When the Music Stops

When the music stops he’ll see me.

It’ll be just like Cinderella. The music will stop. He will turn to look at his friends, but he won’t get that far. He’ll see me, probably for the first time, but definitely not the last time. He will look into my big brown eyes, see the way my hair flows around my face and be captivated. His friends will be calling to him, but he won’t even notice they’re there. He will see only me.

He’ll walk towards me, brushing other girls aside as they ask him to dance. They will scream his name and call him rude, but he won’t care. There is only one voice that he wants to hear and that is mine. We will embrace and he will feel complete. I will be complete.

One more song, then the music will stop and he will see me.

Slim Pickings

“Looks like beans or SPAM, Ralph.” 

Jim rifled through his knapsack in search of hidden treasures. 

“Pretty slim pickings, but it’ll do.”  He threw the meat back in the bag.  “Guess we’ll go with the beans; save the SPAM for a special occasion.”

Patting Ralph on the head he fished out his little silver can opener.   The dog licked his lips as Jim spooned half the can on a used paper plate. 

“I may be a bum, but I ain’t eating after no mangy mutt.”  He leaned against a large log.

Gazing at the sun setting on the ocean, he smiled at Ralph.  “We might be eating beans from the can, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Shadows and Dust

The shadows hung long behind the headstones as the dust whipped through the air and stung her wet face.  She pulled the plaid blanket closer and brushed the hair away from her face.  Laying her moist cheek against the marble she began to run her finger over the letters: A-P-R-I-L.  Her darling daughter now lay cold in the ground.  Alone.

She was named after the very month that had taken her life.  They had all slept peacefully until their night was interrupted by the flying debris of nature’s fury.  They had no warning, no time to prepare for their entire world to be torn apart in shadows and dust.

The Letter

Sarah stared at the letter: “Thank you for applying, but we are currently not hiring.” She crumpled the letter and threw it. It was the same as all the others, they’d hold her resume for six months and let her know if anything opened up. In six months they’d lose the house and be living out of the car. Her baby howled through the monitor; she turned it off.

She shoved the past due bills off her desk in disgust. He had talked her into putting their entire savings in the market, now they had nothing. This was his fault. She grabbed the life insurance policy and read it again, half a million dollars would make this all go away.

Drumming her fingers on the desk; she dialed the number. “That thing we talked about, do it. And make sure it happens on the job, we get more that way.”

Consider it Destroyed

Andy pressed ‘send’ and rubbed his hands together.  Best work he had done all week.  It wouldn’t take long for them to reply; the pictures spoke for themselves.  The whore had two options, pay up or fess up.  He didn’t think the snooty, little Oscar winner was willing to lose her reputation over a little bondage romp.

He turned on the TV and stared at TMZ.   “You’re just giving it away,” he yelled. 

The computer dinged to announce a new e-mail.  He laughed and opened a beer.  The note was short, they usually were:  “The money has been transferred as requested.  We trust that the material has been destroyed per our agreement.”

He checked his off-shore account and pulled the thumb drive out of his pocket.  He walked to the safe in the closet and plopped it in with the rest.

“Consider it destroyed,” he said and laughed again.

Fragments

Surrounded by the kaleidoscope of colors she laughed.  A swirl of green grass, blue skies and playground equipment created a blur that brought back fragmented memories of her mother.  Closing her eyes, she prayed the merry-go-round would transfer her to a happier time; when she could once again crawl in her mother’s arms and know everything would be alright.

Ariel’s Obsession

Ariel grabbed the bag of potato chips off the passenger side seat.  As she munched on the salty snack she looked through her binoculars and gazed at the blue house across the street.  Dropping the binoculars she picked up her journal. 

11:58 pm – Still inside bedroom with her, lights are off.

“Apparently he’s into sluts now,” she said to herself as she wiped her greasy hands on her jeans and moved on to the Peanut M&M’s. “I’ll show her.”

She grabbed her keys off the dash and skipped to the slut’s car.  In careful block letters she smiled as she scratched “I’ll kill you” into the driver’s side door.

Getting back into her car she grabbed her journal.

12:13 am – Got rid of the slut.

Mother and the Birds

I watched Mother as she sat on the back porch with her tiny binoculars and thick field guide.  She’d sit there for hours raising the binoculars to her eyes and then slowly flipping through the pictures to identify the creature.  I always wondered how she could find little animals that pooped everywhere so fascinating, but every sunny day she insisted on being left out back for hours.

“Don’t walk in and out,” she’d say when I checked on her. “You’re scaring them away.”

I shook my head; all that time alone staring at birds couldn’t be good for her health.  She needed to be with her family, spending time with her grandchildren, not watching rats with wings.

She placed the binoculars gently on her nose and studied the blue jay at the feeder.  She never paid that much attention to me, how I longed for her to take interest in my life, read my field guide.

I chuckled to myself as I started supper: look at me, jealous of Mother and the birds.

Under the Weather

“So you thought you could get away with it?”  Shawna walked around the bed, grinning at Gene.  “I told you I don’t like games.  I don’t like to be played.  And I don’t like liars.”  She walked to the lap top and typed in a web address.  Naked men appeared instantly.  

“Spending an awful lot of money on gay porn these days,” she said, grabbing his credit card, “and on the company card.  Tsk, tsk… you know that can get you fired.”

Gene tried yelling for her to stop, but the tie covering his mouth muffled the sound and the handcuffs weren’t budging.

Shawna picked up Gene’s cell phone and dialed his office.

“Now I’ll just leave your boss a little message,” she said to Gene, “we wouldn’t want him to worry about you, now would we?”

She giggled as she spoke in a high, sexy voice, “This message is to inform you that Mr. Gene Upshaw won’t be in for the rest of the week.  He’s umm… under the weather.”

Last Man Dancing

The last woman looked at the man and rolled her eyes.  If only she had arrived sooner, she would’ve gotten a decent partner.  The man strutted to her side and raised his eyebrows, “Would you like to dance?”

Stamping on a smile, she nodded.  The music played a waltz and they were soon gliding to the soothing tune.  As he turned her in circle after circle, she couldn’t help but notice his gracefulness.  Being two inches shorter than her and about twice as wide, she was sure he’d be a clumsy ox.  Unable to meet his gaze, she stared at his head, watching the colorful lights bounce around the shiny globe. 

The music switched to a jitterbug and the man began to whirl her around, causing her to giggle.  The more they danced, the harder she laughed.  Who knew she could have so much fun with the last man picked.