Chapter rotten teeth
and the lights went down,
I stared up at the
glow in the dark stars.
And I kept thinking
about the rendezvous.
And when I knew my bring-ups
were well asleep.
I got up like those rats
that wait for darkness to bite
and rattle at biscuits
left on the counter.
Mamaw would have given me
a fine ass beating
had she come to know I was biting
biscuits at 12 in the night.
Her babygirl was sure
to get a rotten teeth.
Sweets at that time of the hour
without supervision
was not healthy.
And this rat wore a white nightie,
peach socks on one foot,
lemon on the other.
And a single pigtail
with glow-in the dark neon clips
from the Train trip 12 hours ago.
The hallway made no sound,
and the house was dark.
Eric was waiting by the steps.
Like,
He knew I'd come.
He said nothing as he got up.
His smile wasn't there.
And when he took my hand,
it felt like ice.
Ice-cold, thick concrete.
And I thought:
"ah, this was what
a man should feel like."
But I wished I could feel
other things.
Like his lips.
Then he took me
to a room.
The Spider-Man sheets,
that belonged to my
half-brother Dan,
and the 90's monitor.
Daniel would come over
on holidays.
But this was Eric's room
for a while.
So basically,
I was in Eric's room.
My heart started racing.
Bodum. Bodum.
And I must have been
at a carnival.
Because all I was hearing
were drums.