Nina Lois Turtledove

Laughter as a Mental Orgasm

Some days are not like the others.

I work the Saturday shift at Bang! now that Christina is gone. There are two children that hang out there during the day while the owners do their day-work and the two cooks prep for dinner. Bella, the daughter of the older brother of the two brothers that own the restaurant, and Boone, the son of the woman who is the other part-owner. Bella is four, and Boone is nine months old. The rest of the staff gets there at about four o’clock to eat employee meal. We all eat together in the dining room, and it’s nice. The Bang! family.

Yesterday at dinner, Bella was making Boone laugh as he sat in his highchair, by waving a paper napkin around his face and sometimes getting it on his face, tickling him. Boone was ecstatic, laughing, and shrieking, while they played their game for at least ten minutes straight. What a shock it was at first, I had never heard little Boone laugh before, and it was so contagious, and thouroughly warmed my heart.

Upstairs in the office where we put on our aprons, Josh, my silly-buddy was already there, writing a song in the moment on Chris’s computer. I said some comment that was supposed to be funny, but was nonsensical and really quite stupid, and that I found unexpectedly hilarious, and I just couldn’t take it! I doubled over in laughter, dropping in hysterics I practically hugged the chair that was closest to me. Unable to contain myself, I laughed until I was crying, and sitting there in a different chair, I put my apron over my head as the tears came rolling down. How cathartic! This happened a whole other time during the shift at the wait-station. Ah, life in its fullest colors!

After work, I transitioned to go to our friends Chad and Sarah’s wedding reception celebration. They got married in Las Vegas on July 14th. The party was at Chad’s mother’s house. Jay deejayed on a pool table that was on one side of the basement room. There was a wet-bar on the other side. Twelve or so of our closest and oldest friends.

Still, my cathartic mood had turned melancholy. Dali said that I looked like I was somewhere else. Sitting down together, I told her about where I’ve been the last little while. What she said fit perfectly. I was releasing a mental orgasm that had been building for me lately. Funny how a dream can set off a short journey that can color the next few days. Aware that I was releasing, melancholy no more, I had a lovely time. A few hours of dancing to my brother’s records with my tribe did me just right.

Photos of Chad, Sarah, Dali and myself taken from Ed’s girlfriend Kerilynn’s birthday party this past March.

Reflection | 4.09.2005 15:13 | 1 Comment