Saturday, March 5, 2022 - 8:28 AM
written after a sleepless night spent dreaming beautiful dreams -
note the wordplay and the playful veiled insinuations -
<"Soda boy, soda boy, let me see/ I'll have a root beer just for me/ and you'll have a dime and a nickel for free/ soda boy, soda boy, do you love me?"
I looked at Trevs sideways with a lopsided grin. I handed her a root beer experimentally. She pushed it away. I popped it open. "I don't know," I said wryly. "Poetry doesn't always do it for me."
She leaned back at the table, her boyish hair and front teeth grinning. She stuck her tongue out at nobody in particular, and I saw her pink, blue and white plastic teeth jewelry. I was liking this one.
I hadn't been dating long at that point. I never liked the kids at my college. Too stuck up and self-important. I liked the ones that lived in basements, that smelled of sticky rice and a week of no showers; maybe a little crazy. In the end they'd usually break it off out of doubt, fear, or maybe just self-loathing. It was getting worrisome. I'd helped one of them get a suicide hotline and I think she's okay now; but still not interested in dating anyone at all, really.
"Did you come up with that?" I asked, over the grimy, poorly-laminated menu.
"What?" She muttered, distracted. She was looking at the tablecloth.
"That little poem. "soda boy, soda boy, yeah that's-"
"Me? Write that? Yeah," she said, as though it were obvious. "You had a soda in your hand, silly!"
"Oh, I see." I gulped some root beer, feeling exploratively good about myself.
A waitress walked up with a brick phone. "Uh… Graze? Is- is that you?" she pointed at Trevs.
"No, that's me."
"Oh." She jerkily handed me the phone.
"Uh." I reached out for the phone, unsure. "Is that for me?"
"Yeah," she breathed happily, relieved.
I took the phone. It was Plura, my sister.
"Hey, is it Gray?"
"Yeah hey, wait how'd you know I was here, Plura?"
She sighed in exasperation. "They have a ways to go, you know. She doesn’t care to be left out there."
"Who? Mom?"
"And dad. And Gray?"
"Yeah," I said, getting annoyed.
"He's kinda mad. At you." She paused awkwardly. "He wants you to date girls who he can review."
"Screw that. I choose my friends. Not boomers."
"Fine," she said, glumly. "Just don't come running to me when this new one goes across the vine."
"You wouldn't dare."
She hung up.
I sighed, and passed the phone back to the waitress, who was filing her nails. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and behind an ear and grinned. She looked sideways at my date, who was biting a fork. I turned back to Trevs.
"So, have you ever been here?"
"What?" She said, distracted. She put the fork down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Here? No. I only go to the mall."
"Oh, okay." I decided to talk about that. "What mall do you go to?"
"It's like… um." She searched for the right words. "It's kinda tropical," she said.
"Tropical," I said, enjoying my confusion. "Like the flavor, or the location."
"The theme," she said, vaguely.
"It it brightly colored?" I asked, enjoying this game.
"No, kind of drab. Until you open it," she added, confusingly.
I thought about it a moment. "Coconut Mall!" I exclamed.
"Yeah!" She looked at me happily. "Exactly!"
"But do you go to any brick and mortar malls? Sierra Vista, or River Park?"
"No," she said, unconcerned. "I don't like the food."
"The food."
"Yeh. This food looks better, though." She opened the menu for the first time. She frowned at an entry, and mouthed "Chicken Tikka Masala" very carefully and slowly.
"I recommend the butter chicken."
"Okay," she said brightly, and closed the menu again, putting it carefully back.
Many people have told me that this story is autobiographical. After reading it carefully, I would have to somewhat agree. I've even used it to help others understand my tastes.
I need to clarify, I think. I wrote this story under the influence of a gross lack of sleep, and so it likely is formulated poorly, but likely also far more illucidating of the author. It's up now, I don't want to remove it, and like I said, It's very useful at times, but the issue really is that it's a little too close.
Enjoy.
© Thor Smith, 2022