Lanterns

I like living in Measell.

The rooms are kind of small, and the lobby smells like fish sticks and popcorn, and not in a good way, but it's nice. Ruth and I live in the corner on the first floor and we even have a little back yard, with a bench and a nice stretch of grass. And one of the girls in our apartment-style dorms has a little inflatable kiddy pool in the back, filled with old leaves and cold water. I put my feet in it sometimes. I like to tell people we have a pool. And one of the residents has these big jars that he fills with water and bright lights. He puts them, in varying heights, on the planter and, in the night, you see the jars filled with dazzling colors and it's awful pretty. He pours them out in the morning, but they're always back the following night.

It's not so noisy and there's a nice tree with Ruth's bird feeders. We see it right out our window which Ruth, I suspect, wishes she could watch all day. Beyond our little lawn and bushes is the acres of forest, our real backyard. When I return from class, I sometimes just sit on the bench and look and the bushes and think that it's a really nice bit of backyard we have. And I even like the fish stick and popcorn lobby. It's hardly ever in use and nice place to sit and do homework, or catch the end of Enchanted as I have done. Or to simply marvel in the glories of having three refrigerators and mismatched furniture.

And that is why I like living in Measell.