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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Games Poets Play: A Lie and a Truth

Dana, at Read Write Poem came up with a great idea… write bits of essay.  One should be a lie, and one a truth.  So, in the spirit of fun, here are mine.  Can you guess?
#1
My fingers traced a deep line in the faux-wood surface of the table. The fork and spoon were out of alignment on the thin tri-fold napkin. I nudged the napkin and slid the flatware so they were parallel. Roger sat on the booth bench next to me, his denim-clad leg inches from mine. Miriam, the waitress, kneeled in the booth opposite us. She smiled her usual pixie smile, ready to take our beverage order. Black coffee for him. A Coke for me. She hustled away to get us our drinks. Roger seemed nervous. I didn’t want to look directly at him, which was okay, since we were sitting side-by-side. To really look at him, I’d have to crane my neck or shift in the booth. I didn’t want to do either. I wondered if I’d made a mistake.
“Do you know where the restrooms are?” Roger asked, even though he knew I knew.
I pointed him in the right direction and let him out of the booth. He walked down the hall. Miriam returned with the coffee and Coke.
“Is that your new step-dad?” she asked.
I flushed in response, but she continued to look at me.
“No,” I answered a little too slowly. A look of confusion crossed her face for a half a second; then a different look entirely.
“Oh,” was all she could say.

#2
The heat in the room had to be close to 96 degrees. The small grey fan in the corner worked its hardest, but could not circulate enough air to make a meaningful difference.
Roger sat across the room from me on my grandma’s new custom-made floral-covered sofa. The woman in the lime-green pantsuit sat next to him, her mouth opening and closing like a huge fish caught on a line. She was talking, but I had lost all sense of direction in the conversation. I was distracted by Roger.
His kind brown eyes met mine and he gave me that look.
I stood and smoothed my skirt, waiting for a break in her dialogue.
She finally took a breath.
“Can I get you something cool to drink?” I asked her.
“Lemonade,” she replied and then started back on another tangent.
Roger followed me to the kitchen.
“How can you be married to that woman?” I asked as his arms circled around my waist.


4 comments:

DragonsLady said...

So one's a lie and one's truth? I'm going to guess the first one's truth, but either way, they raise intriguing questions (and eyebrows.) But - I was struck by your obvious writing talent. A nice read. DragonsLady from Shimelle's class.

Kimberlee said...

Thanks so much, Francine. :) I tried to find your blog, to say hello, but it won't let me.

Amy Pitts said...

Please tell us which is which I am going to go with the second story.

Kimberlee said...

The first one is the truth. :)