Reconciliation 10 G Rated

Chicago, Illinois

June 21, 1957

Tightening her eyes,

biting her lip,

her fingers entwined in his hair,

straining her pelvis forward and upward…

“Uh­-oh!”

Both suddenly aware of a

sharp tapping accompanied by a

beam of light playing through the

passion-­beaded,

fog­-shrouded moisture

of the right side window.

“Uh­-oh!”

Oh, yeah!

“Uh-­oh,” indeed, because…

“Would the two’a’ya step out’a the car, please.”

This certainly posed not as a question.

Verging on hysteria,

the young woman quickly,

very quickly,

 fastened the seven buttons of her chemise

—putting the first button into the second buttonhole,

meaning the sixth button was in the seventh buttonhole,

 as…

In near panic,

trying to think of a reason,

any reason for having his head where he’d had his head,

the young man put his left leg through the right legs

of his entwined underpants and slacks, as…

Impatiently tapping on the window with his flashlight,

well aware of his inflicted panic,

doing his best to inflict more panic,

“I want the two’a’ya out’a there, now!”

After a number of seconds,

after a number of very long seconds

as the young woman was miss-buttoning her sixth button

and the young man was attempting to untangle his pants

and get his legs into the proper legs, 

—finally—

Then,

having to tilt the front seat forward

in order to open the door and

—very ungracefully—back out,

the two hesitantly stepped from the car,

as…

Shining the light in his face,

“What’ch’ya been doin’ down there,”

the cop asked,

“lookin’ for somethin’?”

‘Lookin’ for somethin’?’

The humor of the situation

—for the time being and foreseeable future—

completely lost on the young man.

“Uh, no, sir, I was, uh…”

Having to untangle his pants and underpants,

not having time enough to put his shoes on,

standing on the far fringe

of the Montrose Beach parking lot

in his stockinged feet with his shirt fully unbuttoned

the young man wondered,

what in the hell do I say to this guy?

©November 23, 2011 / Mark M. Lichterman

To be continued as “The Reconciliation 11