Today was the Bethlehem Halloween parade. My son marched in the parade, and my husband drove the support van for the band. Logistically, this required that my husband drop our daughter and me off downtown to amuse ourselves until the parade started.
On the way downtown, the girl was asking how Cinderella’s real mom died, and then how her dad died. I told her the story doesn’t say but that I could pretty easily write a story where the stepmother poisoned everyone — except not Cinderella because the stepmother liked having a servant. (The girl is now referring to this story as basic fact — “in your story.” I guess this means I should start outlining it.)
Then we got to downtown, where as I said, we had to amuse ourselves. Given that the Moravian Book Shop (the world’s oldest bookstore) is there, this was not hard. We looked at books, ate lunch at the cafe, and bought her a small coloring book to amuse her while we waited outside.
I also bought myself an aspirational pin:
Then we went out and found a tiny unclaimed wedge of sidewalk in front of a pair of parking meters, and the girl settled in to color her ballerinas. I pulled out a notebook and pen and started writing about the discovery of a dead body at a parade. I’m sure it’s just as well that the people around me didn’t know I was sizing them up as potential victims and suspects.
All in all, not a bad afternoon. Few hours of fun with my daughter, a couple of new story ideas, and a pin to remind me of one of my down-the-road goals.
How’s your Sunday afternoon been?
