he took another hit off the bong
when no one gathered sat forward to take it from him he set it down in
the grassat his hip beside his lawn chair
he leaned his head back and
exhaled a long breath of smoke into the night sky it moved to the cool breeze coming off the lake
the water played in the reedslapped
the warm mud mixed with silt and grass and last years fallen leafmulch
they pitched tents built a firepit
fed it seasoned oak they brought in their trunks and trucks
they joinedthey said to celebrate their mothers life
he came to defend it
she was
his motherinlaw
hed known her only three years when
she died but when he visited her his fatherinlaw
they spent inordinate time together usually rising before the rest
of the house took their black coffees – another predilection only they shared
-- outside and sat beside each other in wicker chairs sharing a side table made
of a finished log stood on end they knew
the tree it came from and usually
sitting up before an applewood fire in the fireplace long after family went to
bed
they were never bankrupt for conversation
he admired her deeply she laughed when he knelt genuflected – he liked
the word -- before her paying homage to her for all the balls she managed skillfully to keep in the air it seemed that only he and his wife
appreciated her delicacydeftness her aplomb as she negotiated yetanother riff
between her children her children and
her husband agilely constantly putting out fires
Why he abruptly
asked herhe felt too many times Why
she would reach over to himtake his
face in her hand few people got that
close and smile beatifically Because they’re my family.
Who heap shit on you anfrom our conversations have heaped shit on you for long as theyve been conscious an youve been married
I accept it, it’s not like I didn’t
see it coming, didn’t try and thwart it.
Is it a project
she laughed heartily No. Not a
project, no. They’re selfish people, they
were born selfish; it’s their nature.
It’s my nature to nuture.
he couldnt hold his tongue Man your cross to bear
Seems the wrong people are bearing crosses
he hung on her wordsalways paid
attention to their depth their gravity
he learned lot from her but hed be damned if he put it into practise
as she did
she shined a light into a
wilderness which otherwise he wouldnt have known
his wife wasnt selfish
unfortunately she exhibited the
same tendenciestendernesses her mother did they were two peas in a pod
yet once he started dating her he
made sure her siblings understood they were to treat her right or hed treat them in kind
they really didnt like that
he didnt care
Balls in your court Cross your sister youll cross me An as you know I wont tolerate it Make her life hell for a moment Ill make yours hell for a day
it wasnt a threat
he sat around a campfire with
them
he wouldnt have been there if his
wife hadnt begged
truly
he couldnt
deny his wife anything
but he could make her beg
he wasnt sure what that said
about him about them about her
he preferred to keep her out of
harms way
but she preferred to walk on hot
coals
Why
that
echoed Why he threw at his motherinlaw
his wife let his Whys roll off her
back
she tried to disarm him They’re my fam . .
. . No Theyre your siblings Theyre your parents family
shed set her jaw adamant like trying to make a mule get up and walk if it didnt want to They are my family.
Yes Yours Allyours
they sat before the fireyapped what a miracle it was
that their mother held on as long as she did before she died that she clawed back and was able to
communicate with them after her physicians said she was at Deaths door
they liked to co-opt her
miracle as their miracle lighted by its
light not their mothers light they wouldnt give her that
anymore than they gave his
wifelied to her that her mother was
doing well when in fact it was apparent to
her physician that she had lapsed back into a coma and could linger for
weeks months a year
a
real Quality Lifehuh
her machine was turned off
stoned
what he could imagineknowing his
motherinlaw her and her witchy ways was that
she foresaw what loomed in the future for her granddaughter the only grandchild she was alive to meet and
enjoy she sidestepped her miracle hoping that it
might flow to her granddaughter
he could imagine and he could accept that
he let them talk
he pulled his chair back from the
corona cast by the firethey wouldnt mind
and sat situated where he could hear the water better than the fires crackling
their cackling
his wife got up out of her
chair and squatted down by him gave him a
kiss Are you alright?
Ahyour sweet Im fine Really If they cross any lines .
.
.
. You’ll swing in like Tarzan?
Yes Jane Exactly like Tarzan
I love you. Thank you.
he looked up into her face it was darkened by the night her shadow the
bright fire at her back You know eventually
Ill submit to you Im
stubborn And Im stubbornly in love with
you
Your mom was
one-in-a-million I am so grateful
meeting you allowed me to me her
You were her guy. You know she
wrote that in her calendar the day she met you.
Yah She was so cocksure
he saw the smile break on her
face his eyes more accustom to the
darkness now or maybe lighted by moonbeams
reflected by the lake Cocksure? My mother and cocks? Could we agree to assuredconfident?
Off of one meeting
Love. No matter who you meet, you
make a substantial first impression.
Are you tryin to get in my pants
Could be. she squeezed his thigh as she rose I’m not going to ask you if I can get you something.
I love you Cindi
I lust you too. she walked away
as much as he liked to see her come he liked to see her go
Twosday evening, 15 10.
19
1257, Day-between-Two-Ts, 29 4.
20
