he turned from the stacked box display of liquor bottles to the entrance where the automatic glass doors ssshushed open and a silhouette walked in 

the sun flooding in behind them blinded him  

the silhouette walked directly towards him as he blinked and into their darkness he wished them Welcome to Total Wine

an attractive young woman materialised out of the sun and silhouette and veering at the last possible moment they brushed shoulders  she said Why thank you very much

Youre welcome he said and pivoted and watched her walk up the aisle under his breath saying Handsome   

he was a teletype an ingénu of the Walmart pioneered and inspired(and sneered) greeting  a practise corporate demanded they also engage in despite it lacking originality  

he typically concluded his Welcome to Total Wine with an over-the-top leering smile a scarcely suppressed bit of laughter that flowed through his clenched teeth  implying a kind of inside-joke which at first often startled patrons but then recognised whether ever a Walmart shopper or not humoured them and they returned his laughter unfettered  honestly 

initially he was verbally reprimanded for his overt insincerity his unprofessionalism  but since his manager made a point of not being up front when he arrived for his hours so he couldnt overhear him and be forced to waste their time 

his manager was an uptight young man whose Faith and Church informed him  he was the Man of the HouseHead of the Family whose wife and young children were subservient to him 

candidly he told his manager if corporate was inclined to always have their name mentioned as if their customers didnt know where they were as if they were a lost soul a babe-in-the-woods he wasnt budging off his preposterous greeting because at the very least it was original  and no one said or intimated they were offended

he also carefully told him that the manner his family was inclined to provide him he ought to leave at home

he was at the register when the handsome young woman returned holding a bottle of Chopin by its neck in her fist

Ah my kind of woman  Enjoys my same taste

Why thank you

Youre welcomeHave you ever sipped Chopin and eaten raw oysters

No  But I can imagine that would taste delicious

Yes  I like you can imagine

Thank you

Again Youre welcome 

Now listen youve got a babyface May I please see your identification

he took the Chopin from her hand

she went to her kellygreen jacket pocket(it went with her eyes) and retrieved her drivers license and creditcard

Chelsea

Yes

Ive never met a Chelsea before

she was of age

Never

No  Not ever  Im feeling shortchanged if youre any indication of other Chelseas

she smiled

Thank you he said as her handed her license back which she promptly pocketed

ever so slightly she shook her head 

blonde

he was rarely attracted to blondes

her curls turned at the neck of her open jacket accentuating a gold necklace and pendant at her chest

she wore a black Superman S tshirt                     

Chelsea  I cant help but notice your S

You noticed my  S

Yes   

I noticed your Ss

she smiled quickly

They appear very nice

her smile grew  Thank you

Ohno  Thank you

thendramatically she planted her feet a shoulders width apart grabbed her jacket lapels with either hand yanked it wide apart and thrust her chest her S forward

he took a good long look

she was intimidating

the Man of Steel hadnt pecs to challenge hers

My he said under his breath

No  Mine she said  then relaxed and released her jacket  it hung up at the sides of her breasts so that she had to shrugshrug her jacket refused to be shrugged  she pulled its lapels forward and letting go they fell against and over her Supermans S

she took him in with her bright green eyes

he liked that she was unabashed unapologetic

Are you more powerful than a locomotive

he liked people who were comfortable in their skin people who didnt look for other peoples approval who didnt seek to be part of a tribe

I suppose that would depend on the locomotives youre familiar with    Wouldnt it

It would  Indeed

she slipped her creditcard into the chip-receiverbottoming it out  the reader shook

they stood quietly possibly admiring one anotherhe was admiring her as the transaction processed and the receipt was regurgitated 

Chelsea  Would you care for your receipt

Yesplease she said

handing it to her she laid it beside the Chopin took up a pen that laid on the counter and bent over to write on it You know she said as she wrote youre an extremely attractive man then standing upright she smiled she handed him her receipt Im faster than a speeding bullet

Call me  Please

Superman left him to a line that formed behind her but nobody was restless or impatient 

they wore the humoured smiles he gave them when they entered

  

1440,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  11  1. 17

1022,  Thursday,  12  1. 17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2l4bz1FT8U

I mean  who has that kind of cash

he happened to walked up and into a conversation between two female co-workers

the younger one had just said

Sure he said absently  Who has that kind of cash

Six Grand  Im saying

Six grand Cash Hellyah  Whos this

The guy who bought my implants

Wha

Yeah  The clinic didnt accept checks  Put it on a card . .

