The Mini-Mart is Getting Fancy (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, Sean Jeating is providing the prompts which will be posted by Elephant's Child.     

This week's prompts are:

• daily,
• friendly, 
• human, 
• nodding, 
• wife
  

 

And/or

 

• bags, 
• gentlemen, 
• infinity, 
• steps, 
• veil

Charlotte (MotherOwl)  has given us Dahlia Yellow as the colour of the month.  If you can also incorporate it into your stories she (and I) will be grateful.

Have fun.

We first met him at a party at a client's home, and he seemed like a FRIENDLY, nice person.  He didn't stand out from any of the other GENTLEMEN at the party, at least as far as I could see.

The whole evening went as you usually expect such parties to go, with people mixing and mingling and talking.  Once I noticed my WIFE standing near the group where he was, and she was NODDING vigorously in agreement with what he was saying, at least I assumed that's what was going on.  I didn't think anything of it at the time.

Our DAILY lives went on, seemingly the same, although I didn't realize something in my wife had changed.  I should have seen the signs, I don't know if I just ignored them, or what, but a VEIL seemed to come between us, slowly and inexorably closing in until I couldn't deny it any more.

Then she told me she was having an affair with him, and that she was leaving, wanted a divorce.  It was as if I was suddenly dealing with a completely different HUMAN being from the one I thought I knew so well.  She packed her favorite travel BAGS, the Dahlia Yellow ones, and went down the STEPS of our home and got into his car as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Although she'd left with him, she decided she didn't want to lose her precious house, just me.  The negotiations for everything seemed to take an INFINITY, but my heart wasn't into staying there without her anyway so it was more a matter of dividing things fairly than fighting over it.

Once all the dust was settled and all his possessions moved in and almost everything of mine moved out, they got married and went on a honeymoon, and that's when I got the idea.

I still had a couple of things stored in the attic, small items of sentimental value and I'd agreed to come while they were gone and retrieve them.  I waited until the day they were due back, and made sure I had the two items in my duffel bag, with the bag unzipped, next to one of the collections of items he'd moved into the house.

Did I mention he collected curiosities from around the world?  Well, he did, and I knew from talking to the client whose party had started this mess that he collected these things but had no actual listing of them, no form of tabulating exactly what he had, just dozens of large and small items he'd picked up in various travels.

Anyway, they walked in arm in arm, smiling, and stopped smiling when they saw me standing there, just zipping my bag, next to one of his curio cabinets, the one which had taken the place of my bookcase in the living room.

I apologized for taking so long, telling them I didn't mean to disturb them, hefted my bag and beat a hasty retreat, and as I drove away I saw him in the rear view mirror, trying to flag me down, but I didn't stop.

It had occurred to him he needed to check my bag, make sure I hadn't taken anything except the items from the attic I'd come for, but it was too late once I'd gotten home, he knew if I had taken something, he'd never figure it out now.

Indeed, through the grapevine of gossip I heard he worried over it, wondering if I'd pulled the wool over his eyes and stolen one of his curiosities, and my plan had succeeded, because while he stole my wife, I stole his peace of mind.

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Today is:

Balloons Around the World -- balloon artists around the world are encouraged to donate an hour or more to a charity of their choice in their community, entertaining children everywhere with balloon sculpture

Banned Websites Awareness Day -- sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians   

Change a Light Day -- US (was originally sponsored by EnergyStar, promoting energy saving light bulbs; although they don't seem to be running this particular campaign any longer, it's a great idea to switch to the highest efficiency bulbs you can)

Festival of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Golf Lovers' Day -- internet generated, enjoy if you love golf

Ieiunium Cereris -- Ancient Roman Calendar (fast for the goddess Ceres)

Improve Your Office Day -- and water that plant while you are at it!

Independence Day -- Lesotho(1966)

International Toot Your Flute Day -- an internet generated day for shameless self-promotion

Kanelbullens Dag -- Sweden (cinnamon roll day)

National Ship in a Bottle Day -- another one i can't find a source for, but it's listed everywhere

National Taco Day

National Vodka Day

Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival -- Nihonmatsu, Japan (one of Japan's 3 largest lantern festivals; through the 6th)

Peace and National Reconciliation Day -- Mozambique

Semana Morazánica, una Fiestas Patrias -- Honduras (through Saturday)

St. Francis of Assisi's Day (Patron of animal welfare societies, animals, birds, ecologists, ecology, environment and environmentalists, families, lace makers/lace workers, merchants, needle workers, peace, tapestry workers, zoos; Italy, especially Assisi, as well as several other cities around the world; against dying alone, fire)

     Blessing of the Animals Day -- at many Catholic Churches, in honor of the Saint

St. Petronius' Day (Patron of Bologna, Italy)

10-4 Day (C.B.'ers) -- fourth day of the tenth month, ten-four, good buddy, etc.

Tewa Deer Dance -- Tewa Native Americans (celebrating the cosmic duality of the feminine and masculine, and honoring male and female ancestors; through the 7th)

World Animal Day -- International    

World Space Week begins -- International

Anniversaries Today

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, 1957

The Soviet Union launches Luna 3, 1959 (first satellite to photograph the moon's distant side)

Birthdays Today:

Rachael Leigh Cook, 1979

Alicia Silverstone, 1976

Abraham Benrubi, 1969

Christoph Waltz, 1956

Anita DeFrantz, 1952

Armand Assante, 1949

Susan Sarandon, 1946

Clifton Davis, 1945

Anne Rice, 1941

Jackie Collins, 1937

Alvin Toffler, 1928

Charlton Heston, 1924

Buster Keaton, 1895

Damon Runyon, 1884

Edward Stratemeyer, 1862

Frederic S. Remington, 1861

Rutherford B. Hayes, 1822

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, 1807

Debuting/Premiering Today

"The Alvin Show"(TV), 1961

Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major(Shostakovich Op. 107), 1959

"Leave It To Beaver"(TV), 1957

Snoopy, in the Peanuts Comic strip, 1950

Dick Tracy(Comic strip), 1931

Today in History:

One of the largest naval battles in history, the Battle of Lake Poyang, ends when the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat Chen Youliang, 1363

The first full English translation of the Bible, sometimes called the Matthew Bible, which contained the work of translators William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, is printed in Switzerland, 1537

Pope Gregory XIII's calendar adjustment that bears his name takes effect, with tomorrow being not Oct. 5, but Oct. 15, 1582

Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts drafts its first code of law, 1636

Peter Stuyvesant establishes America's first volunteer fire department, 1648

Christian Huygens patents the pocket watch, 1675

The state of Belgium is created after separation from the Netherlands, 1830

The New Orleans Tribune becomes the first black daily newspaper, 1864

The Orient Express, linking Turkey to Europe by rail, makes its first run, 1883

Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, 1941

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature, 1991

The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique, 1992

NATO confirms invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, 2001

SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space, 2004

What is believed to be the oldest high-altitude human settlement is found in Kokoda, Papua New Guinea, 2010

Nissan unveiled the NSC-2015 electric car prototype at the Ceatec 2012 show in Tokyo; the car drove and parked itself, 2012

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry is awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for their work on cryo-electron microscopy, 2017

The Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine is awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for discovering receptors for temperature and touch, 2021

The Noble Prize for Physics is won by Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for their groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, 2022