h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Continuity]
In the sleepy little town of Fulton, MO, on the north side toward the highway leading to I-70, one can turn onto a road named after the tales of a famous 14th-century London-born poet. Half-way down, on the south side of the road, stands what appears to be a fairly new two-story house bedecked in cream colored white siding. The front of the house is dominated by the short cement driveway leading into the two-car garage. Just to the left of the drive is a curving cement walk edged in a variety of flowers and seasonal plants. The walkway leads to a wooden landing supporting a white ironwork bench comfortable enough for taking one’s shoes off or just lounging to watch the neighbors go by. In the center of the single front door with the brass handle and thumb latch, there hangs a small decorative wreath. A wind chime featuring frogs hangs from the lantern light to the left of the door. Even further left are the two tall white-framed windows that reach the corner of the house, complemented by another single tall white-framed window set into the side right around the corner.

By stepping over the small verge of plants and flowers, you can traverse the strip of lawn along the side of the house, as it slopes down into the back yard. The first thing you notice on your way down is the large wooden structure of a child’s play set. It’s made of pine beams primed in a burgundy color. It boasts ladders on either end leading to hand-over-hand rungs, swings and riding and hanging devices on each arm of the structure, and a squarish central tower with a sandbox beneath a center platform topped by a curved green cloth awning. There’s a rock climbing wall replete with a rope angling up to the center platform at the back side, and a green plastic slide angling down from the front.

About ten feet before the play set is a group of pipes in a tripod shape. It appears that they are the newest arrival here in the yard [aside from your presence] and have the look of unfinished business. The central upright pole has a long thin nylon rope attached to the top, which hangs down to about three feet above the grass and is tied to a yellow ball. Hunched over below two of the supporting struts is a middle-aged man of a slight build, dressed in blue jean shorts, a shiny blue tank-top jersey, and a pair of wide strapped sandals. It seems that he’s engrossed in scribbling something in the dirt.
[\Continuity]

{B4 looks up in surprise, then recognizes you.}

Oh, hello! I didn’t see you at first. How are you doing today?
{He sets down his stylus, backs out from under the poles, wipes his hands on his jeans and steps forward to shake your hand and give you a friendly little hug.}

I was just finishing with the first of this weekend’s projects. My wife, A----, is great about generating a ‘honey-do list’ for me. This little addition took Y----, our 6-year-old daughter, and me about an hour to put together from start to finish. She was a real help, bringing the hose over to our big tin wash bucket, squirting just the right amount of water into the concrete mix, helping me stir it up, and holding the tetherball pole in place while I poured the cement into the post hole I’d dug. She even helped me clean up the tools a bit when we got done. She’s inside now, watching cartoons, and I thought I’d put the finishing touches on this thing.
{B4 squats down by the tripod poles leaning against the tetherball pole and motions for you to come have a look.}
Mind you don’t bump the support poles loose. See what I’ve done here? It’s kind of a tradition most folks do when they finish a project like this. I took a straw and poked it into the setting cement and wrote today’s date, 31 Jul 04, and our initials. Since she helped me so much, I put YEW on this side, perpendicular to the date, and TJW on this side, at a right angle as well. Now we’ll always remember when we did this task.

{He now stands up, mindful of the poles, and looks you in the eye.}
I’ve already told my little one she won’t be able to use this for about three days, until the cement sets up properly. Bet she’ll ask me every day ‘til then, “Daddy, is it ready yet?”

Oh, Lord, she keeps me feeling young! A---- and I have one of these ‘melded marriages’, you know, a combination of ‘yours, mine, and ours’ sort of thing. Y---- is the ‘ours’, our last one of five. A---- came into our marriage with three kids, two teenage boys from her first marriage, and a 5-year-old girl from her second. I entered into it with a 9-year-old daughter. I suppose that six people in one home just wasn’t enough for us, and we wanted to get to that ‘lucky seven’ number, so we worked at having another one. A---- had to have her tubal ligation reversed and, once that was done and she’d healed, it was only a month before she conceived. Guess she was really ready!

{B4 now ushers you toward the wooden steps leading up from the basement access in back of the house [a third story!] to the mid-level deck with the waist-high railing. There’s a long table with a glass top and four cushioned swivel chairs on the patio, just outside the large white-framed sliding-glass door that leads into the kitchen and dining area. A big pitcher of fresh-brewed iced tea sits on a serving tray in the middle of the patio table, drops of condensation cling or run down its sides, with a handful of tall tumblers arrayed around it. He flicks a switch on a radio set on a small table by the door and a tune from Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young floats gently on the warm Summer breeze.}

I'll light the fire
You put the flowers in the vase
That you bought today

Staring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you
Play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for me

Can I offer you something cool to drink? There’s the tea, or I could step inside for a Foster’s, or some juice, or some purified water…

Anyway, all those kids have been a treasure and a challenge, depending on the age bracket they’ve gone through. The little one still has so much ahead of her and, being the last in the line, has picked up ~so much~ from the older kids. They’ve taught her so many little things along the way and helped her love to learn that she’s very far advanced beyond most all her classmates. I hope to see her all the way through her school years and off into adulthood. I wasn’t able to do that for A----’s kids from the beginning, and I lament the loss of those formative years with them. I lost a big chunk of our oldest daughter’s lifetime between my divorce from her mother and when I got full custody of her, from nine to fifteen. With our youngest, though, I plan to stay the full course and my wonderful wife is of the same mind. I think we’ll make it…

Come to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is good
Such a cozy room
The windows are illuminated
By the sunshine and
Fiery gems for you
Only for you

So, something to drink, then?

Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you
And our la, la, la-la-la-la, la, la, etc

I'll light the fire
And you place the flowers in the jar
That you bought today

B4irustleupsomegrub2

That is just beautiful.

Wonderful B4!

I almost hear the breeze blowing through the windchime.

*pats B4 on the back* Very descriptive. Really brings it to life.