Curiouser and curiouser

Do you get credit for courage if you bravely approach and walk past what you believe to be a snake, which then turns out not to be a snake?  I was walking this evening, and saw what looked very much like a snake, coiled up in the middle of the road.  I walked toward it, intending to pass it as widely as possible, but to pass it nonetheless. It turned out to be a pair of baseball or golf gloves.  Don't ask me why they looked like a snake; just trust me that they did.  Had they been a snake, they would have bitten me.

*****

Strange things happen sometimes.  Today, a coworker who almost always brings Starbucks to work was instead drinking a homemade smoothie from a reusable travel tumbler.  Another coworker, who usually drinks a homemade smoothie every morning, was instead drinking takeout coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.  The first coworker almost always wears pants; today, she wore a skirt.  I almost always wear skirts; today, I wore pants.  What kind of through-the-looking-glass rabbit hole did I fall into, I wondered.  The rest of the day proceeded without incident, however.  Until the snake.

*****

It's May 18; Memorial Day is just over a week away.  So right now, I'm sitting on my couch wearing a sweater, as a fire crackles away in the fireplace.  The weeks of cold and rain have affected more than my mood; I feel like I have lost track of time and seasons, and am permanently anchored in some London-like place where it's always cool and misty and gray.   People do things that are just slightly off, just slightly out of character.  Things look like other things.  I boldly approach a snake and walk right past it.  Yes, it was an imaginary snake, but I didn't know that at the time.