Oh, deb.

Oh, lovely Deb, both of them. That last one is heart-wrenching.

Yep. The heart definitely had a bend in it when I wrote that. Next lyrics up will be "Zoo in Heaven", another pissy little song about rock and roll. I sense a theme in my own history. And I love this thread, I do, even though it occurs to me I may be using it in a way that's rather uncomfortably close to creative masturbation, at the moment.

Teppy, new topic today?

You know, I was just thinking about that!

I think I am going to go with the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.

So, challenge #21 (group of people looking down) is closed.

Challenge #22: bells. Silver, Southern, Jingle -- whatever. Have at it!

Oh God, Deb, "Ghosts" is just heartbreaking. I'd love to hear this one sung, but it reads beautifully right here like this.

Oooh, bells. Off to think.

Notre Dame, 1990

"Chacun doit partir de la tour de cloche, s'il vous plait."

I took my time. Paris was bathed in sunlight, mist rising off the Seine. From up here, the City of Light was mine.

"Chacun doit partir...."

Halfway down the narrow ancient stairway, I understood the danger.

The first bells shook the building, deep-voiced, plangent, angry - a fist to the skull. I covered my ears, tried to run.

The carillon took my feet out from under me. Sitting hard, I bumped down three flights.

Safe in the nave, I blotted blood from my nose, wondering how Quasimodo had survived.

The Cruelest Month

I don't like September.

September, for me, is the month of loss, heartbreak, tragedy, bad news. The year begins its march toward the darkness of winter, the sun begins a retreat, my life falls apart.

Eve died in September; three years old, falling off a high hill. It left me crippled for 18 months, that fall; it left her gone.

My father lost his leg in September, a blood clot, thrombosis, the long slide into death too soon.

N died in September, and history stopped and began again.

September, to me, is bad history, sweet bells jangling out of tune.

Inspired by recent events:
It takes a second because the doorbell doesn’t ring.My house has electrical gremlins. But the dogs woof and let me know that somebody’s out there. I’m silly and wish I’d made up my face. My God, this is so generous, I expect my brother to come out of somewhere yelling “Psych!”. He always did think that game was funnier than I did. He’s a better bullshitter than me and always knew to put in stuff just weird enough to be real. I’ve won a game show. With smut. And hosts you might really want to kiss. The check’s here.

Oh, damn, erika, you just cheered me up. Perfect.

I understand those words, but to be fair I hardly ever see them in this order. I used to be black cloud girl, pretty much. Cool! You're welcome, of course...just a small return on your generosity.