(for Carrianne and Enzo)

She opened the door
into a sea of chaos.
Flour, rice, and chips scattered
from one end of the house
to the other;
herbs once happily growing
on a sunny windowsill
lay in shattered shards on the floor.
She wondered if she'd been robbed,
but what kind of burglar leaves
televisions and laptops
and ransacks kitchen cabinets?
A bored, hungry one, apparently.
She followed the trail of white
through the house and on the furniture
to catch the culprit red-handed,
or white-pawed to be more accurate,
sprawled and bloated on the sofa.
Did you do this? she growled.
He raised his head, lolling in her direction,
and gave the sad-eyed greyhound face
that they both knew she couldn't resist.
If she didn't love him so much,
she'd have killed him on the spot,
but they both knew that wasn't happening either.
She really didn't want to think about
the havoc uncooked rice and flour
might have on a dog's digestive track,
so she pulled out the broom and got to work.

~Elise Skidmore ©2020

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4 Comments

    1. Thanks, Lucille! This actually happened to Carrianne last week and her telling of the tale and the aftermath had me rolling with laughter. I admitted that if I’d been the one to walk in on that, I wouldn’t be laughing, but the way she told it I could see it so clearly, like one of those videos on the internet, it was impossible not to laugh. Her telling of the aftermath of that gorge-fest was hysterical too, but I thought it best to stop where I did.

  1. Awesome poem! I can visualize the whole scene and hear Carrianne telling the story, even though you, as her mom, are telling it in 2nd person. I loved, “She followed the trail of white…..to catch the culprit…..sprawled and bloated on the sofa. ? Thanks for sharing on Facebook. ❤️

    1. Thank you so much for letting me know how much you enjoyed this one. It means a lot. I usually share the links to new blog posts on Facebook, but if you want to be sure not to miss one, there’s a box you can check here so you’ll be notified by email whenever there’s a new post. (Just scroll to the very bottom of any page.) Don’t worry about being spammed by it. We never give out private info and I’m not so prolific youthat your inbox will be overflowing. LOL