. . Or cards the other woman said

Or cardsyeah  Or cash   So he said hed be back inside a halfhour  And when he came back he counted out six grand in hundreds then folded up the remaining bills and put them in his pocket

Six grand he said

Yeah

Some kind of guy

Yeah He bought me my implants

Some guy

Yeah

Some guy got a name

Of course

she wasnt tendering a name

Must be nice said the other woman

What he said   The six grand or the implants . . . .

he was older than both women

implants werent part of his vernacular

they fit however keenly into what had long troubled him about women and their fragilitythat wasnt the word  their given-over-to cosmetics  he never met a made-up woman he was attracted to he rathered well-scrubbed and clean  women pursuing vanity(in vain) troubled him  and now it wasnt only women but men toomen troubling over how they looked all these people concerned how they appeared to matters that were truly important people who preferred artifice to remedy their in-the-mirror reflection  skewed perception  these people arduously preferring the artificial to what was real  and once augmented they believed were convinced the plastic was real  they bore no consideration or concern or empathy for people who couldnt afford plastic surgery for a childs hairlip and other visually-disturbing birth defects  or wounds

pretty shallow

he thought he better take leave of his situation before he said something untoward  or hurtful

                                          . . . . The six grand of course the older woman said Nice to have six grand sitting around and more  You did say he folded up remaining bills and tucked them into his pocket

The guys loaded

The guy  he said again

Loaded  she smiled  and then she grasped her breasts in both hands and shook them defiantlyLoaded

And Im out of hereIm sure were breaking some kind of corporate standard . .

. . Were just talking they said over each other

Then Ill let you two talk I stumbled into this anyways Was just coming up for a bit of air and instead I got a mouth full of blue air  You gals carry on though

I wish I knew someone who had six grand to give away the older woman said No strings . .

. . attached  he thought as he floated back up and into the store aisles 

What strings would he attach to a boob job he shelled out six grand forNone he thought None at all  Because he wouldnt

he wasnt keen on an eyeful a handful or a mouthful of saline or siliconeNo baby  he preferred the real thing

1159,  Thursday,  12  1. 17

1345,  Thursday,  12  1. 17

Aint Nothing Like The Real Thing  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_D-greh8Q

it was a silver dayone of those rare days when silver supersedes gold it wafts its colouring goes between dull gunmetal grey to the vibrance of a grandmothers patient and painstakingly polished silver

beside him ran a runlet of rainwater

it hurried between an eroded edge of a tarmacked road and its earthen shoulder 

submerged in it were sensual banks of sand and silt and mixed-in organic matter 

lengths of it were clogged by stones tumbled and stolen by the downpour

the rainwater ran in a trough of its own creationa trough that wiggled its way like a drunken man head pitched forward who suffered the inertia of the descending hill and who only braked when he stumbled falling onto his hands and knees catching himself saving himself from smashing his face the clear water snatched bits of the tippling sunlight strongarmed and wrestled them to form bullion bars and brightcoins weave delicate splits and bang-out careless shards

the runoff reminded him 
                  it reminded him of when he was a boy in the city walking along curbs  above their rushing street gutters  he would drop a twig or curled leaf into the rainwater and imagine they were an Indian birchbark canoe and he inside  he paddled them across fat pools the while anxious to avoid their suddenappearing slurping vortexes  then he stroked and steered his way among the shallows over their rolling swells and fast whitewater and just before the canoe tipped up on its nose and was gobbled by iron storm-grates he saw himself leap awkwardly to safety and clutch and swing dangerously from overhanging tree limbs or sturdy brush  then pantinghis eyes bright and full of nonsense hed run back up the street to find another vessel and begin anew another mad river adventure

now  he could fathom no reason why he shouldnt play againbeing older or a man was no difference to the boy he carried inside him

so he found a twig

he walked back up the street  a street halfway across the continent from where he grew up

and into the fast water he dropped it and began a new – old imagining

he played better than a halfhour

and because this street hadnt curbs or storm drains his raucous journeys ended when the river emptied into a side street and the water spread out and up and down and flat and calm  he tipped out of the canoe into the simmering and swam easily to shore to begin again

                              as he did as a boy in the last century

the manchild and the boy are separated only by a thin gulf of Time  rescued again and again and again by the happy happy self-absorption of Memory

Memory that can leap that can fly that can impossibly hover in the sky like the comic book Superman his parents took from him   and thought they destroyed 

        

after 1300,  Monday,  9  1. 17

1550,  Twosday,  10  1. 17

Look! Up in the sky . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2l4bz1FT8U  or  The Cramps  Garbage Man  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVLpaiH2hbQ