little things

today while i was working at home and my old man was fixing to go play some golf, his phone rang. in the rush and hurry a phone call is an annoyance and this one started off with a "what?!" what do you want? why are you calling me now while i am busy? but of course the punch line is that someone else is always busier than we, are they not? it was his sister calling to say that a cousin whom we rarely see but whom they grew up with is on life support with reportedly little brain activity apparently due to an illness contracted from a tick bite. what the hell? she went to the doctor and complained of the tick-induced illness, and he gave her penicillin or whatever it is they give nowadays and said if she didn't feel better in a couple days, it was not the tick but the flu. in a couple days, the police were breaking down the door of the place where she lives alone, and finding her on the bathroom floor unconcious.

nothing we do matters, and yet oddly, everything we do matters. life is precious, fleeting, filled with long days and short years. life is dangerous and small things can maim or kill. small insects, small words, small actions, little things are the worst because it's the little things we're never expecting and the little things we never apologize for. we don't see the little things coming, which is of course their advantage, the dirty rotten sneaks.