New Stranger Calls The Phone
A conversation between two old friends with the smell of fake diamonds and cacti both floating in the air in our respective worlds. Yesterdecade.
Previous Post: Ocean Sunscreen
Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said, "We are all just prisoners here
Of our own device"
Staring at my emotions the same way a man on trial looks at the jury. I had a dream I was Van Gogh. I’d cut my ear off and pressed an inkless pens tip into the pool of blood and began writing in crimson. I don’t remember what I wrote because I soon woke up. My ear was still attached but bruised. This worried me so I decided to leave town. That was hours ago. Going down the highway with the music off and the thoughts turned on loud when I get a call. A long lost number, visions flood back: your everyday baseball cap, the snickering laugh, I even remember word for word some of the jokes you told that had me in stitches, doubled over so much that I could count the stitching in my shoes.
I answer. Say hello.
“Shit man. What’s up! How’re you doing?” Voice strains through quiet lips and the passion seems controled. Or dead.
“On the road right now.”
“Where you headed?”
“Take a guess: The signs say 85 and the air smells like cubic zirconia”
He laughs. “Oh, Atlanta?” I laugh with him. Yes. “Are you moving down there?" I tell him no. East Coast Oakland. Only visiting for a few days.
“Got you.” He pauses. “Afraid to move down there because you still get itchy in the cities?”
“Shit man how long has it been? I’ve been in the cities. Lost all the body fat I had and never knew what day it was.”
“Staying lean and beating father time doesn’t sound like a bad gig. It’s been two some years. I think?”
“Something like that. Where are you these days? It’s been a while since catching up with your family. Last I heard it was Chicago? Said something about getting a real job?”
He laughs and says yeah but that was a while ago, that he found a girl, a good girl, they moved in together, he cheated with a woman from work, the woman told his girl, she respected herself, there was a falling out, he took it poorly and burnt the bridges. “So I moved further away, out in Tucson these days. It’s good. Warmer weather and warmer women.”
“Chicago. Heartbreak. Cacti. Blondes.”
“Hahah yeah, Winston, to simplify sure. Chicago. Cacti. Blondes but nobody mentioned a heartbreak.”
“The best of us can accept when that organ cracks and spills out a little bit of hope. But you know they say you can move all over the world and never get away from yourself!”
“Mmmm. Still think you’re better than everybody else?”
“Not as much. Jesus took some of that away.”
“Jesus?”
“Oh yeah baby.”
“He’s good for that. Still sinnin’?”
“I’m only a man. You still running from your parents?”
He laughs. “You know how old they are now? 70 something. They couldn’t catch me it they tried!”
“Yeah but who could?”
“Someone. Someday. Death, the cops, a bad woman, an addiction or just plain old work. Something’s behind me.”
“It’s not hound dogs.. probably your own fears. Some family in your life would ease that paranoia. Quit skipping holidays. Everyone’s always eager to see you. They yearn!”
“We all yearn. We’re from a small town. I see you haven’t got any less sentimental?”
“Man. It’s a curse. God gave me a larger than normal heart. I’ve weaponized it.”
“God God. How much are you praying?”
“Enough to enjoy the sunlight.”
“God, man.”
“God. I know.”
We both breath. A few seconds of air until he starts back up.“You know he doesn’t give out black hearts right?”
“In my experience he usually does what he wants. And he’s emotional.”
“If that’s how you see it but that shade of heart comes from a different place.”
“If my heart was from there I wouldn’t have picked up. Be thankful this overgrown organ pumps nostalgia and remembers The Old Days”
He starts, “curiosity killed the cat…”
I finish, “… but we always imagined him going out smiling!” Then add, “I got eggs from Mrs. Connors last Week.”
It sounds like he’s sucking in air. Speaking with his eyebrows raised. “Haven’t heard that name in a while! Eggs? Ovarian?”
“No. Poultry.” I clarify. '“She acts the exact same; frantic in one eye and relaxed in the other.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Not bad. Her husband split five or so years ago but her youngest is still in high school, still around. She’s in good spirits. I’ll let her know you asked. She asked about you a few months ago but I just knew to say Chicago.”
“Yeah let her know I asked. She’d always separate us then after class pulls us aside to say she uhh… appreciates a, what was it? Funny friendship?”
“She liked we had a ‘humor filled companionship’”
“Man. Odd bird.”
I nod even though he can’t see me. “The oddest, but she always invites me in for coffee and we’ll talk for a while.”
“It’s gotta be weird seeing her that way? Outside of school?”
“100%. It’s like that all across town. The women that babysat us are trying to fuck. Remind me to tell you about Claire and Kyle. Then then old coaches gossip to you around the bar about the women they want to ‘get inside.’ It’s like everyone forgot that a few years you were a child now you’re just kind of in this local cult that has hidden strings attaching everyone by flesh, desire, scarcity.
“Longer than a few years ago. We’re getting older. The adults are seeing that and wanting to connect. Plus you’ve seen some of the world - it alters your view. More abundance. I hope you aren’t spending time with any old teachers in the romantic sense?” A pause. “Kyle Bennington?”
“Of course not. That was only for extra credit.” I say, “Yes. Bennington. But you’re right. It’s a trip. Get a kid. Get a job. They’ll trust you and swallow you into the world.” I scan the big green sign a few hundred yards out until seeing LOVE’S. “Look, man I gotta run in the gas station. It was good talking. I’ll call on my drive back up and we can catch up more. You sound healthy, lean into Tucson.”
“All good, get in there. I will and you do the same for wherever you’re living now.”
“Shit. I’m getting back to my roots.” The Marlboro lands on the yellow line.
“Roots. You? Don’t make me laugh man. You’re kudzu. No beginning, no end. Stay safe on the road and talk to you soon. Love you.”
- Winston,
Souled Idea
Ice in the Summer, Hate at the Wedding
