The Daring Young Man (and Woman) on the Flying Trapeze
having returned by a circuitous route, involving
several pauses by trees not too distant
from Cory, but not too close, just so he
could see me, know I was there, before
I strode back, threw down the blanket,
“I’m not the worrying kind, I guess.”
“Well, a tidal wave could be bearing down on us,
and I ask, ‘Are you worried?’ and you say,
‘Nope,’ (and by the way, I love it when you say
that word, no one in California outside a
movie set says that word;) because you’re not the worrying kind,
“Hey. This is what I want to do—marry you.”
“Sense? When did things make sense? This makes more sense
than most of what I’ve done these past three years.
What you did—patching people up—now that
makes sense. But me? All I did
was blow things up, ’cause that’s a sapper’s job.
You know what happens when I see a bridge?
Even the Golden Gate? I think on how
to blow it up. Where to lay the charges,
how to sequence them; how many, and
how big, first to weaken it, and then
to bring it down; where to run the fuses,
how long, how far away to hide. Jesus.
I just wish they’d pay me, all this work
I’ve done. Any time they need that Gate
opened up, well I’m their man. So, sense?
I guess I don’t expect too much along those lines.”
I looked at him. “So—is this it? Being together won’t
make us less alone, although it will,
with luck, make us less lonely. Is that it?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s exactly it.”
“A leap in the dark, holding hands?”
“Yeah. That’s the question in the end, isn’t it?
Will you try your luck with mine?”
“Just bring me roses once,” I said. “Can you
“I can,” he said. “I can and will.”
Saturday afternoon. I’d helped all morning with the laundry.
After lunch, Andy turned the handle
while I pushed the clothes through with a stick,
the two big rollers squeezing out the water so
we could hang the clothes to dry.
“You don’t need a stick,” he said,
“except with the electric ones.”
But my fingertips had been nipped
slowing down, humming, his hand on the mangle barely moving,
till I said, “Andy. Andy! Come on!” and he did,
speeding up just as I shoved, so
and he kept turning, busily turning away,
(would he have stopped if those had been
and even when he said, “What?” face turned
blandly towards mine, he didn’t stop.
“The stick’s caught. Back up!”
We did, until I pulled out the stick. The white shirt,
where the peeled stick had been crushed against it, showed
“Now look what you’ve done!” I wailed.
“What’re you looking at me for? You said
When we were done—when I’d rewashed the shirt, and
pushed it through the rollers myself, and hung the clothes,—
I, an apple, and a book went up the tree, and when Mother
banged out of the house looking for me,
“Belinda!” she called. “Belinda!” using my whole, hated name,
She dodged about the back porch,
looking first this way, then that,
one hand up to shade her eyes.
Twenty feet away and ten feet up,
Behind her, the back door flashed, catching the sun.
Then, I knew, this refuge was gone.
How did he find me, zero in on that tree,
he stood there, glancing around like a dog that sniffs the air,
collecting scents, checking out the day.
His face changed when he saw me, and
I didn’t dare move; I just glared. If he did that again,
and suddenly I knew, that’s what he’d do.
He’d wait ’til she was looking,
Spinning suddenly, she saw him behind her,
just as he dropped his arm. He stood there,
hands clasped behind him, as she
“Do you know where Belinda is?” she snapped,
that way she has, demanding information.
She made a noise of exasperation—as if
she wouldn’t have looked there
already!—and marched into the house.
Andy stood there, squinting at the sky.
As he turned slowly away, his gaze
slid across mine, and he nodded once,
love and shame I couldn’t move.
to switch the digits on me. Just when I’d
a fast one, an act of real kindness.
And I, taken off guard, defenseless,
Comments
0 Comments on the whole page
Leave a comment on the whole page
0 Comments on paragraph 1
Leave a comment on paragraph 1
0 Comments on paragraph 2
Leave a comment on paragraph 2
0 Comments on paragraph 3
Leave a comment on paragraph 3
0 Comments on paragraph 4
Leave a comment on paragraph 4
0 Comments on paragraph 5
Leave a comment on paragraph 5
0 Comments on paragraph 6
Leave a comment on paragraph 6
0 Comments on paragraph 7
Leave a comment on paragraph 7
0 Comments on paragraph 8
Leave a comment on paragraph 8
0 Comments on paragraph 9
Leave a comment on paragraph 9
0 Comments on paragraph 10
Leave a comment on paragraph 10
0 Comments on paragraph 11
Leave a comment on paragraph 11
0 Comments on paragraph 12
Leave a comment on paragraph 12
0 Comments on paragraph 13
Leave a comment on paragraph 13
0 Comments on paragraph 14
Leave a comment on paragraph 14
0 Comments on paragraph 15
Leave a comment on paragraph 15
0 Comments on paragraph 16
Leave a comment on paragraph 16
0 Comments on paragraph 17
It appears that this paragraph is a duplicate of a previous one.
