Coopers Leatherstocking Saga had leaned against the oak baseboard

beside a sperm whale vertebra and three bowhead ribs

a slender bony disc had wanted  begged to mark the pages when he stopped reading

but he apologised

and asked its understanding

                                                 it was too large   and would mutilate the books spine

it looked around at the tarnished ivorycoloured bones

but held its tongue

he did  afterall  fondle and hold him  laid him in his lap when he read under the sunlight

coming through the Venetian blinds at his back and sipped spirits from a lone crystal 

tumbler salvaged from a cheap secondhand store

                                                                                    assuming the discs forgiveness

he let an appropriate time pass  and then slipped a business card from his psychologist

between its pages to hold his place

the appointment date on the card was four years old    the card was yellowing

she purchased a cheap card stock

but what would she know

she was a psychologist not a psychiatrist

which wasnt to say a psychiatrist would know any better

they could just better afford it

he couldnt afford a psychiatrist even if he wanted one

bones listened better

the room bore an inkling of being an ossuary

a bit of a seminary

it smelled sacred

though that may have been tinctured by his evening habit of burning candles incenses and

bright pipe tobacco

                                or the scores and scores of old volumes scattered and stacked 

hiding the wood floor the coloured woven rugs and table tops

she called it a museum

she was traveling

he was waiting

without waiting she said

she knew him better than he cared to admit

so he didnt

when she telephoned she would ask about his books and the bones

she asked about the disc

before she left on this trip

she sat on his lap under the window and kissed him goodbye

and rising

                  he patted his thighs and asked her how he was going to keep his lap warm

in her absence

she leaned over him

her hands on the upholstered chair arms

and kissed him deeply

then she picked up the whale disc off the floor  gently kissed it  and laid it in his lap

--   Until I return this is my space saver

--   Consider your space saved

he didnt tell her that he also laid it on her pillow beside his in bed when he slept 

she hadnt seen the shy lipstick imprint she left on it

or maybe she had

2308,  Twosday,  25  11. 14