First Saturday Wordzzle

Based on a writing workshop she attended, my friend Raven has initiated Saturday Wordzzle day.

The exercise requires writing a short paragraph using the week’s words. So without further yada yada here’s my contribution to the First Saturday Wordzzle.

The words are:
Ostrich, conga line, lucite, garish, pumpkin seeds, persimmon, autograph, naked truth, false teeth and merry-go-round.

It is the silly naked truth that, even at my age, I love the merry-go-round. It affirms for me all the joys of being quirky. I spend hours there, sometimes watching the children and their parents, more often riding around and around. I used to sit boldly on the horse named Persimmon, enjoying my reckless abandon by not wearing a seat belt. I’d perch on the edge of Persie and throw my arms up in the air as we went around faster and faster. The old merry-go-round would shake and rattle so badly that I swore my false teeth would pop out and land on the garish painted wooden floor, looking up at Persie’s exaggerated fake smile. Even now, while acknowledging my aching bones by sitting on the little lucite benches that replaced the rotting wooden swan shaped seats, I find something new to have fun with. I watch the huge clown face that sits in the center of the merry-go-round looking like a deranged pumpkin, spitting out bubbles as if they were pumpkin seeds. Friends and family laugh lovingly at my eccentric behavior; the wild conga line I organized at my son’s wedding, the time I stood in the freezing rain to get Jon Stewart’s autograph, the huge ostrich pin that I religiously wear on the collar of my bright red coat. The merry-go-round remains my secret.