Love Contrivance (5)

   
   "Love Contrivance (5)"
   
   I awoke to the mirthful sounds of righteous laughter, and I immediately knew my cousin Lucy was visiting.  She liked to check in on Grandma and me from time to time.  Lived in Smyrna, Tennessee, and was married to a dust-cropping pilot, him getting his degree in aeronautics @ Middle Tennessee State University.  They were a sweet family--even had two dogs.
   So, garbed in my pajamas, but not needing to be totally proper and British in front of my American family, I slowly sauntered into the kitchen where Grandma and Lucy were smoking cigarettes and eating chocolate covered cherries, two cups of coffee nearby.
   After knuckle-bumping Lucy, I sat down, and she gave me the business, but not like a bully would, for Lucy loved me; specifically, she blurted in protracted fashion:  "Simon Swiss, when are you going to get a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC collection?  Or a PLAYBOY magazine at least--to inspire your southern heat?  You can't be a bachelor forever?  Who will take care of you?"
   I replied:  "Grandma got married, yet her spouse is not here to take care of her, but a grandson."
   Lucy snorted a giggle; she knew it was all cool and horseshoes and holy water with me.  Just a soul existing in the fairy realm, yet so enchanted by the reality of our own existence, when we step back into the hardcore flow of death and taxes.