I don’t date. Or rather, I haven’t since I bought my new black jeep. The top is ripped across the top from an umbrella that Akem opened while driving down Mopac. He thought the idea of driving in the rain with the doors off was a fabulous idea.
Perhaps upon recollection of this act, I can say, “No, that is a bad idea.” But ideas are very much the realm of the head. And my jeep kicks the ass of the body. Tear and all.
We piled into the vinyl two-tone interior. Loud bad music would engulf its speaker cones and then our ears. Letting Danny drive through the hill country on one lane dirt roads, my eyes weren’t mere dust collectors, but dust connoisseurs. Limestone and basalt have very different physical characteristics, especially ocular ones.
Limestone can range from silkly smooth to sharp and piercing. In the hill country, it is usually slimy and found down by the water. It looks like it is dripping off of the wall. Large tusks drop from the ceilling it grays and whites. Green goo from the water veins and shade act together to find nothing but earth below.
This was our desitination. Akem’s dark hair and long bangs blew around in the Texas morning sun. The dew didn’t do as it should on that morning, holding down the road dust. His fingers wrapped more and more tightly around the steering wheel.
“Where’s the water?” Danny said digging through my green backpack.
“Under the seat,” Yelhsa screamed over the rocks banging the under our feet. “I can feel it on my heels,” he yelled again.
The radio came with the jeep, and it certainly isn’t anything I would have choosen. LCD pixels of giant leopards scratching out beats under pale blue hues. It is the cheeze, and I am beginning to like it.
Yelsha grabbed the half-gallon translusent jug and ripped off the seal. Only one long pull into it, and he throws it out into the prickly pears and armadillos.
But the black nylon bag was becoming tiresome for all of us. We had bought it at WEPCO with the hopes of not having to use it. But the five of us needed it. One short step and we were glad we bought it.
Assilem and Akem are practically twins. The hair, the glasses, the shit in your face humor that only they thought was funny.
“Danny, you are an ugly motherfuck,” Assilem would scream at the most unusual moments. And they would laugh and slap backs and alpha male the rest of the church.
My mom’s church.