0 Comments on paragraph 18
Leave a comment on paragraph 18
0 Comments on paragraph 19
Leave a comment on paragraph 19
0 Comments on paragraph 20
Leave a comment on paragraph 20
0 Comments on paragraph 21
Leave a comment on paragraph 21
0 Comments on paragraph 22
Leave a comment on paragraph 22
0 Comments on paragraph 23
Leave a comment on paragraph 23
0 Comments on paragraph 24
Leave a comment on paragraph 24
0 Comments on paragraph 25
Leave a comment on paragraph 25
0 Comments on paragraph 26
Leave a comment on paragraph 26
0 Comments on paragraph 27
Leave a comment on paragraph 27
0 Comments on paragraph 28
Leave a comment on paragraph 28
0 Comments on paragraph 29
Leave a comment on paragraph 29
0 Comments on paragraph 30
Leave a comment on paragraph 30
0 Comments on paragraph 31
Leave a comment on paragraph 31
0 Comments on paragraph 32
Leave a comment on paragraph 32
0 Comments on paragraph 33
Leave a comment on paragraph 33
0 Comments on paragraph 34
Leave a comment on paragraph 34
0 Comments on paragraph 35
Leave a comment on paragraph 35
0 Comments on paragraph 36
Leave a comment on paragraph 36
0 Comments on paragraph 37
Leave a comment on paragraph 37
0 Comments on paragraph 38
Leave a comment on paragraph 38
0 Comments on paragraph 39
Leave a comment on paragraph 39
0 Comments on paragraph 40
Leave a comment on paragraph 40
0 Comments on paragraph 41
Leave a comment on paragraph 41
0 Comments on paragraph 42
Leave a comment on paragraph 42
0 Comments on paragraph 43
Leave a comment on paragraph 43
0 Comments on paragraph 44
Leave a comment on paragraph 44
0 Comments on paragraph 45
Leave a comment on paragraph 45
0 Comments on paragraph 46
Leave a comment on paragraph 46
0 Comments on paragraph 47
Leave a comment on paragraph 47
0 Comments on paragraph 48
Leave a comment on paragraph 48
0 Comments on paragraph 49
Leave a comment on paragraph 49
0 Comments on paragraph 50
Leave a comment on paragraph 50
0 Comments on paragraph 51
Leave a comment on paragraph 51
0 Comments on paragraph 52
Leave a comment on paragraph 52
0 Comments on paragraph 53
Leave a comment on paragraph 53
0 Comments on paragraph 54
Leave a comment on paragraph 54
0 Comments on paragraph 55
Leave a comment on paragraph 55
0 Comments on paragraph 56
Leave a comment on paragraph 56
0 Comments on paragraph 57
Leave a comment on paragraph 57
0 Comments on paragraph 58
Leave a comment on paragraph 58
0 Comments on paragraph 59
Leave a comment on paragraph 59
0 Comments on paragraph 60
Leave a comment on paragraph 60
0 Comments on paragraph 61
Leave a comment on paragraph 61
0 Comments on paragraph 62
Leave a comment on paragraph 62
0 Comments on paragraph 63
Leave a comment on paragraph 63
0 Comments on paragraph 64
Leave a comment on paragraph 64
0 Comments on paragraph 65
Leave a comment on paragraph 65
0 Comments on paragraph 66
Leave a comment on paragraph 66
0 Comments on paragraph 67
Leave a comment on paragraph 67
0 Comments on paragraph 68
Leave a comment on paragraph 68
0 Comments on paragraph 69
Leave a comment on paragraph 69
0 Comments on paragraph 70
Leave a comment on paragraph 70
0 Comments on paragraph 71
Leave a comment on paragraph 71
0 Comments on paragraph 72
Leave a comment on paragraph 72
0 Comments on paragraph 73
Leave a comment on paragraph 73
0 Comments on paragraph 74
Leave a comment on paragraph 74
0 Comments on paragraph 75
Leave a comment on paragraph 75
0 Comments on paragraph 76
Leave a comment on paragraph 76
0 Comments on paragraph 77
Leave a comment on paragraph 77
0 Comments on paragraph 78
Leave a comment on paragraph 78
0 Comments on paragraph 79
Leave a comment on paragraph 79
0 Comments on paragraph 80
Leave a comment on paragraph 80
0 Comments on paragraph 81
Leave a comment on paragraph 81
0 Comments on paragraph 82
