Holly Northrop Blog

Oh Christ, Jasmine has another tattoo. It is on her right wrist, yes I said wrist. It is the word 'Nana', written in cursive and it is for her grandmother Northrop. Sweet but...[sigh]. This latest inking brings her tat total to six.

As she and I were carrying one of two coffee tables up three flights of stairs this past Saturday, she proceeded to tell me about the final tattoo she wishes to get on her back. She wants the get a large cherry blossom across the whole of her back, and I am quoting her here; "...and as fucked up shit happens, I'm going to have falling peddles tattooed in." By "fucked up shit" she means like, when I die, or Martha, Jim, various pets and so on. I have a frozen smile on my face as I listen to her explain this to me while I walk backwards up flight after flight of sticky concrete, wondering to myself where in hells bells this desire of hers for tattoos has come from. I don't have any and last I knew Jim didn't either. I know it is a generational thing but it's almost like she's been bit by the crazy ink stick. And I am a little worried about her desire to be a living "fucked up shit" list.

Sighing and blinking onward, for now, she is moved in to her cute-as-could-be studio apartment. Martha and I are sore and I have strange bruises on my legs and a huge blister on my right pinky toe. It was touch and go there Saturday night with Martha's back but amazingly she didn't lock up and there were no emergency room visits. See, we don't move anything anymore. Long ago we figured out that it is worth every single penny to hire men for this reason, and this reason alone. Cost has to be reasonable but the expense is ALWAYS in the budget. The only thing I pick up on moving day is my purse and the cats. But not with Jasmine, hell no. So we were the muscle, although come to find out somewhere around the third car load of crap and about the twentieth time up a flight a stairs, that she had friends still on campus (boys even) that could have helped us. Not everyone was gone for the summer. Why she said no to them is not very clear to me. Something about the time we were doing it the one guy had to work and the other guy was still sleeping. All shit I really didn't need to know about. Made that sucky halfway point in the move even more nauseating.

Jasmine has an adorable girl hamster named Leroy. Leroy got a major upgrade in apartment living too. All three of us decided that she needed a bigger cage and a bigger wheel. So Sunday off we went to The Creepy Pet Store. The Creepy Pet Store is rightly named as such because of some very core components. The first thing you will notice about The Creepy Pet Store is its location. It is located not in a mall or a commercial building of any sorts but in a private home that has been converted into a pet store. The home is on a country road near the edge of town and the only way you know that you are at The Creepy Pet Store is the sign out at the road the reads "Live Bait". Outside The Creepy Pet Store is a large pond like structure that has different sizes and species of goldfish swimming around in a shaded pool. Off to the left of the front door is fenced in area with a doghouse and appropriately enough, a Beagle sleeping in the shade. This is the only dog at The Creepy Pet Store. They just aren't that interested in cats and dogs.

Once inside The Creepy Pet Store, the smell of animal hits you like a downwind breeze at the zoo. Your nose hairs curl and you resort to a few short mouth-breathing tricks to help in adjusting to the smell. The room is dark, with hardly any strong lighting from any logical direction. It takes a few minutes for the eyeballs to dilate properly and for those first few seconds you stand there disoriented, sucking air in through your mouth and an uneasy feeling in your stomach with having entered the building. It is at this moment that I am always reminded of Silence of the Lambs.

Once the darkness wears off you can see the general layout of the place. Off to the right side are all the fish. Everything from your basis catfish that was caught up the road to organic salt-water beauties. The sound of bubbles and soft blue hues glow from this area. Straight-ahead from the front door is a room with the rodent type pets. Hamsters, gerbils, Ginny pigs, ferrets, mice, rats and a few things that I never want to see again. This is the room we lingered in for about fifteen minutes discussing the merits of a glass base aquarium with a metal three-tiered stacked caged on top. It was decided that Leroy was getting a McMansion.

But just because you have found what you are looking for at The Creepy Pet Store you can not leave until you wander around the left side of the building. The left side is what puts the creep in The Creepy Pet Store. Over there is where the more exotic animals are. Tarantulas in tiny glass cages greet you as you walk down the aisle towards the back cinder wall. The further you walk the next level of exotic pet is reached. A lizard with a missing left hand strokes the glass continually as you walk by, it's stump making a soft thump as it hits the glass. Large snapping turtles look up at you, straining their necks in case your hand gets close enough for a quick snip. Small snakes share wall space with aquariums, pet toys and leather leashes. Moving forward the snakes get bigger until you come to the snake room. The snake room is a glass room roughly 12ft x 12ft squared. It sits in the right corner with the two back walls made of grey cinder and the two front walls made of thick Plexiglas. On the right Plexiglas panel at the bottom is a small door that hinges outward. Inside the glass room are snakes. Big ones. Big boa constrictors twisted and curled around one another in a ten-foot long snake braid. I notice that not only has the albino Burmese Python just eaten, probably a rat from the other room, but it has recently shed it's skin.

Next to the snake pit is another Plexiglas room only this one has a blue child's pool filled with water in it and the lights are even dimmer. There is only one thing in this room and it is a Caiman. Kind of like a crocodile. At this point, I'm ready to go. Between the smell, the heat and the sounds of far off fish bubbles I am done with The Creepy Pet Store.

The Creepy Pet Store came at the end of a rather long day of very public running about. In one day, we went to Wal-mart, Kmart, Sears and then a quick stop at Pier 1. We lingered in the home section of Sears where Martha experimented with tool belts and I gathered up paint chips. We fondled lawnmowers and I took a photo of Jasmine on a huge riding lawnmower. She said she would mow our yard if we bought the riding mower. "Hey Mom, it even has a beer cozy!" she shouted. We tested exercise equipment and when a sales woman overheard me talking to Martha about he merits of one particular exercise bike she offered me a job. Seriously. Much to my own astonishment I came out of that day, drug free and with only a small pounding headache that easily went away once we were safely in our hotel room.

Ah but yes, let's see, Jazz has a new home and Leroy has a new home within Jasmine's new home. Kind of like those Russian dolls. It was so very good to see her. No matter what, no one can make me laugh like Martha and Jasmine. The constant use of hand sanitizer, chewing gum, running commentary and inside jokes warms my heart and I love every single minute of it.