Do you want to die?

                     she looked directly into his eyes  took hers off the highway

No I do not   he had always been completely harshly honest with her

she did

         she wasnt responding to her psychologist psychiatrist their treatments the drugs

I didn’t think so.

they passed under an overpass past its steelreinforced vertical concrete embankment

they approached others

it was LA

he wasnt out of the woods

every quarter mile or so she could kill them

he wasnt going to say it again

                               he saw the glint in her eye seen it in his platoons eyes immortal eighteen year olds he couldnt say how many immortals he hurled them body parts dogtags into Medevac Hueys under fire

he didnt go with them

                          he didnt act immortal

her look was cold cleareyed dared Call my bluff.

she wasnt bluffing

theyd been married twenty years within a week of him returning from in-country justice of the peace high school sweethearts they went steady he proposed in the light of day the day before he was inducted she waited she suffered his letterletters filthy with mud junglesometimes spattered with bloodhe sent them anyway

                                                                                                      they were real deal when everything around him seemed surreal

he didnt bluff

she wouldnt

Do you want to die?

to this day hes never asked that of himself

0933 or 1133, he preferred 0933,  Monday,  3  1. 22

 

for years he watched one football game a week 

received one station NBC on his television

it carried the late Sunday night game

he muted it to a mumble to avoid hearing Collinsworths ceaseless surmising his inane banter wasnt there a carnival somewhere that needed a barker a snake oil salesman 

                                                          then tantamount to that muted muck were the crap commercial breaks when they cut to break he went into the hallway out of sight of the screen and did exercises pushups planks situps he didnt mind athletes making millions of dollars playing the game rather them Labour than owners who prior had their foots on the players necks however he resented athletes doing endorsements for millions more Advertising was impressed they had it in their heads that jocks were celebrities influential 

                                                              although he couldnt say he was ever induced led around brainless by the nose to buy a damn thing ever hawked an that went back to when he was a kid watching cartoons

commercial breaks screwed with themNot again! had he learned the word fuck earlier he would have spewed it

USAA acronym  disliked them United Services Automobile Association not so sexy for United States military members and their families

               unless all military members are scraping by with IQs edging on eightyone  why is Gronkowskis hamming-it-up So cute, huh? televised multiple times every game as he saw heading into the hall

had he his druthers hed voice-over CHA-CHING of a cash register a one-armed buttons now Las Vegas bandit paying off

the cha-ching isnt for viewers rather the lackluster millionaire Gronkowski

Gronkowski was quickly catching Collinsworth for his disdain

1807,  Sunday,  2  1. 21

1528,  Monday,  3  1. 21

 

a friend invited him over to watch Sunday football

he arrived around NineThirty brought a box of donuts to have with coffee since the game kicked off at Ten also a sixpak pint of whisky pound of pistachios for the two later games theyd barbecue that night

he was mistaken

his pal had a freaking enormous flatscreen and the ability to play the seven morning games at once the six afternoon games

       he said hes been watching football College ball too like this for years

For years

You betcha, as soon as technology afforded it.

You gamble

Huh? he looked up from his laptop  

Gamble Ya gamble

he looked back down into his laptop Well, I’m followingplaying fantasy football, three leagues, not serious money, it’s more like friendly competitions than anything else, although, thinking of it, I could couldn’t I?

You could This seems wha Vegas must look like

                                                        Do you think you can pick one game an watch it

he looked at him asif he were an green alien with two heads Watch one game? Why do that?

Im overstimulated I watch the Sunday evening game only that game all season an that for more years than I can remember mebbe the last tentwelve years Ya didnt mention this setup  asked if I wanted to watch some football not every fuckin game broadcasted

No.

he could have supposed every fuckin game would have teedup his curt No

                                                                               but at least it told what it was

I think Ill head out leave ya the donuts

You’re leaving?

I am Thank you though for the invitation Not to be rude but had I known or an inkling to askwe only know what we know I wouldntve accepted

Well, man, suit yourself.

I do

he gathered the beer from the fridge an bagged it with the whisky an nuts an crossed back to the setup in the livingroom

at its threshold he stopped an watched the matrix unfolding in seven boxes looked at crowd shots city shots overhead stadium shots replays

approaching him he saw him look away from the gameslook down into the computer 

                                                                                         Hey man Im off he extended his hand Thanks again for the invite Appears yare in your element Have a fine Sunday

they shook

            You’re welcome. Too bad things went sideways. I hope you also have a good Sunday.

Ill see my way out

Oh . . alright.

driving back home the road nearly deserted for Church and football it occurred to him that technologies give way to the next wave forfeit  albeit more and more sudden

                                                   drones would likely replace the fleet of Goodyear blimps

1807,  Sunday,  2  1. 22

1214,  Monday,  3  1. 22

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/24/nyregion/sports-wouldn-t-be-the-same-without-the-view-from-a-blimp.html 

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/03/the-history-of-the-goodyear-blimp/ 

https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/a-look-at-the-goodyear-blimp-why-one-wont-be-at-super-bowl-xlviii/