3. Is It What It Is?
Half an hour later I stood next to Gerry in the men’s
bathroom. I leaned against the wall with one hand, a pen grasped in the other. He held a specimen cup in his left hand.
“You know what I like about you?” he asked as I turned on the
water in the sink.
“Not sure this is the moment I want you to share that
information with me,” I said.
“That’s what I like about you. You don’t pretend what is isn’t. This is awkward, and you might joke about it,
but you don’t pretend watching me not pee is normal. In my family we pretend my drunk dad isn’t. We pretend my addicted mom only takes what’s
prescribed. When I was seventeen I was
dating the forty year old alcoholic who lived across the cul de sac. Everyone but my older sister pretended that
was normal. We called her crazy because
she said our family was a mess.”
He finally filled half the cup, and I said, “Here’s some good
news. If this is dirty The Other Ken won’t pretend it’s clean.”
“That’s what I need,” Gerry said. “People who deal in what
is.”
Today I won’t pretend what is isn’t.
Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2016 by
Ken Montrose
Needles Not For Knitting is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the
characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.
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