Lolly

Photo courtesy of Humans and Nature.org

My Christian name is Lucinda, but everybody calls me Lolly, that’s short for lollygagging ‘cause I’m what you might call a dilly-dallier, that means I can’t never get nowhere fast.

Mama says I started off fiddlin’ even before I was born, took me ten months to do what my sister Ladonna done in nine- and I might even believe her if she’d quit saying that’s why I’ll always be younger than Ladonna- ‘cause I know that part ain’t true.

Daddy says there’s nothing wrong with takin’ time to smell the roses, when I’m dawdling and he can tell it’s startin’ to get Mama’s goat- but that don’t stop him from cussin’ under his breath when I’m takin’ my own sweet time in the bathroom and he has to wait to get in there to take his morning  constitutional.

My teacher, Miss Gibbons, told me once I’d be late for my own funeral if I didn’t quit dragging my feet- when what that really meant was she’s in a big old hurry for everyone to line up single file, so she can dump us off in the cafeteria and go smoke cigarettes in the teacher’s lounge.

Mrs. Ostroski, she runs the library, don’t seem to mind when it takes me longer than the rest of the class to pick out my books, in fact she told Miss Gibbons to hold her horses one day when she was getting all antsy waiting for me to check out-  she said my lingering was a sign of having a novel approach toward life and should be encouraged- which makes me think she has her heart set on me being a librarian some day.

No one ever asks me why I ain’t in no hurry, ‘cause if they did they’d know, it’s ‘cause the day they all thought Daddy flattened a whole possum family under the wheels of his big ol’ truck on our way to church- they was wrong- he didn’t get ‘em all.

Written for Brew-N-Spew Cafe Prompt: lollygag and Girlie on the Edge’s Six Sentence Story cue word: novel.

36 thoughts on “Lolly”

  3. We had teachers who would run over you to get to the lounge to smoke back in the day. You couldn’t see into the room it was so thick! Good story. Can’t explain why it took me there! Good six. Glad you’re with us.

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    • I am too stringent with myself and cannot allow for tardiness, but I am hoping my move to Alaska in April will teach me how to slow down and ease up on myself- if it doesn’t I’ll be the only one in running the race!! Thank you, Eugenia.

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      • Alaska is a beautiful state. I took a cruise there several years ago and had no idea how beautiful it is.

        You and I are a lot alike. I’m very stringent on myself, as well. I think it’s because I worked in the corporate for 40+ years.

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  15. Jiddu Krishnamurti tells of driving through the Indian countryside one day with four or five other people, all of whom were discussing what it means to be truly alive and aware of life. When the car ran over a goat, only Jiddu noticed it. Not even the driver was paying attention to the road.

    Have you had a chance to read “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman?

    Thank you so much for sharing this profoundly useful story.

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