Summer Hell With Minerva

A poem about a summer of hell.

 

“Summer Hell With Minerva”

 

Scissors jammed in the

holes of the old wooden doors,

served as doorknobs in the

a-frame craftsman bungalow.

 

With her twisted spikes of hair projecting

into various directions and

her tie-dyed dress draping

 over her curvy body,

she looked like the

 ancient deity,

Minerva.

 

She was very charming

to meet and greet,

yet she was waving too many

red flags for me to ignore.

Found myself mentally fleeing

 the scene and wanting

to physically leave too.

 

 

But my

 top shelf client

called with and

urgent fire to put out.

I would just suck it up and

 do something with this job. 

Minerva could never find anyone

 this late in the game.

She flies out

tomorrow .

 

I found it odd, when she

passed down the opportunity of

walking her two dogs together

before she filled the contract out,

I got her cash, key and left.

Most clients jump at the chance

to make sure their dogs like us.

 

But, her pets seemed

well cared for and happy,

I saw all of those signs too.

Wagging tails, constant purring,

dancing and talking birds,

and big animal smiles

on their faces.

 

Later I would discover that

her dogs were not leash trained at all,

no wonder she didn’t

 want to go on the walk!

Training them would be

my personal challenge!

 

While she flew

to France to dance

and prance around

 modeling underpants,

I got the chance to care

 for Bo her Bloodhound,

Elvis her Great Dane, Roxy her Beagle,

her three Maine Coon cats

and Lulu and Trixy her

African Grey Parrots.

 

What a zoo to take care of

In July, the busy mid-summer season.

I would take this one on myself,

the contractors were already

overworked and overloaded.

 

 

 

 

With her backyard barely

the size of a postage stamp,

her dogs would need four walks a day.

What could I say, I needed the pay.

This would be great exercise too.

 

What the hell?

Two weeks into this job,

mysteriously the electricity was cut off

and Minerva was missing in action.

I had to pay to turn the electricity back on,

the pets would die in that bungalow

without any air circulating

in the sweltering heat.

 

Boy was I screwed!

I was regretting the day

 That I answered

Minerva’s call!

 

Trip after trip,

week after week,

already it was several weeks past

the date she was due to come back,

I couldn’t reach her at all.

 

What would I do?

How could all of these pets fit

in the two story starter home

that my boyfriend and I just bought?

Our backyard wasn’t even fenced

and I’m allergic to cats!

 

What if she’s never coming back

to the mountain of bills and debt

that she owes, which is

growing larger by the day?

Maybe having scissors

for doorknobs was too much

for her to handle in life?

 

 

 

Author's Note

A horrifying summer.

Reviews

[alesuriko]

A very interesting tale within a poem to read for sure. I loved the structure and the narration. Very well put together and absolutely hilarious in terms of the situation and the reactions. Well written m'dear.

[Michael of Gilead]

lol....red flags waving all over the place for sure!