he packed his toothbrush and
toothpaste for the road trip in the wee hours of the morningtoo tired the
night before after coming home from work he dropped into bed clothed
if he didnt time it right hed be driving east into the rising sun then the leg rolling due south forty minutes wouldnt help him escape its direct glare
and inspection although
he was really getting good at this trip gettin good nine times over the last eleven years
Fuck the Rising Sun! few
would ever imagine the irony of that cry
sixteentwenty minutes down the road
it began pestering him that the toothpaste he may have packed was his grrlfriends mintedCHRIST Crest at least it wasnt Colgates
brushing his teeth was the
last of his toiletry he may have been
absentmindedanticipating the eleven hour ride he picked up the plump tube not thinking
she
used it only a couple of times a
couple times before she left left sounded ominous
sounded
ominous
he tried it on for
sizesaid it out loud A couple of times
before she left
left coming out of his mouth sounded final left A couple times before she left
he had upended the tube squeezing
it lightly before she left how long ago had that been he
squeezed the tube harder
it wasnt giving
it isntisnt Heinz Ketchup he
squeezed harder how long ago had it been
some paste crumbled out of the
tube
some paste bounced off his wetted
toothbrush
some paste clung like cocaine sniffedclinging to his moustache
Itd been awhile
How
longs a while
Three years a while
he righted the tube
screwed on its top
tossed it in the enameled babyblue tin bathroom
trash
he rinsed off his toothbrush
set it down
he walked into and up the hall
into the livingroom to the couch that his duffel lay on to exhume his leather
toiletry kit he unzipped it revealing its contents a quiet shimmer off a sheaf of Lifestyles condoms There
he snatched the canopic tube of Arm & Hammer toothpaste
it was easier to exhume than apparently his relationship
at
least his teeth would be clean
his breath fresh
he spit and rinsed the scouring down
the drain
he relaxed
he had thrown away the old paste
he made the southern leg as the sun peered over the hilled horizon like a busybody
2221, Twosday,
9 4. 19
1017, Reggae Friday, 12 4. 19
