Friends & Neighbors
Respect for Danger
If this ever gets off the ground, he said, it’ll probably be really dangerous & maybe I’ll finally get the respect I deserve
Riding Home
You may not remember the time you let me go first. Or the time you dropped back to tell me it wasn’t that far to go. Or the time you waited at the crossroads for me to catch up. You may not remember any of those, but I do & this is what I have to say to you: today, no matter what it takes, we ride home together.
Realist
I don’t wear stuff to impress people, she said. I can’t afford it yet.
Real Reason
There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other’s cooking & say it was good.
Ready to Jump
getting ready to jump as high as she can just because there’s only so long you can sit politely & listen while people talk about any old stuff that comes into their heads
Quiet Spaces
We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces.
Quiet Dance
Her feet moved like small creatures over the floor, quiet & unconcerned with anything but the business of dancing.
Public Radio
He only gets vicious when he watches too much tv, so we keep public radio on most of the time instead so mainly all we have to worry about is him going around to all the neighbors asking for money.
Public Face
I like to sit quietly in public places, she said, to make up for being so obnoxious in private.
Promise
the water washed away everything but the chance to begin again
so we came from cities & towns, from long golden fields
& we stood side by side until we made a bridge to dry land,
back to a place we have promised to hold safe for each other’s children,
back to a place called America
Psychic Energy
For a long time, he was trying to pop these balloons with psychic energy but he found a dart was simpler. I save my psychic energy for more important things, he told me, like trying to predict the future. I told him a dart is good for that too & now he never calls anymore.
Pretty Good Friends
pretty good friends considering they come from completely different backgrounds
Pockets
She had a big coat with pockets she filled with crackers & cheese & little wrapped chocolates in case (she said) she ever got trapped too far from a convenience store. I don’t take civilization for granted, she said.
One A Day
They don’t have very long memories, so every morning seems like a miracle.
One of Us
Someday, the light will shine like a sun through my skin & they will say, What have you done with your life? & though there are many moments I think I will remember, in the end, I will be proud to say, I was one of us.
On the Lookout
The two of them went riding off into the Future one day when they ran into a group of old people out looking for roots & when they stopped to see if they could help, all the old people laughed & said they had more experience. One woman said the Future wasn’t even there except for the bad parts, because the Future’s always worse than before & then the old people left, walking slowly, shouting at each other about the weather. The two of them looked at each other for a minute & then they said, let’s go off to the Future again & before they left they made a rule to keep on the lookout for old people.
Nothing to Say
He really doesn’t have that much to say, she told me, so don’t get him started.
Obvious Mistake
Some of the stuff I learned early on was useful, she told me, but most of it was obviously meant for someone who was not me.
No Surprise
has always been fascinated by car crashes & train wrecks,
so it’s no real surprise how well he took to relationships
New Start
We had neighbors once who never cleaned their house & left dishes in the sink & when there were no more dishes their dad would go out & buy another set of plastic dishes for $9.99 at Ben Franklin & one winter the house caught on fire & there were great piles of melted plastic everywhere & nothing could be saved & they moved to a new town with nothing but the clothes on their back & a new set of plastic dishes the church ladies gave them. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a new start.