Bean Sheep

FEEL the softness and the quality of the man of five o’clock shadow with temple grey hair in his yellow challenger fleece which provides freedom of movement for hiking, backpacking, or cross-country skiing, or smiling interminably with his arm around the downcast blond watching her feet. She is Stepford smiling on 83, he is camp pants on 61. They are not black with corduroy coated child under red tartan plaid, her eyes straight into the camera, his at the child, the child in today’s mother’s breast. Oh Madonna! They are Portugal chamois, skillfully crafted to achieve the optimum nap. Turn to rugged cotton chinos and red comfort fleece on the man pouring chocolate for the red-headed toddler—all need and dark loden before burning his tongue. These moments the five o’clock shadow man with temple grey hair reappears, sinister in his interminable smile under a Scottish tweed touring-cap, looking more like a bloke than the object of woman in bayside corduroy blazer’s gaze. He has stolen furniture tags, underwear and stocks. He is forward one step ahead, challenging the lens to crack the fallacious veneer. He repeats his stance on 36, quickly divorced, remarried to a brunette with a 12 year old son who wishes to kill himself, but instead wears a sweater, which worn correctly for the bone-chilling conditions that the seafaring Norwegian’s once faced, functions as a semiotic cohesion to bond the grafted new family. The black couple on 43 has stood the test of time in loden corduroy chinos and a velveteen holiday skirt. Without the child, they stride together in giddiness, and lift two found boys in Black Watch Tan while wearing a Dusty Olive Fair Isle vest, which is also available in Dark Camel, Charcoal, Heather and Cabin Red. Now they can blend into the party. These are the Soft Warm Slippers of forever, Signature Boots, and Insulated Sneakers of Italian craftsmanship, both versatile and rugged. They are shimmering Gortex and family values, slick Adirondack, Freeport down Parkas with retriever moments all a cocoa and Penoboscot collars of cold shorn fleece.