The Rug of Attrition

The Great Ducknik sits in her new parlor chairs, which are the old living room chairs. The wicker sofa that was against the wall where the chairs now are, went out as Craig's List Free Stuff, without the seat cushions which were saved for future extra-people-sleep-on-floor applications. (The college kids who took the sofa frame are going to use it on a floating island in the Sacramento River, part of an art exhibition they're putting together.)

The old parlor rug now is tied up in the attic and the smaller rug Plot and Duck bought in Istanbul will take its place, except that rug is currently having its end knots re-braided or some such thing.

Plot calls that rug the Rug of Attrition, because the Turkish merchant kept feeding them tea and if they didn't buy something they would still be there drinking tea while the merchant's assistant kept slapping down one rug on top of another one on top of another one. "You like? Bigger? Smaller? How about dees one? Dat one? More tea? Ahmed, quick! More tea! They look like they're weakening!

Across the small street from the rug shop was the restaurant where they made that great eggplant, and across the larger boulevard was the Doner Kebab shop where you got a gyro-like sandwich filled with so much yogurty goodness that everyone exited the shop with two white stripes down each leg. Well, Plotnik did anyway.

The parlor is now fun to sit in again, though the living room, where the chairs used to be, now looks pretty empty. It's a good damned thing there's a pool table in there.