The Separation Five
The Young Woman
The Young Man
She saw him… Oh, my God!
He saw her… Oh, my God!
Walking: Room 522… 520… 518…
She felt the prickling sensation on her head as,
once again,
droplets of perspiration drained through the pores of her scalp.
As…
Walking: 516… 514… 512…
Feeling the thumping of his heart,
wiping his suddenly wet palms on the sides of his slacks.
As…
Tempted to look away, to pretend she didn’t see him,
the young woman forced herself to look directly at him.
As…
510…
Through layers of tan,
the shock of each seeing the other again
turned her complexion to…
khaki?
And his…
auburn?
As…
Thinking, F*** it! Looking directly at her,
smiling a smile that could successfully adorn a
toothpaste ad, coming abreast,
“Hi’ya, sweetie!” he said facetiously.
As…
In the eye-locked seconds it took him to come alongside,
the young woman noted he’d lost a few pounds,
which she liked.
And his tan,
made even richer by his blush,
brought out the green of his eyes
and the white of his teeth and,
Damn! she thought,
Why’s he always got to look like a goddamned movie star?
And though his appearance and the smugly spoken
“Hi’ya, sweetie!” bugged the shit out of her,
the young woman did feel a thawing in her heart.
But…
As always, she had her unbending stubbornness
and she couldn’t…
just couldn’t give in!
So,
dredging the remembrance of her anger,
the young woman forced an exaggerated
‘You’re a maggot and you disgust me’
lip-curling kind of snarl to form on the right side
of her mouth.
That…
Apprehensive, to say the least, about seeing his wife
—and for the reason they were there—
as the young man approached his smile had been forced,
however,
in the eye-locked seconds it took him to come abreast and pass,
the young woman’s snarl was so absurdly overstated that he couldn’t help but smile in earnest.
And…
Doing all she could do to “stay tough,”
the young man’s smile completely disarmed her.
As…
To be continued
©November 3, 2011 / Mark M. Lichterman
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