Dizzy flamingo

[the hornets nest]

You have the potential to live two lives.
One outside of your head and one inside.
The balance of the two is the ultimate key.
Experience and cherish both equally.





Kat Ringo griped angrily as she lounged beneath the large table at her grandparents Bingo meeting. It was held every Saturday at the local retirement home and Kat's parents always made her go. She did not enjoy Bingo. In fact, she simply despised board games of any sort. She wanted to play video games with her older sister and computer games with her younger sister. She did not like these old fashioned games like Bingo and go fish! She stared around her, at the feet of all of the older people sitting at the table that she was under. They all wore old fashioned shoes and the hems of the ladies dresses had pale patches and hideous printed flowers on them. Kat would never wear anything like those in her life!

She climbed out from her hiding space and sulked over to her grandma Mae and let out a high pitched whine. "I'm so bored! Can we please just go home? I want to play on the computer and beat my high score!"

Her grandmother readjusted her silvery white braid that she let hang over her shoulder and pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her wrinkled nose. Kat found her to be the most unique out of all of the other elderly ladies, for her dress had no ugly patches and flowers, but stars. No, not the stars that were seen in her coloring books, but the kind that you saw in the sky and Kat could swear that they had a glow to them. Grandma Mae smiled fondly at Kat. "No, Dear. Not yet. You are still very young. Find a way to entertain yourself. Back in my day, we didn't have technology like computers and video games. We had to make our own fun. Go enjoy yourself and be a kid!"

Kat huffed angrily and stomped over to a table where her grandfather was. He wore his usual grouchy expression and slumped in his seat. He was a balding old man who wore the same exact pair of pale red overalls. He had squinty green eyes that held no life in them. The light that Kat used to see had been stolen long ago and she didn't understand why. Kat could almost remember it, the light, but not quite. It was all a distant memory to her. Her grandpa Jo spoke up in his gruff tone, "Kat Ringo. How many times do I have to tell ya? Don't be such a kid and go get yourself some patience."

Kat did not like what she was hearing at all. How could she make her own fun? How could one have fun if there was nothing there to entertain themselves with? It simply was not fair! Kat marched to a corner and crossed her arms over her chest, her bottom lip poking out in a pout. Why wouldn't her grandparents ever listen to her? Why were they so boring and unsympathetic to her feelings? It was a new day in age and Kat felt personally victimized by the elderly who assumed they knew everything about everything.

She sulked over to a chair, her bottom lip poking out. What was she to do now? Should she do as her grandma said and be a kid or do as grandpa said and grow up? She didn't like either idea. She liked it just fine being in-between. She tapped her feet on the hard floor, pushing her dark hair out of her chubby little face. It was then that the strangest thing happened. A woman short of eighty years old pranced into the room as though she were only twelve. She wore her grey hair in pigtails and had an apron on that was all of the colors of the rainbow. She skipped. She pranced. She twirled! Kat could not believe that a lady who was so ancient was doing all of this before her eyes!