Monday, June 24, 2002

 

Familiarity: Anything can happen today, right? Well, sure, I said. See this scar on my lip? I asked him. yeah, he said. This cute girl finally looked at me close enough to see this scar, and I've had it forever. Since I was four, man, and I can't even remember how I got it. I've only heard stories about it. How during my grandfather's funeral, my babysitter had to rush me to the hospital after I bashed my head into a rocking chair. I've always wondered how you can miss seein' this one when you look at me straight on. But she finally saw it.

This reminded my friend that sometimes that which is expected can be comforting. No surprises can be a warm invitation, he mused, like when you know what's for dinner by its smell on the way home from baseball practice and that mom will insist on saying grace before letting anyone touch their utensils. Or the cat's mewing and pawing in the middle of the night which was annoying at first, but once you got to know the cat itself, and how it brings in a caught mouse in the fall, that mewing and scratching was kind of nice.

Cicadaes are kind of like that, he said. Some nights the sound of 'em will keep me up for all the night. Other nights the humming can rock me gently. It kind of depends on the heat of the evening and the humidity in the air. He said this and I was certain a ghost passed right through him. He didnt turn sheet white, like in the movies, but a glimmer of nostalgia gathered in the corner of his eye so much that he winced from it. He looked off into space for a moment.

It was at that point that I stepped into a pile of dogshit.

Aww, man. I bet you didnt expect that! he said and laughed as I stumbled along the sidewalk, dragging my shitty foot in the grass to wipe it clean.

posted by Hog 11:37 PM