a graveyard gray and a garden green
I looked down at my grandfather's notebook. Two little insects were socializing on the open page. He brushed them off and I sat next to him on the park bench, and the sleazy thirty-something year-old man standing and staring from a small crowd of people across the park turned slowly and walked away. He had been pushing through people to watch me. I was meeting Icarus there, and soon after the shady man in his swanky Armani suit disappeared, Icarus sauntered happily to his Pachelbel.
I asked him why he was wearing yellow galoshes, and he said they were not a gift for me, but they were for me. He wore them for me. They looked like some big squarish colorful boots from out a carton. A cat stood at his side.
"This is Wheezy."
The cat gave a friendly shrug and flicked his tail beautifully. I smiled, tilted my head and told Wheezy it was very nice to meet him. He seemed pleased. He was a beautiful calico, black and orange and deep brown with orange eyes. Luminous oranges.
Icarus knew my grandfather because of Chief.
I learned that who I introduced my grandfather to Icarus. They smiled at each other.
"I know Icarus," Grandfather said.
"Yes, I know Adam," Icarus said.
I learned that they knew each other that day.
I also learned that my grandfather had a steak dinner camping with a relative of Chief's last month that gave Chief's relative Mad Cow disease but Grandfather insisted he was fine. My grandfather, Adam, knew Chief and his whole crew.
He had the honorary title of "Colonel" from Chief. He called me Sarge, which everyone deemed a special name Chief had just for he and , and everyone else still called me by The Thief's name for me.
After the park we had tea. My grandfather stared idly into his empty teacup, at the white tea leaves resting at the bottom.
"My future consists of...a pile of soggy tea leaves."
Much later my grandfather would die in a car chase involving a fire truck while driving a stolen truck transporting tea leaves, only to end up in the lake.
But that was much later.
Not so much later I met The Joker and Alice. Alice was on five hits of acid and in the middle of it. He was passed out on a sofa in a coffee shop, or he wanted to be, but he kept squirming and tossing from side to side and Koala sat next to him, trying to reassure him it would pass. The first time I met him I never actually saw his face, because his arms covered it the whole time.
The second time I met Alice I got to see his face. He had the widest eyes of any boy I'd ever met, but for the next couple of weeks they were only half open. They were blue, and when he bothered to open them they were frighteningly beautiful, with the tiniest specks of pupils...
I cared for Alice right away.
I asked him why he was wearing yellow galoshes, and he said they were not a gift for me, but they were for me. He wore them for me. They looked like some big squarish colorful boots from out a carton. A cat stood at his side.
"This is Wheezy."
The cat gave a friendly shrug and flicked his tail beautifully. I smiled, tilted my head and told Wheezy it was very nice to meet him. He seemed pleased. He was a beautiful calico, black and orange and deep brown with orange eyes. Luminous oranges.
Icarus knew my grandfather because of Chief.
I learned that who I introduced my grandfather to Icarus. They smiled at each other.
"I know Icarus," Grandfather said.
"Yes, I know Adam," Icarus said.
I learned that they knew each other that day.
I also learned that my grandfather had a steak dinner camping with a relative of Chief's last month that gave Chief's relative Mad Cow disease but Grandfather insisted he was fine. My grandfather, Adam, knew Chief and his whole crew.
He had the honorary title of "Colonel" from Chief. He called me Sarge, which everyone deemed a special name Chief had just for he and , and everyone else still called me by The Thief's name for me.
After the park we had tea. My grandfather stared idly into his empty teacup, at the white tea leaves resting at the bottom.
"My future consists of...a pile of soggy tea leaves."
Much later my grandfather would die in a car chase involving a fire truck while driving a stolen truck transporting tea leaves, only to end up in the lake.
But that was much later.
Not so much later I met The Joker and Alice. Alice was on five hits of acid and in the middle of it. He was passed out on a sofa in a coffee shop, or he wanted to be, but he kept squirming and tossing from side to side and Koala sat next to him, trying to reassure him it would pass. The first time I met him I never actually saw his face, because his arms covered it the whole time.
The second time I met Alice I got to see his face. He had the widest eyes of any boy I'd ever met, but for the next couple of weeks they were only half open. They were blue, and when he bothered to open them they were frighteningly beautiful, with the tiniest specks of pupils...
I cared for Alice right away.