Help! I can't get out of bed

I could not wake up this morning. Why am I so tired, I asked myself as I burrowed under the covers and listened to the school buses chug up our street. Was that the garbage truck? I wondered if Scott would bring in the garbage can. I tucked the loudly ticking alarm clock under the pillow so I wouldn't suffer water torture and found myself snoring loudly on my back, waking up every 15 minutes to check the time. Today is Mornings at the Mall.

Aha! that's why I'm tired. It's all Scott's fault. Of course. Always blame the man in the family for your own problems. There's a psychological word for this - displacement? He got me in the habit of watching TV before going to bed. The two of us lie there switching between PBS and Turner Classic Films. Neither of us has the patience to listen to commercials.

Sea Hawks is one of my favorite films, he said. Erroll Flynn is vastly underrated, he said. They typecast him in swashbuckling roles so he never had a chance to grow as an actor. So I watched Sea Hawks while Scott slept, and then I fell asleep during The Prince and The Pauper.

I was half hour late for The Mall Talk. Helen does a great job. When I got there she'd pulled four tables together but we had to add more cause more people kept coming. I'd brought my own uncaffeinated Bigelow's raspberry tea, still steaming in my Dunkin Donuts mug.

I wish I could tell you about all the interesting people at that table. Everyone offers input to help each other. I waved to Lana, my former hairdresser who went to one of the booths for her lunch. Since "Danny" was just downsized from his engineering job, he joined us at the mall. His doctor has him on Seligiline, which no one had heard of. It's a newer MAO, isn't it, I asked. What doctor is smart enough to put you on Seligiline, I asked.

Merizalde, he said.

Does your mind work like this? After a while, you automatically begin thinking about what you're gonna do when you leave a place. I imagined myself going to the library to pick up a book they've got reserved for me and returning a book by a new MacArthur Fellow short story writer I couldn't get into. You know when a book is bad when you can't give it a second chance. Sorry, Deborah.

Oh! You're reading my blog Deb? You've been a fan of my blogs since 2007? Thank you so much, Ms. Eisenberg. I was just testing you.

I practically stapled two of our women together cuz I wanted the two of them to become friends and I was sure if they spent time together they'd bond. They did, going to Macy's to buy a new comforter for one, sheets for another.

It's the little things in life.

I love these people!

Question is, should I run out and buy more licorice? Just discovered the world's best. Can't remember the name but it's made in the land down under and is very chewy. Ah, thanks for your interest, Helen. Glad you love licorice too. Here's my number one favorite.