I mowed the lawn; now what

I mowed the lawn; now what

fiction
edward w pritchard

It's better not to talk about some things. Better why, I don't know, I am sure my shrink would disagree, but of course I don't get my shrink for another twenty years. In the future twenty years hence I'll have a shrink for a year or so, but now when it first happened, when I had the first inkling about how things really were, it's just me out here mowing the lawn and I have just had my revelation.

I mowed the lawn now what? The job is done. The mower made it through the entire process without breaking down. I am not the kind of person to spray off the bottom of the mower with a hose or inspect the level of the oil or sharpen the blade for next time or hang the mower on a hook in the garage or suspended from the rafters in the shed.

I mowed the lawn now what? Into the house? Watch baseball or football. I could talk to her. Maybe help the children with their homework. I never really did that. Better to just give encouragement, a heaping of helping platitudes from Dale Carnegie or one of those positive thinkers that we buy their books and for a few days underline everything in the first few pages.

I could write like; I mowed the lawn now what!!! Of course I remember someone said don't use exclamation points. It's just the lawn is mowed. I went to work this week. Here I am standing in this neat yard, by the car in this smallish city and I have just finished mowing the lawn.

What do I do now, Now that after the job of mowing is done I know, know what is happening here, because, while I pushed the mower about the rows of grass I realized some thing important. No, I don't rake the grass or edge the edges or mulch the clippings.

I mowed the lawn now what?