Three very short stories

Groucho Marx

I sit in my cheap leather chair, watching a black and white TV episode of some old quiz show filmed in 1961, starring dead people who thought $2,500 was everything, and a trip to Honolulu was the berries, and I wonder: “can they still get credit for this? Are they in some holding pen somewhere, hoping someone tunes in to one of their TV shows and is changed for the better, and finds God, so they can attain to some higher position, or even get into heaven at all, or be spared from hell, because someone watched their TV show 44 years later. Is Groucho Marx in limbo, and if so, what should I do, seeing his TV program now, to free him into heaven? Should I say, “this touched my life?” Or do I just go on, flipping channels? I think Conan’s on.

Bradburn Row

There are always balloons where I drink coffee because the sales agents use them to attract potential buyers of these overpriced homes near the place where I drink coffee. Something about the marriage between multicolored rubber and helium has a bewitching effect on home shoppers. The balloons are purple, pink, green and silver/pearl. The silver/pearl balloon is the newer color, and gives the feeling of newness, and makes you think these homes and condos are newer and progressive. If you see them, you will probably want to buy one, so you’ll go to the office and the sales agent will give you a ride in her pettycab.

Christo’s Fence

Back in the days when artists had balls, Christo Javacheff built a 24 mile fence across Northern California. We saw it on Hwy 101, down near San Rafael area. My grandmother always pointed it out. She respected art and admired the artist like a higher being within society. Christo’s fence was white and tall and made of one piece of woven acrylic, and it took five years to build. It was eighteen feet high. Everyone opposed the idea. Everyone but other artists. Now it’s gone, but who remembers anyone doing anything like that? It’s against the rules to build a fence across California like that anymore. People can only look back at Christo’s fence and that’s all they have. So he was right.