Thursday, October 27, 2011

sorry about being late.

you came running around the side of the house like a puppy all eager and silent and jumping over bushes.
then you sat on me. you got lake-colored eyes. sometimes brown, sometimes coke bottle green, sometimes in between.
i cried and freaked out more times around you than anyone else. that might mean something, but i can't figure out what.
it was so hot outside that we did not make it all the way down the road.
instead we sat next to your ice-producing air conditioner which, through its own puddle creation and electric nature, tried to kill you.
i am glad it did not kill you.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

sister.

she was with her kids and they were teenagers now. all ready to cuss and punch. and for some reason she took their disdain personally, even though it was that time in a kid's life when it's natural to hate everything, or so i thought.
but i was walking with the boys dockside, and one kept stomping around. the younger told him, "you'll break your mother's back" and he said, "good." and kept on stepping on cracks.
they'd come from the desert and kept asking about cicadas and the different types of trees.
she was separated from them most of the time because her husband went crazy during the war and left her.
the eighteen year difference must be what does it. i have no choice but to look for her approval. even when she's all bleach blonde, fake tan, pancake-make-uped and doing her nails. cotton candy lipstick and layers of mascara. she could go without anything on her face and be beautiful. but it must be the job at the generic american food restaurant that demands she wear a mask like this.
the boys chose to ride in my car and the next time she was with me she put a cigarette between her cotton candy lips and said, "i think my boys hate me." i wanted to tell her it was not true.
it was so hot that the atlantic looked steamy. we climbed a sand dune and the sea oats were as still as the sunshine.
the older one ran straight toward the water. the younger started after him, then as if he'd entered a flashback and was six years old again (before the divorce, before smoking and pain pills, before either of them knew how to really hate) turned and yelled, "Look Mama, the ocean!"