Maybe Yes, Maybe No
Jun 22nd, 2006 at 10:49 pm by Susie
There’s a Zen parable about a farmer whose wife gives birth to a boy. “You’re so lucky you have a son to help you in the fields!” his neighbors say. The farmer says only, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”
The years go by and the son is plowing when he runs over his own foot and is permanently crippled. “What awful luck,” the neighbors say. “How sad for you and your family, to have a son who can’t work.” The farmer says, “Well, maybe yes, maybe no.”
More time passes and the Emperor has declared war on a much bigger country - his soldiers are being slaughtered and he needs replacements, so he sends his generals to the far corners of the land to make all the young men join the army. When they see the farmer’s son, they refuse to take him because he’s lame.
“How fortunate for you!” the neighbors say. “How lucky, that your son will not be sent to die in the war!”
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” the farmer says.
*
This week has had its extreme ups and downs, and tonight I looked forward to doing one final load of laundry before I leave for California tomorrow. But when I took the clothes out of the drier, I was horrified. I’d left a tinted lip gloss in one of my pockets, and there were big, pink oily stains on my clothes - including my only pair of presentable shorts and the pants I wear to work all the time.
I drove home with a heavy heart. If only it hadn’t happened, or if it had only happened sooner, and I still had time to replace a few things. Damn.
As I pulled up in front of the house, Cos called. She’s going on a camping trip and wanted to know if I had a guitar travel bag she could borrow. “Sure,” I said, and she and her husband showed up shortly after.
While they were here, I handed her husband (a stellar musician) my new baby Silvertone and the metal slide. He sat down and started to play - Paul Siebel’s “Louise.”
“When we get back, I’ll teach you this because you already know it,” he said. Cos sat there and beamed as he played; I sang along. The wind is blowing cold tonight/ Well goodnight Louise/ Goodnight.
As I showed them to the door, I thought about my day. Was it awful? Maybe yes.
Maybe no.
In the East Bay a phenomenon called the casual carpool has sprung up. It’s been around for years and years. Three in a car and you don’t pay toll or wait in long lines on the Bay Bridge, so on work mornings SF-bound non-drivers wait where SF-bound drivers will pass by, and the drivers pick up riders. So far no ax-murders, as far as I know.
I once caught a “casual carpool” ride into San Francisco; there were three of us in the car, all guys. One family background from Mexico, one from China, one from Jews who fled Russia and Germany.
The driver said something along those lines — maybe yes, maybe no — and told the story … and one of the riders laughed and said it was his story, and the other said it was his … because we all had this story from our parents, who had had it from theirs.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Good luck, bad luck; how do I know.
(I know where our mothers and fathers came from because I asked the other two …)
With kind regards,
Dog, etc.
searching for home
Try saturating the stains with cheap hairspray. then re-washing. About half the time, it takes the stain right out. (The other times, it doesn’t make it worse, so you don’t have anything to lose.)
Can’t play guitar to save me, but stains…
If the hairspray doesn’t work completely, and it ought to help, add 1 cup powdered dishwashing detergent with enzymes and 1 cup color safe bleach to the smallest washer load that will let the clthes agitate freely. DON’T dry the clothes before doing this. If the stains aren’t gone after the re-wash with hairspray keep them damp. I usually start with warm water, and if the biggest stains pale, but don’t vanish, repeat the wash with hot water - again without drying the clothes. Sometimes overnight soaking after agitating, will help.
Lipstick that has gone through the dryer, is the devil’s own stain. Good luck.
PS. Enjoy California.
The bright side is that you will NEVER AGAIN wash clothes without checking all pockets. My teenaged daughter taught me this important rule.
If the stains are greasy, saturate them with Dawn dishwashing liquid. It’s about the best surfacant there is, and it will take grease stains out of the front of shirts and kill off rings around collars and cuffs, too.
Yes
Actualy, I’d pay a buck three fifty plus $100 for a silvertone WITH a thrown in slide. Anyday.
Wow. I’ve determined that Sub Gur judges postings based on shpellings. Wow.
No more wine tonight, (the wife says).