THE 45^TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND I WENT FOR A WALK AROUND FOREST LAKE

The 45^th President of the United States and I went for a walk around Forest Lake. It was unseasonably hot for February so we went to the lip of the lake and splashed water on our faces. “There are certain things no one can see,” the 45^th President of the United States said. “Things like real birds and stars and all the other things we don’t know are there.” I held out my hand and the 45^th President of the United States plucked off my ring finger and tossed it into the water. A tree sprouted in the middle of the lake. Its limbs thrashed the surface and it grew tall enough and broad enough that we could no longer see the other side of the lake. The slick green leaves of the tree began to bloom white leaves that withered immediately and fell onto the surface of the water. The tree dried out and its branches grew brittle and began to crumble to powder that blew away in the wind. Across the lake a man in a black suit stood and waved. I waved back.

THE 45^TH PRESIDENT AND I WENT ON A STROLL THROUGH ELMWOOD CEMETERY

The 45^th President and I went on a stroll through Elmwood Cemetery. The sky was a pink flame. The groundskeepers wore bright dresses that swept the grass. The tombstones were all made out of driftwood. A man in a black suit stood some distance away weeping. He waved us over. The 45^th President sprinted towards him with his arms outstretched. The man in the black suit waved us away. As we were leaving the 45^th President of the United States of America said, what do you know of ghosts? He took my hand in his and led me to a grassy area that led to the base of a large mountain that was too tall to climb. We took off our shoes and waited for the mountain to dissolve. 

THE 45^TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND I WENT HORSEBACK RIDING

The 45^th President of the United States and I went horseback riding. We were deep in the woods of Shelby Farms when we came to a clearing, the sky a blue circle above us. A family of blue jays squawked a warning from a nearby tree. Listen to those birds, the 45^th President said. Protecting their nest. What separates us from the birds, he asked me. I don’t know, I said. We can’t fly? Is that so, he said. He dismounted from his horse and hunched over on the ground like he was praying. The shoulders of his suit began to pulse and throb and tear. The 45^th President of the United States sprouted two slick and oily black wings. He stood up. Nice, huh, he said. The blue jays stopped squawking. The mother blue jay swooped to the ground and hobbled over to the 45^th President’s feet. He bent over and picked her up and held her in his cupped hands. The only thing that separates us from the birds, the 45^thPresident of the United States said, is that birds cannot kiss a flower. The 45^th President pecked the mother blue jay on her head and tossed her into the air and she flew back to her nest. The 45^th President spread his wings, leaped into the air, and then toppled and fell to the ground. He stood up and again and dusted his suit off. But we cannot fly, he said. He gazed up at the clearing as we mounted our horses and rode them back to the stable.

Grant Gerald Miller was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama and an assistant editor at Black Warrior Review. His work has appeared or is set to appear in various journals including Hobart, Entropy, Qu Magazine, Bartleby Snopes, Necessary Fiction, and Nimrod.