the jigsaw puzzle

It rained for three straight days that week. His family kept apologizing to Elizabeth and I for the weather, as though the rain would make us regret our fourteen hour adventure eastward to visit their family in a cabin among the Adirondacks. The rainfall only made us feel cozier with a backdrop for camaraderizing*. Eventually we all found entertainment in the small things- books by the fireplace with Grandma & Davie, country hardware stores, an extended happy hour, and, most of all, jigsaw puzzles.

The jigsaw puzzle sat quietly in the back of our cabin for the beginning of the week. Someone had gone to the labor of laying out all the pieces color side up- the colors being that of an amphibious green, blue, and yellow. As always, someone completed the border and then abandoned the heart of the puzzle in despair. Throughout the week we mingled by the puzzle when it was convenient. We occassionally sat down to assemble if waiting for someone to get out of the shower or grab a sweater for dinner. The jigsaw puzzle, however, is subtle and patient. It waits. It may wait a few days or even months but eventually everyone comes back to the jigsaw puzzle and when they do, it is a vortex.

One extra rainy night, after at least two books had been read by each of us and happy hour had been completed, someone flipped on the Cosby show. The couch was full so I sat down at the back of the room and in the presence of roaring laughter and a Bill Cosby one act denying Denise of that old junker of a car, the puzzle grabbed me by the neck and yanked me into the vortex. And as always, an onlooker sees a fellow friend captured by the puzzle and wanders over to help them out. Trapped! They both are trapped now til the very end.

That night seven of us squeezed around the shakey card table at the back of the room as we assembled little blue, green, and yellow frogs together. We shouted with joy when the cardboard made that crunch sound when a piece fits just right, wept with despair when minutes had gone by with no results, and vowed not to get up until the beast was done. It was beyond midnight before the jigsaw puzzle released it's grasp. The result was a few law students & pre-med students feeling pure exhileration with blood pumping. We did it, we praised ourselves proudly while gazing at the shiney cardboard cut out. There are few greater, simpler joys than the jigsaw puzzle.

*a jennymade verb!