Only Chundwicka's name has been changed.

      "I saw what I can honestly describe as an angel last night. Her name is Chundwicka Thurbersmite and I've known her for many years. Or really, I've known of her. She and my buddy Nick used to be really good friends, and I've hung out with her once or twice over the last 15 years, but I've never really gotten to know her that well. However, I remember the very first thing I ever said to her.
     "I was 14 at the time, so I guess she was 16. A gang of us Grovesters was hanging out at Round Table Pizza (god rest its overly merry soul), and I don't remember who all was there, but my friend Krliss turned to me on the bench and handed me his empty soda cup. 'Hey man, I'll suck your dick if you go refill this.'
      "It was a funny way to ask, but I didn't want to refill it and thereby create an impression of both my lackey and love slave qualities, so I passed the buck.

     Chundwicka Thurbersmite was sitting across the table from me. I only knew her by name, and not even really that, but I handed her the glass and said, 'I'll lick your twat if you refill this.'
      "You might have been shocked to hear that out of context, god knows Chundwicka was, but anyone who knows me well enough is aware that a 14 year old me wouldn't have thought twice about it until it was already said (not much has changed). Of course, Chundwicka simply blinked once and laughed incredulously, 'What?!'
      "As I recall, her boyfriend was sitting right next to her but caught only that she was laughing at something I said. Still, he was pissed. Nick, though, rescued the conversation from progressing by grabbing the soda cup with a hasty, 'I'll get it.' Thereby becoming my lackey and love slave.

      "But last night, over ten years later, while cleaning off tables 15 and 22 at work (clearing a 4-top and an 8-top simultaneously), I hear her say, 'Plaindark?' right next to me. That's right: first name and last name. Her voice didn't immediately identify her, so I turned and wow! I am rarely left totally speechless, and never just by the sight of someone, but this woman... I swear my mind cleared instantly, as though by solar pulse, the magnetism wiping my memory and the light blinding my peripherals, leaving only this stunning beauty in view. And the only past I had was the few instances in which she had appeared, my only future that which she might offer. This all smacks of poetic embellishment, but let me assure you, this is exactly what it felt like.
      "Her name was pinging around my beautifully clear mind as the only thought I was capable of for many seconds before I finally said it aloud. And then that smile!
      "My impulse to hug her was checked at the last second and I swung my hand down for a handshake, explaining, 'I'd give you a hug, but, well,' looking down at my Saturday night uniform, 'y'know. Sauces and junk.'

      "'I'm in the same racket,' she laughed. 'I understand.'
      "I wish she understood more. I wish she understood that her beige dress heightened her beauty even as her beauty degraded it. I wish she understood that all the pieces I've ever admired in others are complete in her face, the creation of a whole. My pen wants to talk about 'awe' and 'blessings' and 'gratitude', but I know that these words are designed to impart majesty. Majesty had nothing to do with it. She was not the Glory of God or the Unicorn and Lion. She was more like a letter from home. In those moments, all I felt really was a kind of joyful clarity and a near desperation to see her again as soon as possible.

I keep thinking about her, about last night. My chest reacts very physically, tightly expanding, as though finally seeing a glimmer of real truth in the world."

                             

 

          After writing this, I had to call to Nick. After hearing me gush, he agreed with me.
          "She was a beautiful girl back then and I always said so. I told everybody that she'd be stunning when she grew up, and 'no, no,no' they said. But she just kept getting more and more good looking." But then he got tired of me gushing and said, "Yeah, but she's got issues."
          "I'm sure she does," I quipped, "but who doesn't?"
          "Yeah. But she's got issues." He refused to elaborate.

          A week or two went by. I stopped thinking about it really. Working an ever-fluctuating schedule at a restaurant in the mall has a tendency to alter memory retention. The vivid thoughts and feelings of the 24 hours after seeing Chundwicka quickly aged and darkened around the edges. Odd how my heart beats.
          Eventually, I went to see another friend, Yown, at a bar. He's a Grovester, so I mentioned seeing Chundwicka a few weeks back.
          "How'd she look?" he asked his beer.
          "Phenomenal." I told mine.
          "Yeah," he sighed. "But she's got issues."
          "Fuck! Dude!" I swivelled on my stool and took one hand from my beer to wave it at him. "That's all Nick says, but he won't say how! What are her issues?"
          "She's a fucking coke whore."
          "What? No fucking way." Chundwicka? Huh?
          "Yeah."
          "But. But she told me she was in the same racket as me." My hands went a little limp on the glass.
          "Heh. Racket. Yeah, pretty much." He glanced up at the Mariners game.
          "She said she was in restaurants."
          "Fuck, the last real job she had, she got fired from." He was smiling now, enjoying telling me. "Found her passed out behind the bar during hours."
          "Jesus."
           Yown laughed at the bottles behind the bar. "Yeah. Fucking coke whore. Sucked some guy off a couple weeks ago downtown to get a ride home."
          "Holy christ!" Now I'm laughing, too, holding a hand over my mouth. "For real?"
          "Yeah. It was a cop, too."
          "Bullshit!" I dropped my hand and slapped the bar, triumphant. Yown's story had just passed into being too obviously ridiculous.
          Spurred by the force of my exclamation, Yown started giggling hysterically. "It's true! I swear. Ask Nick!"
          "I will, you fucker."
          And I did.
          And I don't ever want to hear about it again.