Bad Ju-Ju
Something is in the air and Phil Collins can’t feel it.
I’m not a big believer in the supernatural, but in the last few years I’ve developed a strange sense for an odd tilt to our little world. I have no idea what is going to happen. I don’t even know that something is on the way. But there’s a tilt to things that just doesn’t feel quite right. It’s a tightness in the atmosphere, like a warm and cold front colliding in Southwest Missouri.
Exhibit A: My dog puked last night. This is not entirely uncommon. She sometimes eats grass when her stomach doesn’t feel so well. It is instinctual and a lot of dogs do it. But last night, Scoop didn’t munch on the lawn. She just ate her dinner, ran around like a banshee for a hour or two, then jumped on to the floor, opened her mouth, and let her dinner fall out. She looked at me with this look in her eyes that said, “Sorry ’bout that. Bad ju-ju in the air. Run for your life.”
Exhibit B: I drank wine last night. I don’t drink wine. In college, my friends and I would make the drive up I-70 to the Rocheport Winery. We would drink fabulously bad wine for a few hours while the sun set over the Missouri River. We would’ve felt classy, except people usually got pretty sick afterward. Once on the ride back, my friend Su-choo let loose a good one out the passenger side window. She was sitting on my lap at the time.
People keep bringing wine to my house. It’s the perfect “I felt like I should bring something” gift. Last night, I chilled and opened a bottle to have with our baked ziti. And before you say, “You just started eating baked ziti because of the Sopranos…”…I only started eating baked ziti after watching the Sopranos. The wife and I drank it all. It made me sleepy. If the dog hadn’t puked, I would’ve gone immediately to bed.
Exhibit C: The sunset looks like armageddon. And from what I hear, so does the sunrise. The end of the day is orange and beautifully scary. I don’t see this as a bad thing. But it is different. Different is often a little disconcerting.
I don’t have much more evidence. Just some bad ju-ju in the air.
Be careful this weekend…or at the very least, don’t grab a bottle of wine and take your dog to watch the sunset.
