She was wearing one of those floppy knit hats and a scarf, both baby blue but the scarf was yellowed a little like she used to smoke in it all the time. She leaned in real close, fogged up the driver-side window, and wrote “Hi.” I smiled, that real kind of smile that movie stars work on.
It started snowing while we drove. A little bit of dark hair poked out from behind her ear, and I looked over at it and tried to memorize how her neck looked at that angle. It’s the kind of thing I’m not in on that often, but she saw me and smiled and pushed my face back to facing the road with her finger. It smelled like coconut. Her finger I mean.
The snow caught on the windshield and melted. We talked about a lot of things, I can’t remember. She pronounced awry wrong, like aw-ree, and then we talked about words you only really see in crossword puzzles. Oner. Aver. Stuff like that.
Her laugh was a little hoarse, and I wanted to hear it until it hurt her throat and she had to gasp at me to stop, it’s not funny being funny. Just a car ride turned gold by the light of sodium vapor lamps on a wet road, somewhere downtown where the old houses met the newer buildings, and the bars on the windows faded away forever.
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i always pause before leaving you a comment about how much i enjoy your writing. i've written that before, and you've read it, and it doesn't change across time. i don't think that repetition is the best way to get something across but i also can't think of a really good example of just how much i enjoy your writing.
ReplyDeleteyour words take over my brain and reach me through images indie directors can only dreem about creating.
so i also want to say thank you.
i don't know if i've said that before, but thank you. thank you for every time you made my day a little bit better, a morning a little bit kinder, and life a little bit more enjoyable.
you've done that often. you've done it with your words. you've done it with your animals who have issues just like we all do.
It seems that my playlist always clicks into the right kind of song when I read these.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this. It added a nice tone to my day.
Jasenka, this was a really awesome comment, and I wish I'd gotten to it earlier in the day to tell you so. When I sit down to write, I hope that what I'm writing is for somebody out there, that the audience that it needs and that needs it actually exists. Sometimes I think that I'm the only person I write for. It's nice to hear otherwise. I hope you share my stuff with people who might like it, because that's the best compliment I can be given.
ReplyDeleteJesse, I already know you, so whatever!
my boyfriend wants four hugs, and my best friend bought your book. i spread the love. :)
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favorite vignette thus far, including the one you posted today (sadly, I must admit I only started reading these today, but I have read them all).
ReplyDeleteSir, you have inspired me to forgo beauty sleep, which I need with the wedding coming up and all, in order to start your book. If I have bags under my eyes come Saturday I'll set Gina loose on you.