Gloomies

The ‘Gloomies’: A Garage Sale Find

Most of us are familiar with Antoine De Saint-Exupèry's delightful story, “The Little Prince”. A recent garage sale find introduced us to “The Little Prince - The Planet of the Bubble Gob.” If you missed viewing this 2008 DVD, no worries. Don’t interrupt your pleasant memories of the original travels of the Little Prince by the dissonance created by the Little Prince’s familiar character on the unfamiliar planet of Bubble Gob.

During eighty-five long minutes of adventure-saving-drama, our time was salvaged by our introduction to the supporting characters - the 'Gloomies'. Hopefully, we have piqued your curiosity about the Gloomies! Aptly, they made their repeated appearance throughout the movie as ugly, black clouds with grotesque yellow eyes and maws. As is typical of storm clouds, they ushered in ominous darkness.

Eventually, we realized that the garage sale DVD deserved more appreciation than our initial dismissive reaction to it. It brought home to us that gloomies are never far from appearing in our own lives. At times, we are overwhelmed by sadness, our own dark clouds. We envied the animated movie’s invention of a “super Gloomies’ vacuum” which chased them away! Unfortunately, real life does not offer any such quick fixes.

What alternate vacuums help gobble up your gloomies?

Srs. Loretta Hagen, csj; Magdalena Vogt, cps; Nancy Wales, csj