I toss my Koosh ball in the air and watch it arc across the living room,
through the hall door and come to rest in front of the coat closet,
landing with a satisfying *whump*. After a few seconds I climb to my feet
and retrieve it - my baby. My roommate's baby is a cat, mine is a Koosh
ball. It's a normal, healthy relationship, dammit. And, yes, one of
which I'm slightly defensive. When you've had two of your closest friends
hide your baby from you just to see the neurotic results you become a
little defensive.
But anyway - I was being reflective. I sit back down against the living
room wall, squeezing pastel colored rubber bands between the backs of my
right hand's fingers. I'll have to stop playing soon, as I can tell once
again I'm going to develop cuts between my middle fingers. A laughable
injury, maybe, but not as funny as the bruise I'll one day develop on my
forehead. I've designed a way of playing solo catch - toss the Koosh ball
against my forehead, catch it in my hand. Toss - smack - catch; toss-
smack - catch. Well, it makes me happy. I like not needing anyone else
to play catch with; I like sitting here all alone with my colorful, glow
in the dark, little stringy friend.
Glow in the dark? Yes, my baby glows in the dark. Come over sometime and
we'll turn off all the lights and I'll show you. It's really
neat; my baby, my heart, my soul, my fluorescent night-light. Awww -
don't you just feel like smiling? My little rubber friend (watch it) does
that: it makes people want to smile. Because it's such a silly little
thing, a goofy, floopy thing, but it has a great big heart. It exists
only to be touched and caught and giggled at and to glow and fly and
tickle. And it feels - like nothing else in the world. It feels like
it's name - Koosh. Rubber bandy and addictive - which is why it comes
everywhere with me. It sits next to me when I'm reading or writing; it
sits on the kitchen counter when I cook; and on sad days it's my security
blanket at work. We watch TV together, listen to music together, and it's
with me when I talk on the phone. Koosh ball - it's everywhere you want
to be.
[In the years since I wrote this my Koosh balll has been relegated to a drawer. Poor thing. But I'm sure it's glowing in the dark - just glowing away, like a firefly.]
Posted by acr at November 10, 2003 07:00 PM | TrackBack