{"id":13024,"date":"2024-02-04T19:20:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T02:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=13024"},"modified":"2024-02-04T19:47:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T02:47:54","slug":"inflatable-snowman-a-true-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/inflatable-snowman-a-true-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflatable Snowman, A True Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer\u2019s voice on the page.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflatable Snowman, A True Story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Su Shafer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the street, the inflatable snowman is down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

laying on its side in the dirt by the porch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its head still turning back and forth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

back and forth, back and forth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

looking from the cold black ground<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to the heavy belly of the leaden sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s still smiling, but the smile seems <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tentatively directed right at me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

silently saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hello?! No arms, no legs — <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not getting myself back on that porch!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and wondering why <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m just standing here <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staring at it laying there <\/p>\n\n\n\n

half deflated and helpless<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts to snow, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the only sound is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the little motor in its head<\/p>\n\n\n\n

whirring, worrying <\/p>\n\n\n\n

how bad is it going to get<\/p>\n\n\n\n

down here on the ground?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still smiling but desperate now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does she just stand there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She could lift me up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she could knock on the door <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and let them know<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s Christmas, for Christ’s sake!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is going to save the snowman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the snow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Su Shafer<\/strong> is a creative crafter, fabricating bits of writing in poetry and short stories, and other bits into characters that appear in paintings or sit on various bookshelves and coffee tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She lives in a cottage on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, where the tea kettle is always whistling and the biscuits freshly baked. One never knows who might stop by to share a rainy afternoon. And all are welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer\u2019s voice on the page. Inflatable Snowman, A True Story By Su Shafer Across the street, the inflatable snowman is down laying on its side in the dirt by the porch its head still turning back and forth back and forth, back and forth looking from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1474],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sparks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-3o4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13026,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024\/revisions\/13026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}