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So I saw her yesterday. Standing on the steps of the coop (bookstore, second floor) I am a repositionable statue (rodin, thinker) and she is acting out drama (acting II, theatre design I) and love (unrequited, impossible). Like that. Boom. She snaps her fingers. People pass us by looking. I don't care. Neither does she. (I care about not caring instead.)
So unexpected to connect strings again and to watch words go understood. This is bad, I think, because I haven't seen her for 11 months, and this is good I think because I haven't seen her in two years.
A)
A: How have you been?
B: Watching the pigeons, watching her smile, falling in love over and over again.
B)
A: How have you been?
B: Chainsmoking clove cigarettes and proposing to people while drunk.
C)
A: How have you been?
B: Look at him! He's from Austrailia! Austrailian straitjacket escaper! Austrailan arm-twister! Australian street performer! Austrailian Australian!
D)
A: How have you been?
B: Alright.
E)
A: How have you been?
C: Are you interested in our new Disney promotion?
B: How have you been?
Behind me the wind is gently tousling sheets of advertisements. People float on the paths in front of us like flocks of clouds, bobbing up and down and walking slowly.
Her voice drops a period and I stare as she picks it up between her forefinger and thumb. It wriggles gently and as she lets go I watch it take flight and disappear into the sky. There is beauty in details. Same necklace, I point. Funny how we think similarly, she says.
She pats me on the back.
I blink.