Page 138 of Rhymes with Metaphor
Reg knelt on the ground in the vacant lot between the restaurant and a shoe store.There, he used the pen to make words in the new-fallen snow.
“Dictate it to me, and I’ll type it on my phone,” said Joel.
“Shhh.”
Reg wrote, words cascading out of him while Joel knelt beside him, holding him around his ribs.Reg finished quickly and sat back on his heels.Joel read the words with a smile quirking the side of his mouth.
“That’ll melt,” said Reg.He took out his phone and snapped photos, blue light flashing over blue shadows.
They both stood.Reg’s trousers were wet where he’d knelt in the snow.
“Are you all right to walk, cariad?Or do you want to get into an Uber like that?”
“We could go back to Silas’s,” said Joel.He looked wicked and mischievous, grinning, with his hands balled in his coat pockets.
“What—now?”
“He gave me a standing invitation.”
“You want to go there—in the state you’re in?”
“Why not?”said Joel.“I don’t think he’d mind.He might even appreciate it.”
“I’d appreciate it more if we went home.”
Reg buttoned Joel’s coat, noting the translucent patch on Joel’s shirt over his heart where Raelynne’s snowball had struck.Reg put his arm around Joel’s shoulders, and they walked home.Joel kept bursting into spontaneous laughter, probably the aftereffects of the pot.
The fresh, sharp air cooled their jets.On the bridge over the river, Joel stopped and leaned over the railing.Reg stood beside him, their arms touching.
“You’re not going to be sick, are you?”said Reg.
“No,” said Joel.
Reg watched the falling snowflakes vanish into the black water.The lamps on the bridge were decorated for Christmas with silver wreaths and white lightbulbs wound around the posts.
“I won’t try to publish that poem if you don’t want me too,” said Reg.
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t you mind having your youthful indiscretions revealed?”
“Why would I?”
“I worry that because of the way I made things for you your first time, I’ve given you a penchant for that.”
“So?”
“Your future partners might not appreciate it.”
“You’re my future partner,” said Joel.
“I am.But ten years on, when you’re married with children, would you want them to know?”
“I don’t want kids,” said Joel.
“A wife?”
“Awhat?”said Joel, sounding almost offended.
