copyright 1998 Jim Chevallier
THE EDGE OF THE MOUNTAIN
I didn't come all this way to see you. Don't misunderstand. But I'm
glad we ran into each other. I won't lie. I had heard you were living
around here. I just thought the town was bigger. Funny, huh?
Anyway, I heard you had some kids. How are they doing? Look like
you? Geez, it's good to see you, it really is. I still think about you a
lot. Oh not all the time, nothing like that. Hell, it's been ten years.
But you do come up. You do. You cross my mind.
It's silly that it didn't work out. It really is. We were good
together. We were. Can't understand how something that good fell apart.
Can you? Can you understand it? You'll have to explain it to me someday.
I've never worked it out. And like I said, I think about it. I think about
it a lot.
Maybe it was the house. That place you're living in now - Oh I
happened to see it, someone mentioned you lived on the edge of the mountain.
Fancy, huh? Pretty pricey, looks like. No way I could have afforded
something like that. Not me. I didn't come from money. I didn't have that
kind of head start. I could never have bought you a home like that. Hidden
away. Tucked away. Like you're hiding. Like you're afraid.
Why would you be afraid? I don't understand. Everybody likes you.
I heard that for years after you left. "She was so nice. How'd you let her
get away?" It's like they're blaming me. But it's not my fault. Is it? I
didn't let you get away. You got. Boy, did you get. Ten years too far for
me to find you.
Time enough to get tucked away. Have some kids. Nice kids. They're
really nice kids. Really really nice kids. Not that I'd know. It's not
like I've seen them. Up close. I mean, even my running into you. Pure
coincidence. Just one of those things that happen, you know?
It's awful the things that happen. It really is. You know?
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