"He’s Crazy Like a Straw!”
“At least somebody laughed,”
he said, his head tilted slightly
downward in my new apart-
ment (compartment, box; I
was just happy for company).
It was not me that laughed,
however (too honest to a
fault, that’s me). Anyway,
that fact was most definitely
noted (the lack of laughter,
not the honesty; honestly,
I don’t know if anyone be-
lieves – or if I will ever be-
lieve – that part--the honesty--
but its true)--by the both of us.
So much so that quiet swirled
around in the tiny room for a
moment or two. Why am I
so damned serious, you might
wonder. The Aunties are always
mortified by the severity of my
seriousness. “Learn to espouse
a bit of levity,” they’d always say.
To paraphrase. Or expound upon,
in my own words. So to speak.
“I mean, lighten up for God’s
sake,” they translated, in
front of the both of us,
all three standing stock
still in the sub-zero weather
at the barely cracked door.
