Friday, March 30, 2007

What if I said

What if I said it probably seemed unremarkable, the waitress doubted we could eat so much which always happens, the guy at the next table made up opinions about paperclips to watch the grins of his family retreat, and after hours of anticipation plus a month or two what are you going to talk about. I don’t even know what we talked about. That I was cold. I had a problem with his eyes at first, it was easier standing as he’s tall but at that table I couldn’t get away from them, not unless I pointed out the paperclip guy had moved on to Foreigner, and I felt the red crawl around my face and I dropped my food a lot. Already you want me to fast-forward, to the stoop and his jacket and the exact speed at which those eyes closed. But that’s hours away, and I won’t let you leave me at that restaurant, my body held very still with his eyes on me, the waitress shook her head over the tempura and when I could bear to move I sipped my sake, and of course we ate while he looked and don’t call it a moment of grace. Don’t make it anything less than what we earned.

No comments: