While dreaming he had the ability  --  he could argue it was an ability  he turned it On
or Off at will  --  he possessed the unique ability to participate in his dreams

not lay like a cool fish before a kneeling fisherman and his fillet knife

he could be either the protagonist  or his or her antagonist  or antagonists

he could be an unseen voyeur  uninvolved   only there as a witness 

 

or he could be the dreams Omnipotent  manipulating its ragamuffin cast dramatically

comedically or absurdly

ad nauseam

a deal  he might have made with the devil or god  was that he never had a reoccurring dream

or as he laughed

a rerun

and all these things while dreaming during sleep at night in his bed or in that thing of waking sleep that queer interlude of semiconsciousness or interrupted by seeing those that came into
his awake eyes  watching them flash on their screens from a projector

it made his life   very interesting

there was always something to look forward to

something   hed never see again

 

so he paid keen attention

deliberate attention

and much to the chagrin of those around him who knew  or didnt  what he was capable of 

he paid attention to them for if they should ever present themselves in real life  --  whatever
that was  --  he could key-in off them

having played the part or parts before

 

this morning they made love nearly unconsciously

he didnt open his eyes  he didnt know if she opened hers

they fell into one another  the nuzzling and gentle touching like blowing on paper and thin

stick kindling  its razor redsmouldering edges  glowing  become inflamed

becoming enraged and engulfing

he was sure if he opened his eyes after she rolled off of on top him that their scorch and ashes would be clinging languidly or running like spiders on the ceiling

  

he didnt open his eyes

he liked the imagery

he listened to her gasping quiet listened over his own and listened to it finally quiet 

her breaths grew longer  and steady  and even

she was like listening to rain fall on trees through their leaves twine in runlet down their lengths and bark  rain on the roof and whispering down over the shingles and out into the tin gutters
and downspouts onto the ground

splashing  nourishing

and under her simmering breath he began to slip away  a little   a little     but not entirely

He watched an old man carry a small girl  careful when he picked her up to make sure that her skirt was tucked under her rump and thighs on top of his arm

he almost laughed at how modest he was for her  niggling at his own immodesty

the old man stood on the curb and watched the traffic the few colourful cars passing before the street emptied and he entered it an old city street in an old neighborhood he refused to leave

I live here  Its my choice

his family didnt visit often

he took a diagonal tack up the street mentioning to his granddaughter how interesting the black ribbons of thick tar looked  laying like scars or dull bandages on the cracks and crackles of the streets rolled bitumen and gravel

she asked if the street hurt  he said the street was tough and old like him  but maybe

he angled around the front end of a huge white sedan  someones  who obviously didnt live in the neighborhood

and as he went around the sedans nose He listened to the old mans breathing and felt the weight of the little girl in his arms felt the tiredness in his arms felt his unwillingness to put her down

He felt the salve of her kiss on his rough unshaven cheek  Oh Grampa  her breath on his face

him wondering if he was ever that young if he ever was carried if he ever kissed his grandfathers or grandmothers faces as they carried him if they did if the birds gliding from rooftop to rooftop over them gathering bits and twigs for their nests paid any attention to things under them that didnt fly

He rose up into the bright blue air above them until they were directly beneath him

He felt the pain in the old mans chest him freeing a hand from his granddaughter to clutch at it wrestle it off his heart

He felt the Love and the strike of the heart attack and how the two were very much alike

He felt the old mans panic that he was going to drop her hard onto the back of her head when he fell when his legs went out from under him

they were growing horribly numb

and He saw on the street  in an unequally growing circle  the street peel back as if it were burning paper or skin

  

the old man struggled Grampa he stopped his vision went black ashisheartblewupinhischest and remarkably  deftly  he set her down on her feet very gently

                                                                                                               

she backed away from him not bothering to push her dress down it gathered and caught up on her hips her hands went up towards her face Grampa tears welled into her eyes and she backed away from him reluctantly Grampa  a little more   and a little further more

when the old man dropped onto his knees a brilliant WHITE XPLOSION went out around him etching the street like a spirograph filling it with sharp hypocycloids the jewelled lines running up her shins onto her knees onto her dress tangling in her hair she cast a long shadow behind her barring the lines from the street they sparkled on the curb and the hedgerow and then up on the face of a hulking brownstone 

the brilliant whiteness  the rays  subsided  and then became ochre and red and purple and black

then evaporated

Grampa the little girl said  Grampa  Grampa will you answer me

his eyes were looking directly at her

Grampa

he was dead He could see in his fading sight  her  how beautiful she looked to him now how he was going to miss her but couldnt tell her so and failed to tell her when he may have 

 

then  like an old dead tree  the fibers clinging the fibers finally letting go  he slowly collapsed
onto his face

his cheek rouged by the black tarmac

Grampa!

Hed seen enough

He opened his eyes

she was asleep beside him he hadnt awaken her when he came down out of the sky

he slipped out from beside her tucking the blanket down to keep their heat in with her

he stood naked beside the bed and watched her peaceful sleeping face

he looked deeply into it

nothing stirred in the depths beneath her eyelids or brow or at her temples nothing troubled her pursed lips or confused her mouth or sought to quiver her chin

he watched her heart pulse gently at the long delicate turn of her pale neck

she slept peacefully and he wouldnt wake her wake her perhaps from her dreaming

Coffee  hed make them coffee
 

Waking  waking in the morning was better with the taste of fresh coffee in their mouths

  

1356,  Twosday,  23  12. 14

2313,  Twosday,  23  12. 14