flashlight tag
during Summertime Summer vacation
the game took on a whole new
meaning one evening when playing with Sally Fortier
sure they knew they were going to piss off their
parents for using their flashlight whoevers
theyd get the speech You’re
wasting batteries. A flashlight is meant to be played with, it’s not a toy. asif they just couldnt come out and say Don’t touch it, it’s not yours.
JesusChrist
Wha a bug to have up your
ass
it wasnt like they were bumming the
heart Christiaan Barnard used to perform the first human heart transplant
it was a flashlight
for cryinoutloud a
flashlight
that night Sally ran into her
house not saying anything beforehand and took her parents
she explained that it was her fathers he worked downtown Chicago a financial advisor she was one of twelve kids he probably wouldnt think a flashlight was a
hardship to be recompensed if need be
wha the hell was
recompensed
besides she said her folks were pretty
generous
OBrother
were they on Halloween they gave out regular
size candy bars not miniaturised ones
the six eldest Fortiers were
girls every Summer that he could
remember they put up a lemonade stand on
their front walk kindalike Lucys from
Charlie Brown comics without the psychiatrist ploy though they could have they were really smart
girls 2cents a glass it was cold and delicious they used real lemons they couldnt have made much money because they
didnt always collect pennies for the glasses they poured
but maybe that was because they were
Catholic they may have seen it as a way
of doing the Lords work Don’t thank me
Sally would say when she handed him a free glass Thank the Sweet Lord above.
hed thank Sally then hold up his cold lemonade to the blue sky
and smiling really big he toasted My
Sweet Lord
that night Sally was
fourteen he was twelve
because it was her fathers
flashlight she was It
she closed her eyes and began counting
to fifty out loud
the neighbourhood kids scurried
to hide
some hid but some liked to stand
behind things trees cars parked in drives so they could run to hide again as
Sally passed
but Sally was really good she had great ears she feigned asif she was passing a
suppressed giggle is still a giggle
and Sally could run like the wind
hustling she found all the kids afoot
the kids sat together on the
street curb while Sally found the ones who hid
she found him last hit him with
the flashlight beam he was wayhigh in a neighbours
Dutch Elm on the parkway where he watched the game play out
because he was last found he
became It
. . FORTYSEVEN FORTYEIGHT
FORTYNINE FIFTY HERE I COME
he played the game aggressivelyacted like a
monster he panted growled howled screamed he frightened a better part of the kids into
revealing themselves and brusquely disregarded their shouted accusations that
he was cheating because he scared them
he told them to shaddup and sit
on the curb Losers
since Sally was fleet he knew shed
remain afoot she moved like a ghost
but this was different night
he heard her giggling
it wasnt like her to leave hints
following her giggling she lead
him to the remaining hidden kids who cried CHEATER into the night at Sally YOU’RE CHEATING, SALLY, CHEATER. THAT’S NOT FAIR.
when they went out to the street curb
to join the others he caught her giggle again
he followed it up a gangway between
neighbours houses their kids were too young to be out
playing with them
lights burned in their windows
he could hear their voicetheir televisionssee its bluelight flicker on the ceiling
at the rear of the gangway both
houses had stoops wood steps leading up to their back doors
a
soft giggle
he paused listening
where
another
soft giggle
he leaned left to listen
leaned right listening
soft
breathing excited
right he determined
under the stoop
he thought to scream as he did
when he found the other kids
then he thought again
if he screamed he might
frighten the grownups inside
he crept into the backyard came
around the steps
he saw a motion
in the dark rather a break something
moved slightly a patch he saw looking
through under the stoop changed shape
he
flipped on the flashlight
Gotcha . . oh he had
in the circular bands of whiteblued light
on her knees
on the dirt
Sally
her blouse was open her bra pushed up over
the top of her breasts her hands beneath holding them like fruit
he was transfixed his
cock wasnt
Golly he croaked
then Sally Youre breasts are really nice
she giggled
I thought I’d flash you; teach you a
lesson.
the rest of that Summer wasnt the
same as Summers past
Summer school
1241, Reggae Friday, 23 10.
20
1134, Reggae Friday, 30 10.
20
