as the procession flies by
and I pull out my chair
turn it to the side and kick my legs out
like a table in the street
and I glance over the railing at the sun-drenched condos
as you ask “how much do you think they are?”
and we guess at the prices down by the water
“higher,” you say, “higher. double it and even higher!”
We have to wait until the kitchen opens for dinner to finally order our calamari
and when it gets here it’s packed in a napkin like a diaper, it’s chewy and rubbery, and then our meals get overcooked… the schnitzel’s like leather, and you tell the same stories you always do, asking “are you sure you haven’t heard this one?”
And we grin and lean in and say “I don’t remember that one,” and you pretend you believe that we don’t remember that one as we sip our martinis to your specifications — “yes three of those please” we say after you order — and you lean in and start like you start, “well you see it was off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard I saw them and said well aren’t those people stupid! next thing you know we’re in Florida and I’m saying well doesn’t that look like fun!”
And we laugh like we laugh and I say “don’t forget the part about the weight distribution!” and you laugh and tell us the part about you and papou on the back of the boat, the captain asking your weight just before he hits the gas and your legs start to kick in the air. your eyes get wide and “it was the most exhilarating thing,” you tell us, “rising and rising, not to mention the view!”
l picture it in my head, your bodies jerked off the back of the boat, a moment of panic as you grab papou, and he too slightly nervous but only until he sees how panicked you are and then he laughs and you laugh at him laughing at you, and soon the whole sea bows at your feet, gravity has forgotten you, and the wind says look at these angels – too happy too beautiful too in love to be human. higher. higher. double it and even higher now.