I walked smack into a girl. I actually head-butted her by accident. We both rubbed our foreheads and looked at each other.
âSorry, wow, Iâm really sorry about that,â I said.
She had long romantic red hair and peaches-and-cream skin with freckles. I felt a cloud of foreboding when I looked at her one hazel eye and the other green one. I scrutinized her face, wondering what the likelihood was that this could be the same girl, the same buck-toothed free spirit Sullivan had written about.
She laughed and rubbed her forehead again. âYouâre sure in a hurry for a person at a folk fest, is there someone you gotta see?â Her laugh was scratchy and sexy.
Was this really her? I hope sheâs not an Ani fan too.
Cowboy hat, a mini-skirt. Sheâs just like I dreamt her to be. Except in my nightmares she was larger than life and I was a Lilliputian.
I must have fainted. Again.
Am I sleeping? Itâs warm and Iâm tired. Oh, oh . . . what is that? Am I being kissed? Jesus, whatâs going on? That feels weird. My nose is itchy . . . I tried to shake my head back into consciousness, my eyes were heavy and I felt a mouth on me again. A dry, unfamiliar mouth, smothering me. It was breathing into me. Then it pulled away.
The next time I opened my eyes just in time to see her mouth coming toward me. She was plugging my nose too. There was a tent of red hair cascading around my face. She tasted like something tart, something . . . iced tea.
I jerked up when I understood finally what was happening. The she-devil was giving me mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration.
âHey, are you okay? You just fainted. You passed right out. And I didnât think you were breathing . . . I think we gotta take you to the medi-tent.â
âNo, no, Iâm fine, Iâm sure itâs just the sun, the beer, the dope, the music, you know . . .â
âWell . . . shit. Are you breathing fine?â
âYa, thanks for that, Alicia,â I said, still confused.
Her eyes opened wide. âThatâs not myââ
I took off running, through the crowds, hoping she wouldnât follow me. I rubbed my mouth with the back of my hand, trying to rub off her bizarre kiss. I felt stung, and slapped. After I was sure I was lost in the crowd again, I stopped for a rest breath and went to hide behind a Moroccan food tent. Gasping. An old man came back to get some more supplies for his kiosk. He looked at me and said, âYou shouldnât take drugs, you know, itâs very bad for young girls.â Then he wagged his finger at me, like an elementary school principal. He grabbed a water bottle from his cooler and gave it to me. I drank it all in one long gulp, grateful once again for the sweetness of strangers.
I shifted my canvas arm bag from one shoulder to the other. I remembered the Ani DiFranco tapes and pulled them out. I sat down in the shade of a tree. I looked at the crowds around me, making sure I was anonymous again, with no demons in sight. I pulled out Aniâs song lyrics. My eyes were bubbling over with tears.
Untouchable Face
tell you the truth I prefer
the worst of you
too bad you had to have a better half
sheâs not really my type
but I think you two are forever
and I hate to say it but
youâre perfect together
so fuck you
and your untouchable face
and fuck you
for existing in the first place
and who am I
that I should be vying for your touch
and who am I
I bet you canât even tell me that much
. . . yâknow, I donât look forward
to seeing you again
youâll look like a photograph of yourself
taken from far far away
and I wonât know what to do
and I wonât know what to say
except fuck you
The words werenât 100 per cent relevant, but they were pretty damn close. I remembered her singing them. I badly needed to hear her singing them
Laline Paull
Julia Gabriel
Janet Evanovich
William Topek
Zephyr Indigo
Cornell Woolrich
K.M. Golland
Ann Hite
Christine Flynn
Peter Laurent