they did wake up nearly together he laid quietlywatched her sleep she woke halfhourforty minutes after he
Good morning
she batted her big eyes
could swear he caught a breeze
Good morning. You look wideawake.
Ive been up a bit
she blushed
You know how you
embarrass me when you watch me
Tryanstop me
Besides Im not watching Im
admiring your beauty
Stop.
her blush deepened
Yare sweet he leaned over kissed her softly leaned away Happy reggaefriday buckwheat
Happy reggaefriday, baby.
Thank you
So Ya remember
I do she murmuredstill
wakingrubbing her eyes with the heel of her hands Verbatim.
Goin Latin on me
I’ll go Latin on you she chuckled
Verbum.
Word.
WORD
Lets hear it
But
before you do lemme say again I dig thaya know Latin without havingone to
Catholic school
eyes closedfixed her head
jauntily One of my many talents.
Awbaby I love when you talk dirty to me
they laughed heartily
So tell me an I get up an make us
coffee as a matter of fact Ill make you French press if yare verbatim
You said bald skincancerscarred skullcap
greasy dangling fringe squirrelly since Nam a knife fight with four Viet Cong.
BAM
Had no doubt Asif you regurgitated it
Wow, such a way with words, love your
accuracy.
As much as you love me
More. Somuchmore.
she leaned
to him kissed him deeply
getting out of bed Stay put Ill bring you coffee Toast bagel orange juice
OH.
There’s still orange juice, yes,
bagel slathered with creamcheese.
Ill let you slather
You’re funny, you an your raw bagels.
Please, before you go, would you give me my pencil pouch, drawing tablet,
feel like sketching this morning an since I don’t have to get my ass out of bed
I’ll play, work out some preliminaries I have for my canvas.
On it
he crossed the foot of the bed to
her dresser pouch right above the pad an board leaning against it Board too
propping herself up on their
pillows Yes please.
Hereya go
before leaving he kissed
her forehead lingered smelled her hair Cake Warm happy cake
You’re crazy.
Back shortly with your tray maam
returning he placed the tray beside
hershe was occupied
absently without lookingup Thank you baby.
Yare welcome buckwheat
an left to write
guy cameround the corner left swinging
side to sideweaving
hed seen him roundtown born an raised there a troubled Nam vet knew his story as stories come to one inadvertently
hearsay but the same hearsay out of
other locals mouths
he wasnt local
didnt mind being an outsider from the getgo he knew he couldnt fit if he
tried he moved there to accommodate his wife
accommodated she died after their girls went off to
college
she wanted desperately for them to
come home after they graduated
I hope you can learn to accept it
baby theyll visit but they aint comin
back Theyll make their choices as we
made ours
man wasnt the same when he
returned
as he understood from high school buddies a sensational athlete shunned
collegiate scholarships wanted to test his mettle wanted zero-sum
competition May the best man win loser
die
now homeless a bald skincancerscarred skullcap greasy dangling
fringe squirrelly since Nam evidently a gruesome knife fight with four
Viet Cong won though so badly wounded was returned stateside honorable
discharged
couldnt no-how no-way be returned to compete
he came swinging around the
corner
glancingup over the top of the
book he read as he walked reconnaissance catching the lay of the land obstacles
personnel
rarely peoplerarely pedestrians not in all the years
he walkbout town despite it a small rural
California town
he saw him approachweaving on the
sidewalk ahead
canvas knapsack over his left
shoulder right arm crooked held a cigarette
returning to his reading he estimated
teneleven seconds before they converged
eight seconds he stepped left off
the sidewalk high curb onto the bikepath then lifted his head to acknowledge
his presence
Howya doin
didnt
reply cigarette in his drawn mouth
pointing with his left
indexfinger
Man, dares cars on the road run your sorry ass over.
Thank you
striding past him Though not todaypreciate your concern he stepped again onto the sidewalk
he heard skincancerscalp didnt take
kindly to strangersdidnt like lipliked to jump people
he heard his hardheeledhardsoled
boots continue walkinway
wasnt to be jumped today
he had advantage knew his story
swore VC fingers ears he cut off slithered into the jungle like inchworms slugs before he managed to untethercould undo his trophy
pouch and pick them up
scalp had no cluebout him
or his time in Nam
234preferred, 2sday,
30 5. 23
111preferred, reggaefriday, 23 6.
23
