Mira Martin-Parker
Bad Weather

Graphic: "The Most Nervous Thing" ~ Peter Schwartz

He looks wind-blown when walking down the street. His hair sticks out and his thin body leans slightly to the right, slightly sideways. I see him on the bus too, and I can tell he gets off at stops randomly to follow girls home, like a man with facial hair, like a man with a mustache.

One day I let him go ahead of me in line at the corner market. I had a basket full of food and he had only one item — a Sierra Nevada and it was before noon. When he turned to thank me his eyes said, You're just like me aren't you? You're a little whacked out and shifty, a little sleazy and lazy, slightly grifty?

I deliberately stared back at him with a blank expression on my face. I didn't want him following me home. I didn't want him blowing down the street behind me.

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