Love and Stumbling

Nardo , what am I looking at here? ” “Couple, married. He's hogtied to a dining chair and dangling from the roof over her e, on this side – and she, well, I don't t hink I have to explain it, Sir  – but she's d angling from the roof off the other end of the rope on that  side.” And she was.  Tied and bound to a children's wooden hobbyhorse, calico,  with hearts and something that looked like red bursts of flowers…   she was  mostly naked except for the charred  remains of  a  Bo-Peep Halloween costume…  “It's her blood, sir. Oh wait, they're at it again.” “You son of a  bitth !” She lisped over the second story aluminum gutter,   getting her chin up o ver it, lifting herself, ass-skyward,  with her neck  and enough hatred to do such a thing.  “ H e ne eded braces! You  moaned  about the braces  – I got your  g od - da mned braces!” The  second engine company arrived as the fi...

"This is it. This is our weekend to make it work." "Make what work?" "Make what work? Did you really say that?" "Is this an argument? If this is an argument, I need to know." "It's not an argument, I'm trying to reach you. I can't reach you." "Here, take a bag. Can you reach this?" "What's that?" "I bought you a little something." "For what?" "For our weekend, I mean, for you." "You haven't bought me a real gift in sixteen years. That's one small part of why we're here." "You never asked." "People don't ask for gifts... That's what it means to receive a - Oh, you just don't  understand." "I'm just kidding." "About what." "It's for me..."  "It is not!" "No, really, it's for me... Are you crying now? We haven't even unpacked...

"I keep having dreams about beautiful things; flying, finding love, visiting mysterious and beautiful cities..." "Maybe you ate something." "Childhood crushes come back, grown women, large eyed, asking about me.   Don't you have dreams like that?"  "Never. Mostly I'm eating peanuts in a bar, and the bartender can't find me. He's got my beer and I'm dry mouthed and really need that beer." "That sounds like some kind of lacking too." "Sometimes I have dreams about wrestling alligators. I think they're alligators. They could be crocodiles. I'm not sure it matters." "I've never wrestled any kind of animal in my dreams." "I wrestle them about three times a week." "How does it turn out?" "The other night I woke up as a big one was about to chew my face off. I went to punch it in the snout. I woke up just in time to see my fist heading for Gloria. I...