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Crypto Klepto Would you like to know what I was doing last weekend? Would you like to know what I was doing last Tuesday? Would you like to know anything? Do you not care? We sat down, and I opened with: �So, what�ve you been up to (for it is dispolite to talk of one�s self)?� You told me: �Not much.� Then you told me again. You elaborated: �I was down at the movies last weekend.� (That�s why no one answered when I called you!) I sipped my coffee. I looked out the window. The movie you watched (you said) was very boring, you described it in detail to me. (Did you think that I wanted to be bored?) (Did you think that I come to these coffee shops with you to hear of the boring things that you did? Not at all.) You got up and excused yourself to the restroom. It was then that I noticed that the painting behind your chair was very beautiful. The last time we were here there were three other people with us. My mind wandered. You spoke, of course. You always do. �My latt� cost more than yours did.� �When they overcharge you, just look them in the eye and say THAT�S TOO MUCH!� (Ha ha. So funny.) �Can�t we go now?� I said, after hours had passed. �We just got here!� you said. I went crazy that night. (There are 692 bricks in that fireplace. I counted them. I would have named them also, but�dearest mercy!�the coffee shop closed at eleven.) You came back from the restroom and obscured that beautiful painting again. (When I take off my glasses your eyes look like pits then I put them back on and your cheeks look like plaster. Your hair looks like straw and your lips look like wax. Why are you doing this to yourself? Don�t let the rest of the world tell you how to look. Peel off the paint and let your real self be seen.) You went on: �After I came back from the movie I listened to music.� (No you didn�t! I know all about this�you turn on the music and play it in the background! You don�t pay any attention to it! You hear it, but you don�t listen!) You went on: �I was playing scrabble with my mother on Tuesday. I played quip on a triple word square and got 45 points.� I remember the time we played scrabble, two years ago. I had played aqueous, then you played delicate. You scored 80 points. Those are beautiful words. The rain was chilly that day, but we didn�t care. We walked in the park. We came back and drank hot cocoa and sat by the fire. I remember your two little sisters: �We�re playing capitalist upstairs and Katya just opened a new factory.� I ask you how they are doing. �They�re alright,� you say. That�s all you say. I was weeping last night. I don�t know why. Lately, for no apparent reason, I�ve found myself weeping. Nobody has ever caught me doing it. It�s very quiet. But I can�t tell this to you� it wouldn�t be appropriate. I can�t tell you things like I could before. Do you remember the time we sat under the bridge and just looked at each other�s faces? Why don�t we do things like that anymore? Why do we have to change? Back |