Leave a comment on paragraph 82
0 Comments on paragraph 83
Leave a comment on paragraph 83
0 Comments on paragraph 84
Leave a comment on paragraph 84
0 Comments on paragraph 85
Leave a comment on paragraph 85
0 Comments on paragraph 86
Leave a comment on paragraph 86
0 Comments on paragraph 87
Leave a comment on paragraph 87
0 Comments on paragraph 88
Leave a comment on paragraph 88
0 Comments on paragraph 89
Leave a comment on paragraph 89
0 Comments on paragraph 90
Leave a comment on paragraph 90
0 Comments on paragraph 91
Leave a comment on paragraph 91
0 Comments on paragraph 92
Leave a comment on paragraph 92
0 Comments on paragraph 93
Leave a comment on paragraph 93
0 Comments on paragraph 94
Leave a comment on paragraph 94
0 Comments on paragraph 95
Leave a comment on paragraph 95
0 Comments on paragraph 96
Leave a comment on paragraph 96
0 Comments on paragraph 97
Leave a comment on paragraph 97
0 Comments on paragraph 98
Leave a comment on paragraph 98
0 Comments on paragraph 99
Leave a comment on paragraph 99
0 Comments on paragraph 100
Leave a comment on paragraph 100
0 Comments on paragraph 101
Leave a comment on paragraph 101
0 Comments on paragraph 102
Leave a comment on paragraph 102
0 Comments on paragraph 103
Leave a comment on paragraph 103
0 Comments on paragraph 104
Leave a comment on paragraph 104
0 Comments on paragraph 105
Leave a comment on paragraph 105
0 Comments on paragraph 106
Leave a comment on paragraph 106
0 Comments on paragraph 107
Leave a comment on paragraph 107
0 Comments on paragraph 108
Leave a comment on paragraph 108
0 Comments on paragraph 109
Leave a comment on paragraph 109
0 Comments on paragraph 110
Leave a comment on paragraph 110
0 Comments on paragraph 111
Leave a comment on paragraph 111
0 Comments on paragraph 112
Leave a comment on paragraph 112
0 Comments on paragraph 113
Leave a comment on paragraph 113
0 Comments on paragraph 114
Leave a comment on paragraph 114
0 Comments on paragraph 115
Leave a comment on paragraph 115
0 Comments on paragraph 116
Leave a comment on paragraph 116
0 Comments on paragraph 117
Leave a comment on paragraph 117
0 Comments on paragraph 118
Leave a comment on paragraph 118
0 Comments on paragraph 119
Leave a comment on paragraph 119
0 Comments on paragraph 120
Leave a comment on paragraph 120
0 Comments on paragraph 121
Leave a comment on paragraph 121
0 Comments on paragraph 122
Leave a comment on paragraph 122
0 Comments on paragraph 123
Leave a comment on paragraph 123
0 Comments on paragraph 124
Leave a comment on paragraph 124
0 Comments on paragraph 125
Leave a comment on paragraph 125
0 Comments on paragraph 126
Leave a comment on paragraph 126
0 Comments on paragraph 127
Leave a comment on paragraph 127
0 Comments on paragraph 128
Leave a comment on paragraph 128
0 Comments on paragraph 129
Leave a comment on paragraph 129
0 Comments on paragraph 130
Leave a comment on paragraph 130
0 Comments on paragraph 131
Leave a comment on paragraph 131
0 Comments on paragraph 132
Leave a comment on paragraph 132
0 Comments on paragraph 133
Leave a comment on paragraph 133
0 Comments on paragraph 134
Leave a comment on paragraph 134
0 Comments on paragraph 135
Leave a comment on paragraph 135
0 Comments on paragraph 136
Leave a comment on paragraph 136
0 Comments on paragraph 137
Leave a comment on paragraph 137
0 Comments on paragraph 138
Leave a comment on paragraph 138
0 Comments on paragraph 139
Leave a comment on paragraph 139
0 Comments on paragraph 140
Leave a comment on paragraph 140
0 Comments on paragraph 141
Leave a comment on paragraph 141
0 Comments on paragraph 142
Leave a comment on paragraph 142
0 Comments on paragraph 143
Leave a comment on paragraph 143
0 Comments on paragraph 144
Leave a comment on paragraph 144