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Cariamanga It had been many years since Kurt had been back home to see his mother.  Rocky, was their relationship at best.   As a child, Kurt spent more hours in the “time out” chair than he would like to remember.  To his recollection, he wasn’t a bad kid and surmised that his mother must have just flat out hated him.  This thought was confirmed when entering the house with a huge bouquet of flowers and chocolates, he forgot to take off his shoes and his mother’s first words in 15 years were to go have a seat.

My tears have shaken him.

He begs,

begging me to reverse my desperation.

I have frightened his boy heart,

perhaps even broken it.

Six words of recklessness,

raking the grief laden air.

We melt together,

his grip holding me here.

Honoring the weight of his anchor, I encircle his body,

catching his fear.

Restless, he sleeps next to me now.

Crying out.

Tense.

Searching for a good dream.

I watch through liquid eyes,

wishing I could make it 9:02 again.

For my son Nicholas.

Leo was a quiet sort.   He married Sheila 37 years ago and knew within weeks he had made a mistake.  Her nonstop gabbing made him desperate for peace and quiet.  Since killing her was out of the question, his only solution was to pretend to be sleeping whenever she entered the room.  He was a very well rested individual.

Beatrice goes to the University of Oregon and has a huge crush on her Molecular Biology professor.  She spends her evenings knitting him socks and secretly leaves them in his school mail box.   When her mother inquires who the socks are for, Beatrice says she is knitting them for the gentlemen at the VA hospital on Main Street.  Once mother has gone to bed, Beatrice smokes cigarettes through an open window.

For newlyweds Amy and Clark, it was the perfect day for a stroll along the boardwalk.  When they happened to run into Amy’s old boyfriend Louis, things seemed a bit awkward until Louis kindly offered to take their photo.  When Louis kept telling them to move a little more to their right, they had no idea why, but did as they were told.  “Click” went the camera and he bid them goodbye mumbling something about Amy marrying a Martian.  It wasn’t until two weeks later when the film was finally developed that they knew what he meant.