Lady in Red

Charlie and I have enjoyed a little routine together every morning and evening since mid-March.  I say enjoy, but the first and final moments are about as enjoyable as removing my toenails one at a time with a pair of pliers.  Getting in and out of the apartment, up and down 4 flights of stairs, functions like an enhanced interrogation technique blatant torture.  I definitely have PTSD from the ordeal and I would absolutely betray some state secrets if it meant not having to deal with Charlie on the stairs.  But a dog's gotta poop, so every morning before I eat breakfast, and every evening after the dinner dishes are cleaned up, we go for a walk.  With a Gentle Leader, he's actually pretty good on a leash unless some external stimuli, like another dog or certain types of vehicles, sets him off. 

We are creatures of habit, and usually walk the same 1-mile loop of neighborhood blocks, weather permitting.  There's a house we pass, twice a day, every day, that brings me endless joy.  At first glance, it's an unassuming house.  Tidy little red brick bungalow, nothing remarkable.  The yard is more noticeable, a sea of rosebushes inside a chain link fence.  Red roses, surrounded by red mulch.  The walkway leading up to the front door is painted red.

Behind the house is a carport with a red metal roof over a concrete pad painted red, sheltering a...red car.  There's another red car parked on the street.  There are red apple curtains hanging in the windows.

The other evening I walked by and finally saw the person responsible for so much red.  A petite older woman, trimming her rosebushes in soft evening warmth.  She was wearing a red-striped shirt, and her hair was dyed...well, it was a little on the nose.  I noticed this week that her crepe myrtles have bloomed, and they are all red, save for one.  One pink crepe myrtle, and it scares me to imagine how pissed, how utterly filled with murderous rage, this woman must have been when she realized her perfect bloodbath was spoiled.

I wish I loved anything as much as this woman loves the color red.