C4 antho - Chamber Four

Liz Phair and the Most Perfect Sentence ~17~
and I wrap her sandwich in it the next day.
Liz Phair and I like to go on long walks, and we like to
drink beer in pubs. Her son joined the Peace Corps and got
sent away to Zimbabwe, so we don’t have to deal with him
much, and her ex-husband got remarried and then he surprised
us all by also joining the Peace Corps. So it really is just
the two of us, Liz Phair and me, taking long autumn walks
along our neighborhood, hand-in-hand, my arm healed completely,
bone tucked back inside. We crunch piles of ochre
leaves with our sneakers and tell each other stories about our
childhoods. Sometimes we pass some of my ex-girlfriends
and they get this look of misery on their faces at seeing what
they missed out on. Liz Phair tells me about car trips to the
muggy Florida beaches while I describe strawberry cupcakes
on my grandmother’s front porch, white wicker furniture and
ice-cold lemonade. That reminds her that lemonade was her
favorite childhood drink too, and she stops right in the middle
of the sidewalk to stand on her tiptoes and kiss my forehead.
When she leans back, I look at her. Puffs of fall breath
burst out of her mouth. I see that Liz Phair really is bathed in
a glow that is separate from any lighting source I can find in
the physical world. Pre-winter trees scissor the sky behind
her head―a purple sky, with a big orange sun. It is not a glow
that I have ever seen anyone in before. I cannot think of a
word to describe it, my first time ever.
At first it is just a rough patch, a few weeks sitting in
front of the blinking cursor, but by Thanksgiving I have fullon
writer’s block. I can only pace the hallway and peek in to
Liz Phair’s guitar room to see what she is up to. It is always
something genius. Everything that comes out of Liz Phair’s
mouth is genius. She has a way with words, and a warbled
voice that infuses her songs with a vulnerability that I can
never seem to capture sitting at my desk in my room. All of
my stories are gone. Sometimes I am able to hit a stride, just