cereal after sex

I am rich in pain and confusion at times. I glance over at the glossy blue plate where the crumbs from the buttered zucchini bread lie. The sky is sunless and dim. Silence calmly breathes. I wonder what will become of me. In these days of roses and war. The stupidity of it all. I grow weary of the fights and the calamities. I tire of the warping of the world by incompetent men who have no other goals other than to hurt and maim. To step upon the throats of those of us who are simply fighting to live. Half a day’s pay to fill up the gas tank. Three small bags of groceries cost 50 dollars. How? How could they have consciously chosen such a sour future? From what I see on most days, it’s the march of the brain dead. I get so pissed off and crushed and I just scream, “Idiots!”

So, I hid in the corn rows. It smelled of agriculture. The sky above was a weird blue with clouds mixed in. The air was warm and stuffy. The thing that was after me was not of this world. Lightning cracked through the sky above the farmland. Then I heard the corn harvester ignite. I knew in my mind that thing would be happy to grind me up and spit me out. Just like life and all its hardness. I needed to get out of the corn. I would run to the farmhouse. White and stoic. A point on the landscape that breathed and had a heartbeat. Inside would be the smell of life. I made my way to the edge of the corn rows and in the direction of the house. I darted. Kept low. The screen door creaked. The harvester went quiet. There was a flash of light as I crossed the threshold. Like someone had snapped one of those old-time pictures with a blue bulb and a burst of brightness. The kitchen smelled of potatoes and onions. I made my way through the house and to the stairs. I went up. One of the bedroom doors was a swirling green portal. I stepped through and found myself in downtown Atlanta.

I was at a table eating pancakes with warm syrup on top. The restaurant was humming. Voices mingled and became one long buzz. Dishes clanked. There was some laughter. The building was of white brick with rose bushes crawling through the mortar joints. People were outside. There was a woman sitting across from me looking at her phone and eating biscuits.

“Hello,” I said.

She looked up at me and smiled. “I love you,” she answered.