Cuttlefish
Fall into pairs like two ugly fish,
too rare for extinction I know.
The veins in your hand felt sort of
like summer.
- Paper Scars by Lovedrug
They were stretched out with the grass betwixt their fingers, the sun warming their faces and any skin that was left uncovered. She was wearing a gingham dress and Mary Jane’s, the scuff-marks on the toes obvious on the toes. A yellow ribbon held her ginger curls away from her face. His jeans held far too many holes that fingers could slide into and his plaid green shirt bled right into the lawn. The stripes of white like division of land.
They were holding hands and looking up at the sky.
“Have you ever been on a carousel?” She broke the silence. “I feel like I’m on the carousel, going round and round, up and down, but I wasn’t supposed to get on, I was supposed to ride the tilt-a-whirl or get in the teacups but I forgot, and the ponies looked like so much fun. I just had to try, just once. And now, now I can’t get off. It ever feel like that to you?” She has twisted slightly so she can look at him. Her face scrunched.
He sighed deeply, his chest undulating from the effort of having to push air from his lungs.
“Nah. It’s more like jumping off the pier for me. Especially at night. You know what’s gonna happen, you jes can’t quite see where to put your feet.” He smiled. “But I like surprises. And don’t that carousel get a bit dizzy, I’d imagine I go tumbling off after awhile.”
She squeezed his hand. The warmth of the sun had now curled like molasses around her heart.
“Getting dizzy is the best part.” She sits up too fast like always and fixes her gaze out on the ocean in front of her, and how the waves crest white.
Her mouth broke into a huge grin when she heard him laugh and say, “You would know, darlin’.”
