insanity
*thumbs up*
though that's the corniest line ever. even if it is Yeats.
KS
On 03/11/2007, joe green <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Of course, we are only chatting about money. But it's the loneliness of the
> adjunct in some small town that seems overwhelming. I did this once -- took
> a low paying job (I only had an MA) in some railroad town in No-where to
> bring the beauty of great literature to just there.
>
> I was 41 years old and living once again in a small apartment above a
> marginal business. All night the neon light from the store across the way
> blinks on and off -- with the lights off and me in my trundle bed the cycle
> is the darkest dark and then an ugly nuclear green followed by an outlandish
> pink then dark once again.
>
> But I have the light on.
>
> The phone rings. I put down my Travis McGee novelette to answer it.
> Could it be...?
>
> That evening in a fit of middle aged angst I had flirted with the 22 year
> old bleached blonde tatooed waitress in the dive across from my apartment.
> We -- it seemed to me -- generated a rough magic.
>
> I gave her my number.
>
> The phone... could it be that impossible she?
>
> Ah...no.
>
> It was her boyfriend...of course...and his buddies
>
>
> "You goddamn #@#@#** we know where you live look out the window"
>
> So I did. He was outside the phone booth giving me the finger.
>
> His buddies were there.
>
> The impossible she was there.
>
> "Get the %$#@ down here and I'll..."
>
> I replaced the phone gently on its cradle.
>
> Picked up my book.
>
> Travis was just about to beat up Boone Waxwell the swamp rat.
>
> Tried to forget.
>
> But -- oh yes --- I was judged.
>
> The phone rang again and again, of course.
>
> I thought: "Shit, what if they come up here?"
>
> All I had was my trusty Charter Arms 44 revolver. Only five shots.
>
> I peeped out the window. They were still there.
>
> And I had a 8 AM lecture on the poetry of Keats and Shelley!
>
> Oh, well -- the Great Romantics would have to wait.
>
> Of course, I brooded all the next day and by 6PM knew what I had to do. I
> got out of bed and walked over to the restaurant. She was there, of course
> and I sat down at her table. She saw me and I smiled. She was a bit startled
> of course. I waited. Another waitress came out to take my order.
>
> I took out a book -- probably "Being and Nothingness" and covertly glancing
> up now and then as though I were considering "Nothingness." But my thoughts
> were far away from philosophy. When my patty melt arrived I asked for the
> check at once. Her friend delivered it. I waited. I was lingering over the
> last fry when she went to the cash register to ring out a customer.
>
> I leapt up and was there before she could escape. I handed her my check.
>
> She averted her eyes but it was too late for her!
> "That was your boyfriend last night."
>
> "Yeah." (There was some defiance in the voice)
>
> "And all his buddies."
>
> "Yeah." More defiance.
>
> "I want you to tell them one thing."
>
> She sighed and looked up. "Yeah, what do you want me to tell them?"
>
> "Tell them," I said my voice trembling – "Tell them that there was once a
> man who loved the pilgrim soul in you."
>
> I thrust a ten dollar bill into her waiting hand. Turned. Walked into the
> American night.
>
> No more I decided. And so I was off to make my fortune. Plastics or
> computers. I chose computers.
>
>
>
> Joseph Green
> The Pleasant Reviewer
> Headmaster, St. John Boscoe Laboratory School
>
> Switchboard Captain, Hollywood Colonial Hotel
>
> All complaints shall be directed to:
>
> Camelopard Breathwaite
> The Fallows, 200 Fifth Avenue, Fredonia City
>
> "That's Double Dependability"
>
> Brought to you by Zenith Trans-Cosmic Radio
>
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