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THE GIRL WHO WAS

once there was the boy . and the girl who lived down the
street . the boy liked the girl . the boy thought of her
often . sometimes the boy saw the girl walking home from
school . the boy always wanted to speak but was too shy

a couple months later . on a saturday . the boy walks his
bike from the garage to the sidewalk . as he readies to go
riding he notices a very large yellow truck in front of the
girls house . two men dressed in grey overalls carry a sofa
from the house to the truck . next the girls father pushes
to the truck a dolly loaded with three big card board boxes

the boy looks for a few minutes then returns the bike to
his home and comes back with a bag of fritos and a can
of orange soda . he sits on the lawn and watches the men
and the girls father take furniture and boxes to the truck

after a period of time the truck is filled . the men in
grey overalls get in it and drive up the street . as the
truck rumbles by the boy reads the hand written sign on its
door " john holmes and son " a telephone number is below

the boy stands and stretches . he sees the girls father
cross the street to his car . a blue oldsmobile station
wagon . next comes the girl and her mother who is carrying
a red cage with two small green parrots inside

the mother puts the bird cage in the back of the wagon
she and the girl get in the olds . the father starts it
pulls away from the curb . goes to the corner . makes a
u turn and slowly drives up the street . he stops in
front of their old house for a moment then continues on

as the station wagon passes the boy shyly waves 

THE BOY WHO WAS NOT

after gassing up and grabbing a pack of smokes the father gets
on the expressway . settling in the fast lane he fiddles with
the radio . hearing tennessee ernie ford sing " sixteen tons "
the father turns up the volume pushes in the cigarette lighter
shakes a chesterfield from its carton taps it on the steering
wheel twice and before lighting up sings along with ernie

" you mine sixteen tons and what do you get ?

  another day older and deeper in debt "

the mother is reading a glamour magazine . an article sponsored
by ponds beauty cream . the girl is in the rear seat . a comics
called veronica and betty is on her lap . she says " daddy tell
me a story " the father looks in the rear view mirror

" whats that pumpkin ? " the girl leans against the front seat
and says " tell me the story about you and sparky and the nips "

the mother looks at the girl and rolls her eyes as if to say
" havent we heard that story forty seven times or more " ? 

the father smiles and sets the cigarette in the ash tray

" well shucks princess i reckon i can . let me think two
seconds . yeah . i remember now . the nips napped sparky
and me in burma . yep ! marched us right through the jungle "

the mother puts her hand on the fathers right shoulder
" honey before you get started " she turns to the girl

" dear do you know the boy up the street ? his family lives
in the yellow house . the one with white trim and the small
rose garden on the right side .  you know the one 

" the boy waved when we went by . did you see him ? "
 

THE WOMAN WHO WAS

i was at a party . it was late . i was ready to leave
the food was bland and the wine though initially appealing
left an annoying after taste . conversation had wound
down and the music changed from macy gray to bocelli

as i looked across the room for my coat i froze
because next to a sofa stood a woman . she had
blond hair and wore a brilliantly colored dress
i was mesmerized . riveted . for a brief moment our
eyes met . it felt as if an electrical circuit had connected

suddenly and to my left i felt a hand on my shoulder
a woman said " dont i know you ?" i turned to face her
rather than answer immediately i leaned back and slowly
looked her up and down . i smiled and said " no . no you
dont " then turned toward the sofa and the beautiful
blond in the brilliant dress

she was gone