oldnumberseven

‘Jesus,’ I said. ‘At least give me a whiskey.”A spoon full of medicine makes the sugar go down.’ She laughed then, and I sat down at the kitchen table.I looked out the window. I heard the ice cubes rattle around a tumbler. The moonlight stumbled over the window sill and across the kitchen table. The short glass of Wild Turkey stood in a trapezoid of moonlight on the table. The morning newspaper was in a roll, and I took off the rubber band, and unfurled the front page. I took a drink off the whiskey. The coffee pot percolated. I took another drink and prayed.

‘Dear Lord,’ I prayed like an old Nazarene mother. ‘Dear Lord,’ I said and balled my hands together. ‘We know that you love us, and want what is best for us.’ I trembled then. ‘And so, I pray for the apocalypse. We are all cocked-up.’ I had some more whiskey. ‘Please Lord come to man in a terrible and fiery visage. Bring the apocalypse.’ I took another drink for myself, and one for God, and that finished the whiskey. The coffee finished with a loud gurgle. I had a coffee and read the newspaper, and smoked. The paper was full of terror, pain, and confusion, and all the excellent things we planned. I was immune to any feelings about it. I read a story about trapped miners.

To the mines! Tell you the Duke it is not so good to come to the mines…

I wished then to be free and easy, and had a memory of a certain time and I shook a little. I remembered a walk along the Buffalo creek with a young woman, and how she came to me in my bed that night.

The room in Sanduskey was small and hot. The room was shaped like a shoe box. The room was in an old hotel that operated when Sanduskey was a popular watering hole. The window was open and a fan slowly rotated. Rain fell down. My belongings were packed in a case and my papers in an engineers bag. I sat on the bed and lit a cigarette and let the match drop to the floor. The match left a black mark upon the green paint on the floor. I waited upon Madeliene. I smoked a cigarette and drank a whiskey. Madeliene came and knocked on the door. The rains came down hard, and the clouds rolled in over the lake. There was a lightening storm out over the lake. The sky was dark and there were no stars. The lightening forked over the lake. The storm was many miles out. The storm went for hours and ended abruptly. Madeliene returned from running. I saw through her shirt. Her t-shirt was wrapped to her body. Like a gauze. She was flushed and sweaty. She started the shower and undressed. Her middle name is Naoko, I thought, and promised to myself to always remember. I thought of a green coolness and the shelter of leaves.

I drank my coffee and read the paper. I saved the cross word puzzle to the end.