my muse is gone

She’s gone and I just don’t know how to feel.  She was my muse, but she never knew. Her moving was so sudden; I still wonder what prompted it. It is only that which encourages me to continue on.

We referred to her as our Queen. Kevin preferred the calling her Queen of the Neighborhood. Though, none of us called her that to her face. She was too good for us anyway. She let us know that.

She was the first and only person I’ve never known to plant plastic flowers in her yard. Occasionally someone pondered how she’d gotten flowers to bloom in the middle of winter and then smile. Still we said nothing. I wrote gardening articles for Gather and talked of neighbor wars. It was she who inspired my idea of a 100 flamingos dressed in camouflage facing her lawn. Now, I’ll never be able to do that. I’m going to miss her.

I remember how she looked on us little people with disdain. She was known for calling the dogcatcher if anyone’s pet was loose and ignoring the fact her own dog was destroying the neighbor’s garden. She was too important to be faced with the same rules as the rest of us.

I remember looking on with awe as her husband spray-painted parts of his truck orange in support for some NASCAR driver. How he hung his Pittsburgh Steelers flag high, in the middle of rural Ohio. How oblivious they seemed to be when their new driveway caused another neighbor’s basement to flood.

I’ve heard from other neighbors that she said this summer was the last straw. Someone dared build a habitat home diagonal from her manufactured house. She didn’t want the type of people that habitat brings. I often wondered if I should ask her what types of people manufactured houses bring. But, I never did.

Then one day, as fast as she came, she was gone. The fake flowers, gone. The Steelers flag post…. gone. Only the empty tire planter remains. I wonder if I should bring it over to my yard.

There is hope though. Someone moved in across the road. We put up lights; they put up lights. We put more decorations up; they put even more up.  I just learned the cat that sits staring out their window is not a real cat at all. There may be hope for me yet.