The Lady Behind the counter

The heat of the place always made her flush.. and she didn't like to flush... Someone might think something was wrong.. that she couldn't do her job... Sure she had a handicap.. and no she didn't believe in the handi-capable bullshit.. She just survived... Everyone told her she had a beautiful smile... Funny, thats what he had told her too.. So long ago - how old were they fourteen -fifteen.. They were in class together and afterwards he walked her home, clowning and joking all the way.. Later he told he did that just so he could see her smile.. They had loved each other so much.. So much that before they could graduate, they became a family.. Him her and the beautiful little boy to whom she gave birth... It was a struggle.. But both sets of parents helped and he graduated and got a job as a mechanic- he was so good with his hands... and they finally had moved out of her parents basement into a small apartment of their own.. Finally things were looking so good.. It was truly an accident.. then night was clear, the roads were dry, the other driver nor them had imbibed... But the other driver had an unknown heart condition, and just as he went past them his heart gave out... All she could really remember was the sound of screaming steel and shrieking glass ...and then silence... and there was days of silence.. She came out of her coma two weeks later to find her husband and child dead and buried.. and her body torn and broken.. The doctors worked wonders .. healing her rehabilitating her, until all that as left was a hip that caused a limp.. no pain, but a sign that she was damaged... and enough of a problem to wear her out quicker than others... But her smile.. it was still there.. the same lovely smile... and she gives it out freely... So no one looks any further behind the counter.. or behind her eyes...

The Star

The lights flickered a slow country two step as he looked out his motel room window.. He preferred the dark after a long night in the spotlight… Sitting there in the dark listening to the swish of the cars going down the interstate.. Knowing that in a few hours he would join the mad race to another city….. He turned the radio on to a blues station.. Poured a glass of scotch and took a long swig then lit a cigarette…. He looked at the headlines of the local paper the maid had left in his room… Weddings funerals, elections murders...These people had lives that made such happenings important to them.. What was important to him anymore… Nothing. his soul was empty… Once ah once there had been something that mattered to him.. Someone he cared about someone who made him feel… But now she was just lyrics he sang… A song that inspired lovers and those who wished to love.. But he was hollow.. Each time he sang the song.. She became less his and more theirs…. Not that it mattered.. He never even knew her real name… all he really knew was that she was someone that once – for 24 hours- blocked out all pain , all sadness, all sorrow, all regrets and made him feel wonderful, wanted and special… Leave it to him- not to even get her last name.. His arrogance had cost him everything… and now all he could do was push himself – take himself- to the edge each night.. Pushing the limit of endurance until one day the barrier splintered and he would free fall into the darkness of his mind....