Curios

Curios

Noel Laflin

9-19-22

There’s a tall curio display case upstairs that helps determine the seasons around here as well as add a little light to an otherwise dark room. As the summer sunlight fades by nearly a minute each day this time of year, I find I need to throw the switch that dimly lights the interior of the cabinet earlier and earlier each evening as fall makes its slow but steady and shadowy approach. By Christmas, the light will come on two hours earlier than it does now. By spring, the switch will have gradually taken to be flipped two hours later once again. And by summer, well, I save the most power as we don’t need the interior light until much later in the evening. The light switch to the doll cabinet, as it has be referred to for the last quarter century or more, is the first as well as the last light turned off each evening.

Two low-watt light bulbs brighten the interior of the case as they shine down on the likes of porcelain dolls, winking ceramic coffee cups, smiling teapots, mischievous Tinkerbell reproductions, and other various knickknacks in dire need of dusting. When my daughter was young and in need of spending money, she sometimes earned it with dusting the odd menagerie. She earned every penny as the job could take hours. Since she decided to make her way in the world more than a decade ago, however, the dusting has fallen into more unreliable hands, namely mine. And so I beg the dolls and other members resting atop the four shelves (protected from dust, mostly) for forgiveness and reason that an occasional spritzing of Windex to the outside of the glass doors constitutes a thorough cleaning – at least in my mind.

The shifting of outside light throughout the years is much more reliable than my cleaning methods.

Consequently, I wonder if Krys would like to make a little pocket money on her next visit. The hodgepodge of dolls, cups, pots, Tinkerbells, and other assorted bric a bracc and tchotchkes miss her touch, I will inform her.

Meanwhile, I have a mind to fire the current lousy housecleaner as I know he’s skulking around here somewhere, shirking his duties, as usual, making up some tall tale, no doubt.

And as it’s getting pretty dark up here right now, as I try to read by laptop light alone, I bet he forgot to flip on the doll cabinet switch, too. It should have been done an hour and a half ago. Doesn't he even know what season it is?