the nemeses
It was so dark out. I went to the K to get some liquige. As I stretched out of my car I saw him pushing out through the plexi doors. So we would meet again, then, would we?
Wtih razor-wire inflection,"Is it scap YU la, or is it SCAP yu la?"
"You're absolutely right," I replied,"you know."
"Huh? Tell me, which is it?"
"You're thinking of 'scalpel'."
"Oh! You're absolutely right, you know."
"What business have you here?"
"The usual, cat food, slurpee, .. an' dyou?"
"Y'know. . uh, beer. . .uh. . salties. "
"..."
"..."
"Think about this: I'd a'been your father if I'd beaten the nineteen seventy-nine Duluth Cormorants over the kennel's fence."
"Are you. . . just who are you insulting by that? My parents?"
"Who's bedroom was that?"
"Funny, jaspertwill, real funny."
He just looked me down and took a real long sip.
"Why don't you draw a picture? It'll take longer."
"We're not so different, you and I."
"Thanks, shoeshine. Save the fanny talk for your mum." It looked like another draw. Was that to throw me off? Could it have been pity? I lurched forward to enter the store, and he vanished until I saw him again.
