29.8.20



she had an imaginative mind

sometimes it took her places she didnt want to go but she went anyway

which isnt to say that she couldnt turn her mind away set off in another direction

if telling stories to entertain her little sisters and brothers hadnt fallen to her
                                                                                maybe she would have struggled

if any one of the used stationwagons her father bought to tow the family around had workable radios in them
                                                                                                                    maybe she would have struggled

she had an inkling her father used the broken radios as leverage to drive down the price

with every broken car radio

with every weekend visit across state lines

with every late departure returning home

Dad caffeinated

shots and beers suppressed

she became the radio  the entertainment

the kids piled into the wagon and snuggled up together

Mom and Dad sat in the dark on the benchseat her mother would slide over and rest her head on her fathers shoulder
maybe thats what they looked like when they were dating when he took her home or they watched a Drive-In movie

no sooner had the car pulled onto the road off the crushed stone drive her father would say 
                                                                                                Whadayasay, Millie? Tell us a story? like clockwork

What would you like to hear? A nice story, a scary one; a love story?


Millie loved to tell stories impossible stories
                                                her characters were always animals
she loved love stories



when she was older high school later in college she solicited love letters for five dollars apiece for stupid boys who spuriously had jeopardised their relationships

with their particulars known she crafted them and the boys rewrote in their own hand

she wrote them their love story
                                 and sometimes the boy reading itreading it to make sure he could read her handwriting broke into tears 
                  that was her favourite part

she liked to make boys cry


2042,  Sunday,  23  2. 20
1104,  Saturday,  29  8. 20

No comments:

Post a Comment