In Tandem #11 - "Razzle Dazzle"

Razzle Dazzle

“The “Pink Flamingo” where you live, kid?” the bus driver asks me.  I nod my head and can’t help but blush a bit, thinking my cheeks match the color of my house.  I step down onto the sidewalk and ponder the sight before me. 

Sometimes the kids on the bus call my home “The Cotton Candy” or “The Bubble Gum”.  Grandfather laughs and says at least the little ones have imagination.  Grownups just call it the “Pink Eyesore”.  I’ve asked him numerous times if he minds what they say and he always smiles and replies “The adults lack of creativity does annoy”.  

I drop the subject as I wonder if what they say about the “Ninety year old man on the hill” is true.  I still remember the day I came home from school and the only bit of white remaining were the front gate posts.  As I stood on the driveway with mouth ajar, the posts were quickly brushed with carnation pink.  “Grandpa, why does our house look like pink sherbert?”  

“Not a bad name,” he had chuckled, “but I was thinking of something along the line of “Jazzberry Jam” or “Pink Pearl”.  I laughed as Grandfather’s eyes twinkled and challenged my cleverness.  

“Well Gamps, I think “Tickle Me Pink”, “Piggy Pink” and", I laughed as my mind raced to think of another "and “Shimmering Blush would be fun!" I blurted.

“Ah, that’s my girl, but I think I have another idea.  “Razzle Dazzle Rose” strikes my fancy.”  He fell silent as tears filled his eyes.  He ruffled my hair as I, too, swallowed back a lump in my throat.  

“I miss her too, Gamps, and I love the name", and I had taken his arm and we walked up the front steps.

That evening I heard music beneath my bedroom window.  Yawning, I got out of bed and drew back the curtain and through the dim light I spied him dancing around the courtyard where they had danced every Saturday evening for seventy years.  


And he keeps that date every week, smiling, laughing, and waltzing with his memory of Rose.  

Pink Flamingo, Cotton Candy or Eyesore. I don’t care what anyone else calls it.  Grandfather is wrapped in love, surrounded within by his beloved Rose.  Crazy or not, I can’t see anything wrong with that.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens 365, September 26, 2011

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This is for "In Tandem #11".  Hop on over and read the others or play along!  Each Wednesday Jinksy provides two photos for us to gather inspiration to write a poem or short prose.  


This is also for "Three Word Wednesday CCLIX" - this week's words being: dull, race and yawn.