stick to and Facebook didn’t make the list. Know what I
mean?”
“ Um, I was
just going to see if you were friends with Ankle Sox. He posted
this video yesterday that’s friggin’ hilarious.”
“ Well, I’m friends with him, but not online, I had to draw
the line somewhere. Yeah, so no; lately I’m just busy, man, raising
the boys. I might play a video game here and there, and maybe try
to read and write – and hey, did my face go red when I said
that?”
Another
moment slowly filled with awkward silence.
6:57
“ Did you
watch Survivor this season?”
“ Yes, but
only if you know what contradiction means.”
My cell
beeped with a new text message from Katie: oh hi! Can you go a bit faster. And that’s not what
she said.
I laughed and
then scrolled through my email messages on my
phone . I deleted all the messages in both the inbox and
sent folder. I texted Katie: okay seriously your children and I love you! you need to
stop bloody texting while driving!
I felt like
I’d just texted a short novel; it should have been time for bed,
never mind the end of my shift. I stared at the punch clock, unable
to believe that it was all down to that square box saying, not yet , not yet, not
yet, and, hey fucker, not yet .
6:58
“ There’s
Rodriguez. I thought he quit.”
“ Don’t know.
I avoid him ‘cause I think he’s an idiot and I don’t want to have
to tell him that.”
“ Sometimes it
seems like you’re avoiding me.”
“ Yeah, I’ve
been meaning to tell you…”
“ Huh?”
“ Please don’t
do that.”
“ Don’t do
what?”
“ Don’t say ‘huh,’ it’s like ‘what the fuck,’ but dumber. Okay? At least elevate yourself a notch and use ‘what
the fuck,’ As a friend of a friend do that for me,
okay?”
“ You should
be nicer to me, man.”
“ Yeah, well,
you should be quitting time; I’d ignore you all day until about
this time, when, hey, wait a second…”
“ Yeah, okay,
maybe sometimes I deserve it, but you shouldn’t be so critical or
something.”
“ Maybe you
should be a beautiful girl. Man, I’m not nice to anyone, why should
you be the exception? Just ask Nate.”
Another text
from Katie: i’m not texting
while driving, i’m waiting for you to go!
6:59
“ I don’t know
who Nate is, but speaking of hot girls, I saw your dad with one
just yesterday.”
“ That was a
whole sentence ago; let it go!”
“ No,
seriously, they drove by and honked and your dad stuck his head out
and laughed or maybe he was just laughing while going by, I don’t
know. Either way, from what I saw the chick was hot.”
“ Yeah, he’s
been drinking a lot though, man, so he was probably just in a
taxi.”
“ No, I don’t
think so, pretty sure it looked like she was laughing too and
grabbing your dad’s ass.”
“ That’s your dad’s butt now, or, fuck, I mean,
your mom grabbed my dad’s butt, or maybe my butt, no, that’s no
good either, never mind, you’re ugly.” I stared hard at him. If I
could throw punches with just a look, I’d have cleared his mouth
one tooth at a time. He was looking at me as though I was inflating
a blow-up doll in the middle of our conversation “Yeah, that’s,
the, her, she’s, um,” I stuttered, before pausing to collect
myself, “she’s available and I will set you up. Her name is Candy.
Yup, Candy with a capital D.” I started to smile but gave up on it
and sighed instead. He looked confused, and I looked past his head.
Behind my eyes an ache gathered quickly.
Chapter 14 … Bumbling & Crumbling
“ Oh, ouch,
love, what did you do to your head?” Katie asked, wincing and
craning her head for a better look.
“ I was following my destiny closely, maybe too closely.” I
answered with a small shrug. “I cleaned packaging machines today.
The piece of metal was there, I was there: we lined up too well not
to meet.” She made a face I took to mean, ‘ eek, crap-balls .’ I agreed and nodded my head, yes, ‘eek and
mean?”
“ Um, I was
just going to see if you were friends with Ankle Sox. He posted
this video yesterday that’s friggin’ hilarious.”
“ Well, I’m friends with him, but not online, I had to draw
the line somewhere. Yeah, so no; lately I’m just busy, man, raising
the boys. I might play a video game here and there, and maybe try
to read and write – and hey, did my face go red when I said
that?”
Another
moment slowly filled with awkward silence.
6:57
“ Did you
watch Survivor this season?”
“ Yes, but
only if you know what contradiction means.”
My cell
beeped with a new text message from Katie: oh hi! Can you go a bit faster. And that’s not what
she said.
I laughed and
then scrolled through my email messages on my
phone . I deleted all the messages in both the inbox and
sent folder. I texted Katie: okay seriously your children and I love you! you need to
stop bloody texting while driving!
I felt like
I’d just texted a short novel; it should have been time for bed,
never mind the end of my shift. I stared at the punch clock, unable
to believe that it was all down to that square box saying, not yet , not yet, not
yet, and, hey fucker, not yet .
6:58
“ There’s
Rodriguez. I thought he quit.”
“ Don’t know.
I avoid him ‘cause I think he’s an idiot and I don’t want to have
to tell him that.”
“ Sometimes it
seems like you’re avoiding me.”
“ Yeah, I’ve
been meaning to tell you…”
“ Huh?”
“ Please don’t
do that.”
“ Don’t do
what?”
“ Don’t say ‘huh,’ it’s like ‘what the fuck,’ but dumber. Okay? At least elevate yourself a notch and use ‘what
the fuck,’ As a friend of a friend do that for me,
okay?”
“ You should
be nicer to me, man.”
“ Yeah, well,
you should be quitting time; I’d ignore you all day until about
this time, when, hey, wait a second…”
“ Yeah, okay,
maybe sometimes I deserve it, but you shouldn’t be so critical or
something.”
“ Maybe you
should be a beautiful girl. Man, I’m not nice to anyone, why should
you be the exception? Just ask Nate.”
Another text
from Katie: i’m not texting
while driving, i’m waiting for you to go!
6:59
“ I don’t know
who Nate is, but speaking of hot girls, I saw your dad with one
just yesterday.”
“ That was a
whole sentence ago; let it go!”
“ No,
seriously, they drove by and honked and your dad stuck his head out
and laughed or maybe he was just laughing while going by, I don’t
know. Either way, from what I saw the chick was hot.”
“ Yeah, he’s
been drinking a lot though, man, so he was probably just in a
taxi.”
“ No, I don’t
think so, pretty sure it looked like she was laughing too and
grabbing your dad’s ass.”
“ That’s your dad’s butt now, or, fuck, I mean,
your mom grabbed my dad’s butt, or maybe my butt, no, that’s no
good either, never mind, you’re ugly.” I stared hard at him. If I
could throw punches with just a look, I’d have cleared his mouth
one tooth at a time. He was looking at me as though I was inflating
a blow-up doll in the middle of our conversation “Yeah, that’s,
the, her, she’s, um,” I stuttered, before pausing to collect
myself, “she’s available and I will set you up. Her name is Candy.
Yup, Candy with a capital D.” I started to smile but gave up on it
and sighed instead. He looked confused, and I looked past his head.
Behind my eyes an ache gathered quickly.
Chapter 14 … Bumbling & Crumbling
“ Oh, ouch,
love, what did you do to your head?” Katie asked, wincing and
craning her head for a better look.
“ I was following my destiny closely, maybe too closely.” I
answered with a small shrug. “I cleaned packaging machines today.
The piece of metal was there, I was there: we lined up too well not
to meet.” She made a face I took to mean, ‘ eek, crap-balls .’ I agreed and nodded my head, yes, ‘eek and
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