Phase: Tendrils

http://www.switchpod.com/users/occupant/jake2_-_good.mp3
Above is the link to the 73rd contribution to the Occupant catalog: The Great Canadian Legend.

You'll want to sing along, so here's the lyrics.


Just before dawn, and plain as the day
stood the great hemlock fence by the alley
latticed on top and anchored below
‘neath the lawn of good Jacob McNally

8 panels wide and seven feet high
stood the great hemlock fence of the pilgrim
it was wood, it was dry, and it needed some stain
and the labour day hour was nigh’in


INTERLUDE


Jacob consulted his bank situation
and headed to rona for woodstain
three or four litres was all he could buy
before having to put it on visa

Maybe just two thought the homeowner now
considering wat’ring with thinner
but then it would look like I went on the cheap
and my workmanship like a beginner

I’ll spring for the three litre and buy me a brush
a big ox-hair 8-incher jobbie
my fence it will be in a hue of fine gold
canary, and more than a hobby!

INTERLUDE

He looked at the swatches and changed his mind
he decided to go with the white
and vascillating ‘tween the white and the gold
he enlisted the help of the salesman

Inner turmoil made this question revolve
in the head of good Jacob McNally
Dismissing the salesman, he went with the gold
with emboldened resolve at his side


INTERLUDE


Backing out of the parking lot space
He noticed his tank was near empty
the burn of his mission was on his mind though,
so he set forth for home in a hurry

Came to a rolling stop at the sign
Which was okay, cause no-one was coming
and then he noticed that house on the corner
had been demolished, which was a pity

Jacob pulled into his driveway
not fifteen feet from the project
The fence was awaiting a coating of stain
and the weather was fit to allow it!


INTERLUDE


Jacob proceeded to enter his home,
make a light snack and check his machine
Then he flicked on his television set
and watched a few minutes of 'Maury'

Five minutes in, he realized it was
a rerun; he’d seen it before
so he got back in the headset
of doing the stain, and went out the back door

As he passed through, he remembered
what a pain he’d had installing
the screen door last summer and how he got bit
by a wasp when it was completed


INTERLUDE


Deciding to begin the staining job
he went down to the end of the fence
and used his house key to open the can
and was glad that it didn’t get bent

Mixing the stain, he swore he could see
From the corner of his eye, a great blue heron
but then when he looked, it was actually
just a grey garbage can in the alley

Not the kind for the ordinary garbage
but the kind the city issued for clippings
He remembered last Thursday how he cut the lawn
and filled the container with clippings

On that blasted day, he also recalled
how he had some problems with the mower
(some clippings were matted up under the blade
and it didn’t have enough power)

But back to the heron, wouldn’t that be cool
if a heron was there on this morning
"Sometimes you can see one," Jake thought to himself,
"a few blocks away at the quarry"

Absent of mind, momentarily
Some stain dribbled down the container
but that was okay, just this once in
view of the near-sighting of the heron


INTERLUDE


With the crick of his knees, Jacob squatted himself
And started from bottom to top
Adjusting his posture to a right-angled bend
he made it mid-way up the panel

Sweat pouring down within the first minute
of labour surprised the pilgrim
Mopping his brow, he headed back in
and looked around for a visor

Jacob habitually checks his email
each time he enters the kitchen
The computer is off in a nook
adjacent to the pantry, which makes it convenient

The sound of a bell tolling indicated
Jacob had messages in his inbox
A word of the day Jacob hurriedly studied
Was the two syllable urban term “detox”


INTERLUDE

So anyway Jacob finished the fence
Got married and raised a son of distinction
Who changed the face of humanity and
peaceably colonized the moons of Uranus