Smoke. (ex. 6)

CUBANS
I gave all of my confessions to The Havana House and took every one of the implicated there with me. That is to say, here lies a fine establishment with an array of both domestic and imported cigars. Since I was an amateur at the time, I acted like I knew which one was the finest choice at the best value. The humidor is a sanctuary for some in this way.


TAMBOURINE
Apparently, W. is the “most churched” city in the greater Los Angeles area. Most churched? What does that even mean? More church buildings, or maybe more attendees. You and I decided that purple—incidentally, the color of passion—was the “most popular color for praise outfits.”


MORE TOBACCO
Mimo’s Café is the unofficial civic center for the community. No one ever asked these men if they were employed, as far as I know. My best guess was some sort of pension, especially because one of the pipe smokers has a wooden leg. I could always tell when he wanted to speak because I would hear the crack-crack-crack of the wood on the pavement. From these—the true figureheads of W.—I learned about the best pinot noir as well as the Finnish economy,


ICE CREAM
The child molester wasn’t in the park today. And, to top it off, we had ice cream! Of course, you had forgotten his birthday and were pacing through the hot sand, the vanilla drips collecting in sand-covered globs under the swings. Little punks in black t-shirts skated by and children through fistfuls of grass into the air, repeatedly. No one noticed your crying against the static of the red, plastic slide.


CERVEZAS
Every time the story was recounted at a party, you emphasized the words, ¿Tienes un novio? and lead your captive audience in a harrowing laugh at my expense. You forgot all the important details: our legs sticking to the synthetic wood of the bench in a very Catholic town, your refusal to drink in public.


ROSARY
Shopping at the Green Dollar was an education in what you really needed. Unscented detergent. Unscented hand soap. Unscented milk. Candy bars or doughnuts to patch things up during the silent drive to the desert.


MANGO
Did I mention that I never saw you without the reddest of lips? But this time, you brought your husband and his Marlboro stench.


CANYON
The dust came in through the open windows. There was only one road winding there and then back, so that we felt as if we had salvaged something, erased some track we made on accident. What we couldn’t do, we agreed silently to lose on the road.


SPICY BUFFALO WINGS
Had it been a bad week? Oh, it doesn’t matter. We didn’t need those excuses anymore. The salt hung in the air and the smoke felt good. Any night of the week. Remember the cheap gin spilling on the green blouse? Remember rolling those beads between the fingers as a nervous habit? Remember the pardon you offered me and how I took it, even with a slur.


NO FORWARDING ADDRESS
The neighbor’s dog became friendlier. It sensed something: a need, or maybe just a willingness. What a week. Got by on these stock phrases, a sort of chain letter in the mind. And I have not yet used up all my postage stamps.