She walks into her room, heading for the bathroom when she almost trips over one of the bags at the foot of the bed. The bags from Las Vegas. His and hers.
you walk through my walls like a ghost on tv, you penetrate me
Stupid to leave them there (not like he's coming back for it). She sets both of them on the bed, yanking open zippers and pulling things out.
and my little pink heart is on its little brown raft floating out to sea
Her clothes--piled at the head of the bed, to be put away later.
and what can i say but i'm wired this way and you're wired to me
Several stacks of cash banded together--her winnings from the casino.
and what can i do but wallow in you unintentionally?
A bathrobe from Caesars Palace.
regretfully, i guess i've got three simple things to say
A pair of high heels.
why me?
She hesitates, drawing the last item out of her bag. It's a circlet of cheap silk roses--white, with a little scrap of gauze (veil?) attached. She doesn't remember packing it, but she also threw a lot of things into the bags at random before she left. They could have picked it up anywhere in their drunken wanderings that night. Anywhere.
why this now?
She sets the crown aside and starts unpacking Ruin's bag.
why this way?
His clothes--piled at the foot of the bed, to be put away later if she can get a key to his room from Bar.
overtone's ringing, undertow's pulling away
The contents of their suite's minibar.
under a sky that is grey
A pair of shoes.
on sand that is grey
A piece of folded paper--their marriage license. She stashes it in the nightstand drawer.
by an ocean that's grey
Last item: a photograph--a Polariod in a cardboard frame.
(his arm around her waist and he was whispering something in her ear, that's why she laughed, trying to keep the silly little wreathcrownveil on her head something old something new underneath that little white arbor with the backdrop it's like the prom she said and he murmured something dirty in her ear and she blushed bright pink he laughed and the photographer said now smile you two something borrowed but she asked if she could keep the little crown and they told her there was a box of them in the back it's not a problem thank you so much such a happy couple and now for the wedding night legs just don't drop me over the threshold something blue)
It slips from her fingers to land on the floor. She starts putting the other things away.
what kind of paradise am i looking for?
Clothes in the dresser, shoes on the floor of the closet, the crown on the shelf in the closet where it's (invisible) out of the way, minibar bottles lined up on the dresser, her bag on the closet floor, his bag repacked with his things and--
i've got everything i want
When she's putting his bag under her bed, she finds the picture again. She throws the frame away and wedges the picture in the corner of her mirror. With the bed cleared off, she curls up on the comforter and doesn't sleep.
and still i want more
Just stares at that picture.
maybe some tiny shiny key will wash up on the shore
And makes up her mind.