he couldnt figure her out for the life of him

only occasionally did he go to the brewery for a beerit was in walking distance of his place and he knew the proprietor brewerhe ran a nice family business and made very good beer  still he had never been there when she wasnt already and apparently also a couple of beers in  saucy

she always wore a loose dark athletic shirt fronted by some inked gothic image thin strappedand always her left strap was off her shoulder the fabric toppled and slouched and crouched on top of her sizable breast(theres a difference however in sizablea difference between ample and adiposea difference between fit and unfit) 

she sat on a woodseated steelframe stool before a concrete cafe table with others holding a glass stein of beer in one hand and a smoldering cigarette in the other

                                  the filtered cigarettes sticking up between her fingers seemed to him exclamation points radically confirming his observation of adipose and unfitness

when she was younger maybe her pear-shape held some allure  it was a shape his daughter named birthing hips she had a friend who was hippy and called her Birthing Hips in close company a nickname

out of high school this girl pushed out four kids by three different guys(none a man)  her parents were now raising their grandchildren as their ownwhich served them right as he saw it  they had deliberately picked fights with him on sex education and birth-control in favor of God and abstinenceon any moral conflict that would have Faith bettering reason and intellectyeah  he hoped the four kids wouldnt be inclined as their motherbut  after all  they were her parents  you reap what you sow some saint or another must have said that  hed bet theyd know  he wasnt going to ask  he wasnt a provocateur of stature to their Holier-than-thou

maybe when she was younger  she wasnt older per se  but her pear was slipping badly

her laughter was louder than anyones  and if someone did bellowthe jokethe story too funny obviously takingsurprising the unsuspecting hearer she made it a point to outbellow them as if a competition 

her athletic shirt hung down over gold-faded-to-yellowstitched black-faded-to-gray jeans

                                                                     it was a kind of uniform

he never saw her wear anything else  but thats not to say that she didnt  he just never saw

hed be negligent if he didnt remember her black braher white flesh peering through its floral brocade upper cup

if meant to be sensual  that was lost on him

the brewery allowed dogs on the leash

she was always attended by an Australian Shepherdthe kind with different coloured eyesif that was in fact an Australian Shepherdhe didnt knowhe wasnt a dog person  and since she never called the dog by a name he didnt recognise if it was one dog or different dogskind of like black people looking the same to white people and white people looking the same to black people or Chinese or Korean or Japanese to blacks and whites and they alikeback and forth and back and forth(he could be president on that skill set alone)  but then maybe not calling the dog or dogs by name was brilliant  a dog wouldnt care  it or they stayed at her cowgirl booted heel  their workedleather leash more an ornament than a utility

                        anyway  all he had on her was cursory observations

he wasnt going to knock himself out or engage her

he accepted her as a fixture

                      she was like the stained and weathered early California Republic or 48 starred America flags that hung from wires strung between upright timbers clasped by wood clothespins before old brick walls

they were satisfying  simply by their existence

         

1725,  Thursday,  13  7. 17

1755,  Saturday,  15  7. 17