{ tonight : under scaffolding } by Robb Todd

She and I said goodbye not for the last time and maybe we have a chance if we can accept that somehow we are doomed : death or dirty deeds : and the air is warm and there is a breeze on the city sidewalks and a motorcycle rumbles past and revs and pops and all the women are wearing what they must think are their last summer outfits so they show as much as possible and they jiggle in the right places and fuck/a/bra and there is something in the air that smells pleasant and someone shouts a curse word.

A couple passes and their sound/byte is that sad/couple/shit where she bitches about something and he nods to seem like he is listening but really he might be nodding asleep or thinking about ass.

Dogs on leashes.

Dudes pass by looking for pussy they will not get because an erection in your pants only works if it is enormous and even then maybe not : or maybe they will find pussy if they : well : you know

: are Somebody

: with a cap $.

I am standing under scaffolding. There is always scaffolding. Repairs : corrections : upkeep. The hotel that is planned for this corner has the locals freaked/the/fuck/out. A hotel here? How is that possible? It will change everything.

: everything

: always

: changes.

But I am here to answer questions not ask them so here it is : money : cash fucking money and that will get you all the everything you [n]ever wanted : that and ass/kissing. Most of the time. Because look : the thing is : once in a while something special comes your way and if it does not last [and it will not] that does not make it not special. Maybe it did not last because of you. Maybe you are the not/special/one. Or maybe nothing lasts no matter what and the sooner we get on board with that concept the better we will be. Maybe that is okay. Death.

So listen : my beer was in a frosty mug and it was free because the hot bartender likes me. More than likes. I drank several free ones for that reason and left a monster tip but not before I told her my theory about beer mugs : which you must hear : but first this

: today at work I got a text from her and it said

: “Will you come over and fuck me before I go to work, please?

I said okay since she said please. There also might have been an exclamation point.

She wrote back

: “Wonderful” : I have never felt more loved and there are moments where you just know your life will never get better than this : it will probably get much worse : and that is fucking aaaaa/okay

: and I walked to her apartment so fast I broke a sweat : we fucked and we both sweated all over each other and her nipples taste even better salted with our human salt and neither of us came and we both felt bad for a moment because we felt like we failed the other and I said something and she laughed and I told her we should never feel that way because blah blah and we fucked more and sweat/ed more and it was hard for me not to worry about this other thing I have no control over : I could not not worry about it : I could not get it out of my head.

An ambulance rolls by with full/on flashing lights and an ear/splitting siren and I think this would be a cool way to die : fucking her to death : my death : heart/explosion/orgasm : yeah : that would be nice. Nothing lasts even when it is as perfect as this imperfect life can muster.

Oh

: the thing about the beer mugs : I almost forgot

: to really appreciate that beer mug : the frosty thing that delivers the beery goodness that makes your soil a little more fertile : to appreciate that brewed delight as much as it should be appreciated

: you must accept that the glass is already broken

: shattered

: ground to dust somewhere in its so/near future

: and not let that ruin a single moment when you take a drink.

More sirens.

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Robb Todd’s name would look much cooler with umlauts. His first collection of short stories will be available soon from Tiny Hardcore Press. www.robbtodd.com