Monday, February 21, 2011

Jesup, Part the Fifth (an expansion)

and ron he stands next to on the steps below his momma she lightly touches his shoulder ron he nods he slides his hands into his pockets squeezes himself between stiffened arms and extended double jointed elbows and shivers

a nervous shiver and a shake

goosebumps and a brittle grin

she steps down takes his arm she looks up at him while he looks out across the courthouse lawn across the street the screen door to luretta's diner banging open and shut open and shut as a couple of guys in stained coveralls wander out

big quart size styrofoam cups with lids and straws in one hand white paper bags crumpled up hanging from the other

they step up and into a big international harvester truck weighed down with ricks of freshly cut pine logs piled on high syrupy raw turpentine drippings and sap oozing from the severed and frayed edges an engine fires sputters belches roars the truck jumps and bucks down the road out of town dipping down plopping down into and then bouncing up out of the big pothole on the side of the road on the end of the street and they make the turn with the logs swaying squeaking squawking with the ricks

ron johnson and his mom they watch them head of out town and before the truck can disappear around the corner before the belching of the indigested engine fades into the day they see the fuzzy grizzled face of the driver leaning over the steering wheel one hand holding his cup and wheel the other hand ron he guesses he assumes to be gripping the stick shift his head bouncing on the straw like some cheap valium pumped peachtree street whore going down on a pencil dicked geek from georgia tech

ron and his momma they watch them head out of town the burps of smoke squirting out of the tail pipe

gazing after the truck gazing up into the sky gazing down at their feet ron's old brogans his mom's carolina blue espadrilles her soft pink toenails exposed

gazing pretty much at anything except each other

gazing within the wait waiting within the gaze trying to see through from here to there looking backwards

No comments: