"What do you miss the most?"
It was a game that we've played from the first day we've met. She's allowed to ask me any question and I have to answer honestly. It always started with broad, innocent questions, but then came back to the real world. We've been apart for a few weeks now, and I knew what she wanted to hear. In all honest, I could have told her that I did miss her and it would have been true, but somehow it didn't feel right.
It was the first time that we've gotten together since our break up. The group of people that accompanied us were to act as a buffer for any awkwardness, but it didn't work too well. Afterward I found myself on her porch steps, sitting in the rain. The storm had just ended and we enjoyed the drops brushing against my cheeks.
The near by street was treated with a clear coat of water, reflecting the glowing streetlights near by. The puddles on the sidewalk reflected the moon and hypnotized me as I stared at the bright orb. I felt a nudge which reminded me of the question at hand.
"Milton, I miss seeing him on my way home." Not the answer she was looking for, but it was honest none-the-less.
Milton was a bum, to say the least. A middle aged black man that sat on the corner of an underpass. Each day I would drive home from her house, I would see him standing there asking for change. Just like everyone else, I often rolled up my window and stared at the red light ahead. The times he did catch my gaze, I would shake my head and pretend like I had nothing to offer. This lasted for the first six months of my relationship with her, and then my heart grew soft.
I was always afraid of being taken advantage of, so I hardened myself against it. I looked critically at anyone that approached me, and especially at anyone asking for money. I don't know what it was exactly that made me change my views, but I didn't even notice it until it was too late. It started with squeezing dollar bills through cracks in my window. It made me feel as though I've finally done something good in life. More so, it allowed me to break away from from the suburban stereo type that has plagued me since I moved out of the ghettos.
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3 comments:
"I realized just how much "Milton" has made me consider my views on a happiness and simple human interaction" Much better. You need to edit the writing a little bit like: "The near by street was treated with a clear coat of water, reflecting the glowing streetlights near by." the double use of 'near-by',or "...we enjoyed the drops brushing against my cheeks." but it feels much much better, this does. Much easier to read.
We should keep asking each other hard questions. Maybe we'll get somewhere.
L,
-zuit
I honestly haven't gone over it a second time yet, so there's a lot of glitches and typos. Thanks for pointing out the nearby thing... i HATE it when people use the same word twice in close proximity of each other.
Ditto on the questions.. keep 'em coming. AND RETURN MY VIDEO!!!!
Hahahaha. Return your video.....hmmm.....what video? ;) So, rework and add until you are around 2 pages and then send it my way and I'll give it a glance over.
Dang it is cold.
L,
zoo.sys
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