LMPYITP: The Random Passages

Nostalgia

...

I'm sure the donkeys were happy I had two hands. I learned pretty early on you needed to have at least two donkeys which meant one hand each to pet them.

They stood there letting me scratch and pet them, until one got jealous of the other and the ears pinned back as the teeth bared.

I went to tell them to quit but stopped myself as a car slowed down and pulled in the driveway.

"Who the hell's this?" I wondered aloud.

The driver didn't notice me and just pulled all the way in, stopping by my car. Once parked, all four doors opened and four passengers (all girls) exited the vehicle.

"Is this the place?" One of them asked the others.

"Certainly looks like it." Another one replied. Then, she noticed me. "There she is!" She nodded at me.

"Hi!" They greeted me in unison as they approached me.

"H-hi!" My voice quivered a bit as my eyes began to cloud.

"Do you know who we are?" The second one questioned me.

"Y-y-yes!" I nodded sniffling back my tears.

I knew as soon as they got out of the car. It was too obvious.

The youngest one dressed like the youth of her generation. The second youngest one wore a sweatshirt with "St. Bede's" stamped across the front of it. The other two were relatively the same in age with one wearing a new Jet t-shirt and the other in simple clothes from her generation as well.

"Happy Birthday!" They exclaimed together.

"Thanks. But it's actually tomorrow." I pointed out. "Same as yours." I nodded at the oldest one. "You'll be what? Fifty-two?"

"Yeah, but not yet." She said. "I'm only twenty-nine as of right now."

"True." I nodded. "So, what are yins doin' here?"

"Come to visit you." The oldest one revealed. "I take it these are the source of the inspiration?" She nodded at the donkeys.

"No, they ain't!" The second oldest answered before I could. "You know just as well as the rest of us they ain't. She got the inspiration for yours thanks to Noel not them."

"True."

"Where are the goats?" The second oldest teenager inquired.

"I sold 'em ten years ago. I had to for a multitude of reasons but at least it gave me a chance to write a bit more consistently."

"What's it matter to you two anyway?" The oldest one asked the teens. "There ain't no animals in your stories. Just ours." She pointed at the other adult.

"These donkeys inspired her donkeys though." The oldest teen pointed at the younger adult.

"Yeah, but I got Rough Fell Sheep so fair trade!"

"Oh-kay!" I threw my hands up. "Did yins just come here to argue or what? 'Cuz my donkeys'll get stressed out. Dulce don't like sudden movements-"

"We came to see you." The younger adult interrupted me. "And your notebooks."

"But why now? What's so special about today?"

"Well, maybe it isn't today. Maybe it's this year. I mean, a lot of big stuff happened. You got donkeys, you celebrated twenty years of Get Born-"