But he would not. He told me to take off my clothes first. But I would not. We stood there like idiots as the rain poured on us. We should have gone into the barn, for then we might have taken each others instructions.
But out here, no one was willing to take the chance.

It never occurred to the little girl that her wayward parents would be her undoing. Often, she caught her mother and father arguing over grass cuttings and garments and even saw them threaten to divorce each other over a television show.
She tried to find ways to put a stop to their battles. When she opened her mouth to say something, they always looked at her in a strange way as if confused by her concern.
“Your mother and I are just having a discussion,” her father said.
“Your father and I are not arguing,” her mother said.
The little girl returned that strange look of theirs with one of her own.

Everyone wore a tie to gym I had just finished playing tackle football on the basketball court. I felt powerful. And then the girls walked in, dressed up. And then I realized I was wearing a sport coat. So were the other guys.
It wasn’t a prom. I don’t know what it was.
But it wasn’t a prom

I can’t seem to do things the way other people do them. I do things wrong.
So, take me away in handcuffs.
Uh-oh. I’m being taken away in handcuffs.

ruch-rustle
millstone
eastern seaboard
rangy
trousseau dress
self-vaunting
flue
thought leader
fenestration
syntax

Quiet has a pulse. Something breathes it. Something pushes forward.

Quiet is loud and encroaching.

Listen to the quiet. Find out what it wants. It’s the same as what you want.

He gathered the stones, shined them, made them beautiful.  In response, they sang to him. The lyrics tore at him. Such words of comfort, love, and even adventure. He wrote down the lyrics, committed them to memory, then later as he got older to his whole way of life. It seemed soon those words would match a woman. And eventually they did. She appeared in the fog one morning, her voice matching the voice of the stones. She sang  tantalizingly. They spilled over him and he fell to the floor, his hand releasing the jewels. Which had once been stones.
He fell at the woman’s feet.

It was a beautiful night. They reminisced about their childhoods.
But the talk always went back to Janet.
They knew it was time for Gary to meet her. Gary had second thoughts. He knew Janet must be something special if Max kept mentioning her.

“Are you ready to meet my lady?” Max asked him.

Gary was not ready. But what choice did he have?

I dressed myself in flowers. But you can’t do such a thing and expect to be left alone. Forget about the bees. People want to take selfies with you.
Some people get pissed off that you ripped the flowers from their original origins A cop comes by and gives you a citation.

I enjoyed our get-together last Saturday. I don’t know what I expected. I guess I expected a fight to erupt between us.
But instead we shared hors d’oeuvres and laughter. We cried too. I think I enjoyed the crying more than the laughter because the tears came on the tail of the laughter. Somehow, almost in the blink of an eye, I realized, through tears, through previous heartbreak, through eventual maturity, how much I loved you.