He was trying to be friends. Really he
was. He hadn't screwed everything up beyond repair. He knew that. How
else could she have smiled at him so genuinely? Unless she was a
psychopath. He hoped she wasn't a psychopath. All he wanted to be was
friends. But not with a psychopath.
He took his chalk set and wrote on her
sidewalk. Big, round letters of neon yellow and red.
Vikki
sometimes
it is good
to hold on
to happiness
and
it is better
to allow the
rain
to wash
away
your hurt
Take my chalk
use it please
make sure
you write
the good things
under awnings
and underneath
roofs
but
the bad things
in the open
on sidewalks
and streets
He left his chalk, then, in a square he
drew for it right next to her door. Then he knocked on the door and
ran away. She saw his back as he ran, so she left to throw the dishes
and hope for them to break. She would have loved his message, if she
had known. But it rained.
Vikki
sometimes
it is good
to hold on
to happiness
and
it is better
to allow the
rain
to smudge
smudge
smudge blotch
blotch smudge chalk
streak smudge smudge
smudge streak
smudge smudge
streak streak blotch
smudge streak
smudge smudge
streak
smudge
smudge smudge streak
streak blotch smudge
smudge smudge
smudge streak
She didn't know what he'd said. She
wanted to be angry but found herself sad.
Her hot bold tears flew to obliterate
what was left.
This-- you just--
ReplyDeleteI can't think of anything else to say.
That's a terribly unproductive comment. What do you mean? What's your feeling? Or just don't say anything. It annoys me to feel left out of a secret.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sorry about that. I felt very conflicted.
ReplyDeleteWhat he said was just lovely and reminded me of things and gave me hope, and then you mashed it all up, and I saw it coming but it made me sad. It felt rather like my freshman year of college, when my parents didn't think they could afford to bring me home for Thanksgiving but were lonely and so tried one last time to find a flight they could afford and found one, and then Benny came to be with us, and then I got back and my cat sniffed my fingers and pretended she didn't recognize me, and our house very nearly caught on fire, and our basement flooded.
Only worse than all of that, because we still had a good time, and nothing was permanently destroyed.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have the courage or the anger to knock on her door, even. Plus, it was early on Sabbath morning.
ReplyDeleteI'm an idiot.
ReplyDelete