8.6.08

unexpectations

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"There's something I have to tell you."

"You are married, aren't you?" Smiling. "Just kidding!"

"Well," he looked down before looking up again. "I am."

"What!?"

"It's not what it seems."

"You better have a good explanation for this one!"

"I am married to another man."

"What!?"

"Are you gay? Who is this man?"

"No. I needed to stay here so I got married to him two years ago to get a green card. He's my friend."

"This is just ridiculous!"

"Well, will you get a divorce, now?"

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"He's been in a coma for the past year. He was in a car accident..."

Silence.

"Another Guiness?"

"I think I'll have a whisky," sight and brief sedative laugh. "And this won't end here... I am really mad at you right now!"

5.6.08

slow motion

I open my eyes after a long night of sleep remembering when I was not able to dive into Morpheo's realm. Sleepless nights with her but without her. She is no longer here. She never really was. I probably should stop letting them in at night, the flying pink elephants. There are always collateral damages. Always. Black sheets, red pillowcases. I am naked and in need of a shower. She used to complain about my sticky skin every morning. I used to brag about my soft skin every night.

I like cold showers. I like the feeling of being under the water. High pressure. The echo of yesterday words fades. It is not just you and me anymore. As it was yesterday. As it will be tonight. Daylight slaps me in the face and I cannot longer pretend there is nothing else. The same words that make me hope, now hurt. You are in your island. I am on mine. No matter how much I swim against the tide. Smoke signals on a windy day.

I have breakfast on the counter. Cereal. Chocolate milk. In a purple bowl. I will see you today but I am not allowed to look at you. Not the way I am meant. Chocolate milk is one of my favorite things in the world.

I ride my bike to the office, where I pretend to work for a couple of hours before going to the pool. I swim, and swim, and swim. Meditation. I am you. I am me. Surrounded by water I imagine conversations we will never have. I hate to roll every twenty five meters. A wall that keeps me from getting closer to you. I hate to swim indoors. I am loosing my tan. I sit on the concrete outside the pool after five thousand meters and enjoy my lunch. The same girl every day. She smiles at me. I smile back. Tomorrow I will ask her her name. That I said yesterday. That I will say tomorrow. I am not ready.

I take a nap in the office. I dream. I snore sometimes. Afternoons are long. I keep waiting for a signal. An email, a phone call, you. But most of the time nothing happens. And if it does, I do not care the same as if I was alone, sitting on the swing in my porch, under the Christmas lights. And the moon. And the stars. In my island.

A run, a bike ride, a soccer game. Anything that keeps me away from the inertia. And makes me tired. I like to have dinner when I am exhausted. Sometimes I do not like being alone. Sometimes there is nothing else I want. A second cold shower.

The flying pink elephants are back. The swing creeks. Melancholy. The reflection of the lights in a glass of wine. The smoke. And then you again. It is difficult to fight my drive. My drive towards you. But we both want the same. Everything else fades again. It is just you and me. Subjectivity. Living a sedative lie that will no longer exist tomorrow. I do not care. I do know the rules of the game. And, no matter what, I will keep playing. And I will win. And we will find a shade of gray that is neither black nor white.

I sleepwalk to bed. I am no longer aware of what it is and what it is not. Tomorrow morning you will be gone again. Only to be back, though. Meanwhile, my heart beats in slow motion...

3.6.08

the backpack

I needed some cash for my monthly deal. I love those pink elephants flying around my tiny colorful apartment. It was late but I got in my bike and rode to University Avenue. I do not usually step out of my bike when I am in front of an ATM. Debit card. Secret number. Withdrawal. Fifty dollars.

"Hello."

"Hello?"

He looked sketchy.

"Don't worry. I just want to ask you something."

"Sorry?"

"I just want to ask you something."

"Yes? What's that?"

"I have this new backpack. Would you be interested in buying it? I need the money for food. I haven't had a proper meal in a while."

"That's a nice backpack you have there, but I have already more than I need."

"What about some cash? Don't make me pull out what's inside the backpack."

Silence.

"I don't think you wanna do that..."

"No? Why? Don't tell me what to do or not to do."

"There's a police car coming down the road," I had nothing better to say.

A police car passed by. Serendipity. Got the money. Got the card. The police car was gone. The knife was out.

"You have cash now!"

"Yes I do, I have cash and legs."

I started pedaling.

"Enjoy your dinner!"

The pink elephants flying around my tiny apartment could not care less about what happened. I could not help it but laugh. In any case, they help me when it is time to sleep...

2.6.08

shining tiny eyes

He always liked when he could not tell if she had her shining tiny eyes open or not.

His lips whispered something only an inch away from her lips.

"Look me in the eyes," silence. "Actually... do not... it is impossible to look me in the eyes... you will always be choosing one... just one..."

They stayed on the edge of a delicious uncertain abyss for an everlasting instant.

They enjoyed a white silence, before...
They dived into a sea of sweet doubts, before...
They, for the first time, felt one, before...

They kissed each other, clumsily.
But conscious.
They joined their hands, smoothly.
But firmly.
They trusted each other, blindly.
Hope.

They closed their eyes before opening them again.
They let themselves fall into the pleasant unknown...

And then, then finally, the light...

1.6.08

Words

- I need you to give me some space, to step out of the picture.

He nodded. He stared at her. Silent smile. "What do I do when your words ask me something but your eyes ask me the opposite?"

In any case, it might only be in his mind... Sandcastles and hope...

28.5.08

Whips

Something is wrong when you wake up with a hungover as a consequence of the embrace of a lonely night in your porch.

Something is wrong when you have breakfast in the same bowl over and over again even if it does not belong to the one you thought.

Something is wrong when you sit alone in a dark theater on a Saturday morning surrounded by parents and children to enjoy the adventures of one of the heroes of your childhood.

Something is wrong when the hero says: "There were a few, but they all had the same problem... They weren't you." And you look at the empty sit on your left.

Something is wrong when you go back to the future and wonder.

Is there something wrong? It is not, and that is why you draw a smile as you ride away from the theater under the raising sun.

26.5.08

(9)(12)(21) and halves

I woke up in the nude in the middle of the night. My body was covered in sweat. He was there, my other half, naked, sat in the white leather armchair, staring at me. We both knew what was going to happen. We walked together to the bridge. We did not say anything. My feet were hurting, bleeding by the time we got there. I looked at him. He looked at me. I dived into him. He dived into me. I cried. He cried. We both knew what was going to happen. I promised him not to look back once he was gone. I held his hand as he was standing on the railing in front of the most beautiful of the dawns. The last one. A linen cloth in which blues, reds, oranges, yellows and purples fortuitously sprinkled an exhausted igneous Sun. The bay was uncomfortably calm. The distant siren of a fishing boat. I hesitantly let his hand go. We enjoyed an everlasting white silence before. We drowned in a sea of bittersweet doubts before.

He jumped. I closed my eyes and walked away.

As I was getting away my stomach melted and I climbed up the railing and I saw him drowning and my heart took over my self and I jumped and I opened my eyes and I cried and I felt the impact with the water as if ninety one thousand two hundred and twelve pins were piercing my body at once and i swam towards him and I grab him and I swam and I swam and I swam and I cried and I swam and I made it to the shore.

I was exhausted. He was unconscious.

"Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," he softly mumbled as he opened his eyes.

"I couldn't let you go."

"Yes... you did. Yes... you did."

And only then we were one again and I was talking to myself. (❦)