I forgot to bring the damn magazine with me to Bear's house. So I'll put some more of the story up, but I won't finish, because I have to leave for work in a half hour.


The man surveyed her with distaste out of the corner of his eye. He was tall and solid of build, bronze-skinned, with a wedge of pomaded black hair sprouting from close upon his thick brow. His lower lip was heavy and slack, and he wore a shiny red and white tracksuit with the sleeves pushed up over hairy forearms, one of which sported a gold Rolex, his pride and joy.l Looking down at his cell phone, he began to press some buttons. His wife took out hers as well.
"Carson!" she cried into the cell, "It's mommy. Yeah, it's all right. There's nothing here but trees. We bought you something. No, I can't tell you. It's a surprise. OK, it's a jacket. You're gonna love it. It's suede, made out of lambs or something. It's so soft. Sara will love you in it. She will. Absolutely. Right. Right. Uh-huh. That's nice, honey. You're not drinking too much Diet Coke, are you? You know it makes you fat, right? There's a new study. It fools your body into thinking it's skinny. All right. Take care of your little brother and sister. Kisses for mommy. Mmmm. Mmm." The woman snapped her cell phone shut and stowed it in her coat pocket. "Carson's good," she said, "He says Tommy got a Lexus."
"The white and gold?"
"Of course."
"Now Carson's gonna want one."
"Why shouldn't he? What are we, poor?"
As she said this she spread her colour-tipped fingers and rolled her eyes toward heaven or Saks Fifth Avenue. "Oh, my head. Maybe I'll go work out. It's cause I haven't had any fresh air. When we get back I want you to call down and tell them to change the water in our humidifier."
"What, call them just to change the water? So I'll change the water."
"Just call them. It's better that way. Get my magazine from my bag, will you? It's right there, in my Coach."
She flopped the glossy magazine open on her lap,licked her fingertips, and began leafing through it without looking at the pages. The man nodded toward the driver, who met his eyes in the rear view mirror.
"So, what do you people do out here?"
"Oh,k this and that. Watch the clouds go by."
"What, so do you have county fairs and what not?"
"Every year."
"Don't you even have a movie theater around?" asked the woman.
"Yup, we've got the cinemaplex out at the mall, ten theaters."
"That's good," sniffed the woman.
"Probably lots of berry picking, too,"? said the man, grinning at his wife as if he'd made a joke. She looked back down at her magazine, licked her finger and flipped a page. The man reached into the back and dug into one of the shopping bags. "These Baccos are fantastic. I should've bought them in black, too. I mean, why not? With shoes like these, you can use brown and black. Shoes make the man, like they say."
"Clothes."
"What?"
"Clothes make the man."
"Shoes aren't clothes?"
"No, they're shoes."
"They cover your body, so they're clothes. What, so you want to stop for a salad somewhere?"

To Be Continued...


I'll be able to finish it next time, whenever that is. Hopefully tonight. We'll see. I'm deathly ill, you realize. Sick as a dog. Can barely remain upright for extended periods of time. Mucus leaking out of every orifice. Terrible sight, I am. Do pray for me, if you wouldn't mind. I'm too young to die. *sigh* What a world we live in...

Oh, hey, look! A bowl of mini chocolate bars! *runs away*