Oscar says the rain is costing him dearly. Apparently, his suntan from Cuba is almost gone. Ben and Norma tried rather unsuccessfully to do some gardening in the rain. Norma wore a yellow, strapless sou'wester as they tried to plant some annuals. It was promptly blown from her head by a gust of wind.
Computer Doug was seen trying to shepherd his two young boys into the family car. Apparently, he had exhausted all known ways of keeping them occupied in the house. He decided to take them for a drive in the rain. He said he had no choice in the matter.
Big Doug seems to look out his window on the hour. It looks like he's contemplating the fate of his grass. He appreciates the rain. But he's worried about getting too much of a good thing.
Weather reports suggest a few days of sunny respite after tomorrow, before the rain returns. A recent story in The Daily Snooze suggested that it could actually rain for most of the summer.
If this is true, it will be difficult for some of the Sack's residents to hold on to their sunny dispositions.
***
It will be only a matter of days before Daisy and Weed welcome their newborn child.
Although they aren't even close to having enough money to buy their own home, they've been looking at houses nonetheless. Weed says him and Daisy saw a place they really liked the other day. Apparently it's only a ten minute walk from the Sack, too.
The house is on Pleasant Street.
***
Several weeks ago, we learned about the case of a stolen trampoline on Pleasant Street. That was the first time the street appeared on the Sack's radar screen.
When it came up on that first occasion, it was clear that Oscar didn't think highly of Pleasant Street. So when Weed mentioned it this time, he decided to tell us the reason for his low opinion of the place.
Pleasant Street, it seems, is where Oscar's nemesis lives.
***
Oscar went to high school with a guy named Danny. They shared many of the same classes. For various lengths of time, both of them worked part-time at the local Canadian Tire store. They also competed in the same sports, although almost always on opposite teams.
While both were in their late teens and at different times, each dated the same young woman. Oscar dated her first, for about three months. Then she went out with Danny for about six months.
Today, both Oscar and Danny have their own families.
Danny is now known by the more mature sounding, Dan. He has a seven-year-old daughter and a son who is the same age as Oscar's boy, Dorian. Oscar says Dorian even competes against Danny's kid in hockey, soccer and basketball.
While the two men are employed in different occupations, both work in the same industry today. Not surprisingly, they work for competing companies.
Oscar says he and Dan have never been friends, even though their lives have overlapped so often. Without any particular reason, he claims that he and Danny (he won't call him Dan) have just never liked each other. When they encounter each other around the old town, Oscar says they just nod and glare at each other for a few seconds.
The ill feelings are generational, too. According to Oscar, his mother had a minor dispute with Danny's mother many years ago. He thinks the negative feelings "drifted down by osmosis" from there.
Oscar said he really hoped Weed wouldn't move to Pleasant Street. He says it's plagued by bad karma.
***
Just like the Sack, Pleasant Street is a nondescript place.
It's a small connecting street between two equally small streets. It might hold about twelves houses in total. The houses are older and smaller than those in the Sack. But they stand on much larger lots. Mrs. Wonders says some houses have mature, well-maintained gardens.
All things considered, one would likely find it to be a pleasant place to live.
***
But Pleasant Street was also the site of a trampoline theft. As we've heard, it's also home to Danny, Oscar's lifelong nemesis.
And then there is Little Doug's beef with Pleasant Street.
And then there is Little Doug's beef with Pleasant Street.
Apparently, it's where his boss lives. Little Doug doesn't have many positive things to say about his boss. He actually referred to the man as a "dickweed."
I've never understood what that word meant.
***
As it turns out, Gordon isn't a fan of Pleasant Street, either.
Apparently, property taxes there are lower than those in the Sack. Gordon says the street is about four minutes closer to the old town's downtown quarter. And, of course, it has those bigger lots. Gordon didn't hesitate to raise this issue at a meeting held last fall by the local city councillor. He made specific mention of the disparity in property taxes between the Sack and Pleasant Street.
The next day, the self-described head of Pleasant Street's resident's committee called Gordon to complain about the matter. He said Gordon was just trying to make things worse for everyone else.
Gordon said he tried to set the man straight, but to no avail. The upstart from Pleasant Street apparently hung up the phone on the grand poobah of the Sack's Resident's Society.
Sometimes, it seems there is no end to conflict in the world.
***
Weed says there is virtually no chance he and Daisy could buy the place on Pleasant Street, anyway. He said it's very unlikely they could get enough money together for the down payment right now. The house would also need some repairs after they purchased it.
Nevertheless, he also agreed that Pleasant Street sounded like a "shifty" place to live, despite its otherwise attractive exterior. He said it made sense to him that Gordon, Oscar and Little Doug would want to keep an eye on Pleasant Street and its shifty inhabitants.
That's why, he argued, he and Daisy would be prepared to live in the house on Pleasant Street as spies. If everyone wanted to chip in on the down payment and initial repairs, he said they'd be prepared to suffer among the Sack's greatest rival and report back at every opportunity.
Little Doug said there was no way he'd put his own flesh and blood through a stint on Pleasant Street. Oscar said it makes more sense to simply keep one's distance from the place. Gordon thought it was actually a good idea, but felt the money should come from Little Doug.
In the end, it seemed clear that Weed and Daisy won't be moving to Pleasant Street any time soon.
However, the whole discussion about Pleasant Street turned out to be a very helpful thing, according to Oscar. He says it has made it easier to cope with the rain. This will be very useful, he pointed out, if The Daily Snooze is right and it rains all summer.
We'll be able to remind ourselves, Oscar noted, that when it's raining in the Sack, "You know it's raining on Pleasant Street, too."
***
2 comments:
Your link for the sou'ester sent me to a wiki page about some sort of coin. I'm assuming that this is a mistake and Norma was not, in fact, wearing currency whilst gardening.
This leaves me with the following clues as to what a sou'ester is:
It's yellow.
It's strapless.
My first assumption is that a sou'ester is some sort of sundress, which are often both yellow and strapless.
But then you mentioned that it was 'blown off' of Norma.
If it was, in fact, a sundress that was blown off your neighbor, I would imagine that it would warrant more than a mention in the prelude of a post.
That leaves me to conclude that a sou'ester is some sort of hat.
Either way, if Norma wants it back, I'd tell her to start looking on Pleasant Street.
Yeharr
Wiki has been wonky of late. I fixed the link twice, but it keeps going back to the coin.
You are correct, of course, that a sou'wester is a hat. Although Norma's was a yellow strapless one, it is not a sexy hat by any stretch of the imagination. . .
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