Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Now you can't see


Happy Submarine - Eat Skull

Shawna was sitting on the dock, staring off at the sunset. The rest of the party was doing shooters and playing beer pong, and generally being loud and obnoxious, like any good high schooler. Shawna, though...I just couldn't stop looking at her.

Her legs were just dangling off the dock, swinging lazily against the darkening lake. Where less than five minutes ago I could make out the red of her sweater, the swirls of the design, and the white of her headband, she had quickly turned into a dark silhouette against the sky. I wondered what she was thinking, sitting there alone, watching such a beautiful fall sun, holding herself to stay warm for those last fleeting, glorious minutes of sunset. Maybe she wished someone would go out and join her, to enjoy this sight with company. On the other hand, maybe she just wanted to be alone, to escape the noise and hubbub in the house for a few minutes.

She looked cold. I wanted to go out and give her my jacket, to watch that giant star dip beneath the water and submerge us in darkness. We'd sit out there and talk about space, and how small we were. We'd wonder just what happened to Pearl Jam to make them so boring now. We'd laugh at that time Tim thought the capital of Brazil was Peru. We'd stay out on that dock long past the sunset. I'd be cold, wearing nothing but my thin sweater, and she'd offer to give me back my jacket. Of course I would refuse, but we'd have that moment.

Maybe, after a particularly touching conversation about how, just once, I'd love to see Paris and really experience the history, and how those pictures of a bombed out french countryside looked so hauntingly beautiful to me, we would lean in and share such a perfect, organic kiss. Maybe we'd date and maybe we wouldn't, but that moment would remain just as perfect.

The sun took a breath and dropped underwater, finally, and the sky got darker. Shawna got up, rubbed her arms and walked back to the house. I lost my chance.

[Eat Skull's album Wild and Inside is available on Siltbreeze. Photo is from Foundphotos.]

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