Scriptor Press - The ElectroLounge

18
head & I object by loosing the shiny purple ribbon & she knew I wouldn’t stand for that
very long
“but you like kissing my neck too”
“I do” & I do & as I lean forward she gets a good proprietor’s grip on my balls
“mine” she growls, laughing, but serious
I raise her chin up with my fingers & smile at her. “What’s in your eyes right now is
mine.”
“And the rest?”
“It starts with the eyes, Rebecca.”
She looks down despite my fingers. “All of me is yours, Ray.”
“Thank you.”
She looks up at me fiercely. “But that means a lot. I saw what happened with my dad
& all his different girlfriends before Franny. Even Franny too.”
“Am I going to lose you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll lose you.”
“Rebby—”
“No. We don’t know. We never know for sure. Ever.”
Just as suddenly, she relaxes. She kisses both my cheeks quickly & then my lips very
slowly, very lightly.
“You’re right,” I say.
She doesn’t want us to dress. She wraps us damp inside shiny purple towel & we find
ourselves eventually in the Ampitheatre, halfway up its hill.
“Keep us here for awhile,” she asks. No—she doesn’t ask—she speaks my thoughts
for me. She voices my plea.
“We’re married, Rebecca. It’s OK now.”
“I know. I’m not as bad about it as I was.”
“No, you’re better.”
“Do you know what’s going to happen next?”
I show her the ragged sheet of notes I keep with the “New Period” manuscript.
“Oh.”
“I never have any more than that. It’s always enough.”
“Is my dad OK? We left him suddenly.”
“He’s fine. He & Franny needed to be alone.”
“And you & me too?”
“Yes, Rebby.”
She looks me down hard & I think she’s mad. But no: “Ray, I’m ready. For, um,
whatever’s next. I can’t tell from your sheet of notes. But I want you to know I’m ready.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“You must trust all of . . . this a lot to be still at it. I mean to be inside of it &
believing it will work out like you do.”
“There isn’t any other way, Rebecca.”
She looks down.
“What?”
“You’re here because of me. A lot of this is because of me.”
Now I look her down hard. “I want to be here! And I’m glad you’re ready for what’s
next. No more moods, OK?”
“OK. I love you.”
“I love you, Reb.”
“You’re very patient. I had to be sure.”
The Cenacle / 54 / April 2005