Louis Jenkins



Ghosts


Usually   when   the   dead   return   uninvited  it  is  to
apologize,  to  say,  "I'm  sorry,  I didn't know,  I  didn't
understand..." The dead want to explain their actions in
life, why Mother called you plain,  why Father would not
allow you to read novels... all the petty cruelties. Only a
few of the  dead return,  most haven't learned  anything
more than  they did  in  life.  And  coming  back does no
good,  ghosts can't really speak,  they can only bump in
the  night,   moan   and   grown.   They   are   shy  and
frightened  of  returning to this world.  They hide in the
closet,  or   under   the  bed.  If   you   meet   a   ghost
somewhere in the long  dark  hallway he or she may try
to speak,  Oooooo...  and  you  go,  Iieeeee!  The ghost
runs in one direction  and  you  run in another,  tripping
over a footstool as you go.

                                                                                                                                                                        


Cornfield


Once I spent  the  night in a cornfield  with  a beautiful girl,
we made  a nest of corn stalks  and  our sleeping bags and
drank  red  wine  from the bottle.  It was August;  a  billion
stars overhead,  and not even the whisper of a breeze.  We
had only  just  met  and  we kissed and made love and told
each other our darkest secrets.  I could  tell  that  she  was
not quite as taken with  me as I with her,  though she liked
me, I'm sure. So I told her that I was mad about her, that I
had never met anyone like her, that  I  was deeply in love...
her hair,  her mouth,  her sweet fragrance.... The night was
warm and  so  still  that you could hear the corn growing....
Then I realized she was sleeping.





Backward   |   Issue Two   |   Forward