me was slowing, I gingerly tapped my break, trying to not fishtail and lose control of the car. The other car then slowly, painfully slow, turned. I was then alone on the road. Well, for as far as I could tell.

                In normal weather, it would only take me fifteen minutes to reach the store and then back. I had been gone for over forty minutes and still hadn’t reached the store. I debated whether to turn back and brave the roads on the return, but I was so close. If I turned back now, the snowy road would win. I couldn’t let this happen.  I gently pressed harder on the accelerator determined to reach the store faster. I had to hurry, there little time to spare. As the needle climbed higher on the speedometer, reaching thirty, the snow came at me faster. I could hardly look out the window without a glaring headache pulsing through my temples.

                The road I was traveling usually had many cars scurrying about trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible. I found it strange that I was the only one on it tonight. Maybe I was only person who was crazy enough to travel in this weather.

                The phone on the passenger seat started to ring. I quickly glanced at it and then back at the road. Did I dare answer it? Whoever was calling would understand why I couldn’t answer. What if it was… I peeled my eyes form the wind shield and found the phone and grabbed for it. I clicked that answer button and pulled it to my ear.  

                I lost control, and I didn’t know why. The air bags deployed and hit my chest as my car continued to spin on the road. When the car stopped I was breathless. I couldn’t tell it I could move yet, so I sat, breathing hard, trying to comprehend what had occurred.  

             Carefully, I climbed out to check the damage. The front of my car was dented; I couldn’t see the extent of the damage because of the darkness. How could this happen? How could I let this happen? What had happened? The light from the head-lights shone across the road and rested on a deer, laying in an unnatural way.

             What the crap was a deer doing out in this kind of weather walking across the road?

 Probably the same thing I was doing, getting milk. 

I read A&P by John Updike and The Red Dress by Kevin Canty. I don't think that the either of the stories influenced me, but who knows. This story came from, literally, out of nowhere. The snowy roads though are probably the product of the fluffy white stuff out my window however. I hope that anyone reading enjoyed it!  

Cathedral

                In Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, the main character showed his jealousy throughout the majority of the story. When the story first begins the narrator, the husband, tells us that his wife’s blind friend is coming to visit. The narrator doesn’t sound pleased that the blind friend is coming to stay because he goes on to describe how his wife is in constant communication with the Robert, the blind man.  The narrator, to me sounds as if he’s very insecure about who he is and where he stands in life. Even after he shows he’s jealous of Richard’s arrival, the narrator talks about his wife’s ex-husband. The ex-husband is an officer and seems to have made himself into something. Though it doesn’t say what the narrator’s job is, it is very evident that the he’s jealous of the ex-husband job as well as the attention that his wife gave to him.  He wants desperately to be to be recognized by his wife and given attention that he hates that he’s not even being mentioned when Richard and his wife are talking after dinner.

                I think that the metaphor with the blind man’s disabilities and the narrator is that Richard tried to educate himself about what was in the world so he could envision it. While the narrator was blind due to not caring about any object.

                Carver’s writing style was hard to read when I first started. After a while it became easy and I could envision the scene taking place. His writing style left room for the imagination to create.  Even though I did come to appreciate Carver’s writing style, I prefer to read a complete sentence any day.