ASSIGNMENTS:
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Kara Skye
Glenwood Springs, Colorado USA
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REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
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Father: Will you help me make curtains for these windows?
Me: Why do you think they need them? It's such a nice view, and the plants need the light. These are the only uncovered windows in the house.
Father: They would help keep it cooler in the summer.
Me: Actually, heat gain in the summer comes primarily from the east and west exposures, not the south. Besides, the roof overhang is really wide.
Father: Well, I want the privacy. It's like a fishbowl in here.
Me: You can't see inside. The glass is too reflective. Also, the scrub oak will have leaves soon, and that will block out everything past that little meadow.
Father: It's at night that I'm worried about.
Me: No one's ever out there at night.
Father: Mountain lions and bears are.
Me: And what, you imagine they're going to break through the glass and eat us?
Father: A bear could do that. You don't know.
Me: It's highly unlikely.
Father: You don't know! I was reading about a mountain lion that stalked a family with two small boys. It tried to attack one as he was walking to the outhouse. Luckily the father was with him and shot it in time.
Me: We aren't being stalked by a mountain lion.
Father: You can never be sure! We had one in our backyard.
Me: We're much more likely to have a sex-crazy hoodlum stalking us. Instead of curtains, why don't we put bars in the windows? He might break in and knife us.
Father: I'm being serious!
Me: My point is, a thousand terrible things could happen to us--some of them have even happened to someone, somewhere--but we would be crazy to mold our lives around trying to prevent them from occurring. We're more apt to be electrocuted by lightening while soaking at the Hot Springs than be attacked by a mountain lion or a bear in our living room.
Father: We don't even have to put up full curtains. Cafe curtains would be fine.
Me: They'll block the view of the canyon! It's the best thing about the house!
Father: Will you help me or not?
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