I first saw her after I boarded the plane. We sat in the back, so I could see steady stream of passengers coming down the aisle and when I saw her making her way to me, carefully negotiating the narrow space between the seats, she took my breath away. She looked to be in her twenties and was with her mother, I think. I watched her put both of their pieces of luggage in the overhead compartment, tiptoeing to reach.
She has lightly curled fair golden hair that runs behind her ears and down to her shoulders. Her creamy white skin was radiant. A pert nose on which a pair of wire rimmed glasses were perched belonged to a face with clean and subdued, but angelic features. She had the small, slender body of someone who was comfortable with herself. But the it may be her neck that I was the most focused on, its white, soft skin had small hint of pink. I watched it curve from her jawline down to her collarbone. I could tell she was good, kind person from the way she moved, from the way she spoke to her mother, from the way she carried herself. It's a wonder that I've never imagine beauty this way in my head, the way this girl looked, but that's what she was. It is with no qualifier or reservation that I say that I think she was the most beautiful-not just pretty or cute, but beautiful-person I've ever laid my eyes on.
She sat across from me and I stole glances as often as I could. I watched her thumb through her copy of "Nocturnes" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I tried to see what she was watching on the entertainment screen on the headrest of the seat in front of hers if only to see if we had the same taste in movies. The angle wasn't right and I still don't know what she was watching. When she asked the flight attendant for an adapter for the headphones, I detected an Irish accent, a faint one so pleasing my ears that I wish I had the nerve to talk to her so I could hear it some more. She dropped a pen a couple of times and I reached down to pick it up so that maybe she would look at me and say thank you, but she was quicker to reach both times, so I would pull back before making the attempt because it looked like I was too eager.
I caught her eye once when I turned and saw her looking straight at me. She turned away immediately and I wonder if she was looking at me or the view out my window. The view out my window probably. Or maybe she saw me in the periphery staring at her throughout the flight and wanted to see who this stranger was.
Our plane ride was short, only an hour--fine on most days but felt incredibly short on that day. Couldn't they have a storm, or a freak blizzard in August that would blanket the runway, causing us to circle for another half an hour? Would that be too much to ask?
After we landed, I struggled to catch a glimpse of her as she made her way through the gate. I saw her again collecting luggage off the carousel in the baggage collection area. And then she was gone, disappearing into New York through the revolving doors.
It is now five days later and I can't stop thinking of her. But the image I have her is dissolving. I still know that feeling that I felt when I saw her walking toward me down the aisle on the plane. I remember the idea of how stunning she was. But the details are disappearing. When I close my eyes, I struggle to combine all my memories into one distinguishable image. I grasp for the disparate visions: the way her glasses rested on her delicate nose, the sight of her bare arm when she removed her fleece, the motion of her bending and putting her passport into her bag, the color of her hair. I fear that they will not last for long because even with the lights off and sounds muted, I can no longer remember how exactly she was beautiful, only that she was and I will never see her again.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Little Known Inaccurate Facts About Matt
Matt steals candy from children because they're easy targets.
Matt was the original inspiration for "MILF," as in "Matt I'd Like to ...."
Matt fights crime from 11:30 PM to 11:45 PM each night. His signature move is the atomic crotch punch.
Matt strips under the pseudonym, Attorney General. His tag line is "Liar, liar. His pants are on... FIRE!!!!"
Matt traveled back in time and roundhouse kicked Arnold Schwarzenneger in the throat as a child, resulting in a lifelong speech impediment which is commonly mistaken for an Austrian accent.
Matt thinks Chuck Norris is a mama's boy.
Matt brought sexy back, so Timberlake can suck on it.
Matt is friends with JLo and can confirm that she is indeed from the block.
Matt finished the NYC marathon in under two hours but was disqualified for using Heelys.
Matt was trained by Navy SEALs and can kill with virtually any implement, even with Facebook messages.
Matt was swallowed by a whale and found his long lost father inside in a boat.
Matt drops it like it's hot.
Matt lost a pinky toe in a freak hunting accident with Dick Cheney, the details of which are a matter of national security.
Matt rode on a steamship on a long ocean voyage, where he met and fell in love with a young woman, drew her naked, made hot steamy PG-13 love in a car, but was eventually killed when they were struck by an iceberg and he sank into the icy abyss, slipping from his beloved's fingertips, all the while enduring a Celine Dion pop ballad.
Matt says never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
Matt beat Michael Phelps soundly in men's solo synchronized swimming.
Matt is so dope, he fails random drug screenings.
Matt operates a brothel for koalas called Marsupial Menagerie.
Matt is so fresh, he gets baked twice daily.
Matt once joined a gang, but quit when he discovered what gangbangers actually did.
Matt called Betty White a bitch to her face and has the scars to show for it.
Matt occasionally walks with a limp and goes by the name of Keyser Soze.
Matt is a mysterious smoke monster with anger management issues.
Matt stays green by stealing SUVs for chop shops.
Matt ascended Mount Everest on a sedan chair carried by sherpas.
Matt is a stunt double for one of the sextuplets on "Jon and Kate Plus 8."
Matt asked Mark Paul Gosselaar why he never saw him in Bayside and then pestered him for Kelly Kapowski's phone number.
Matt wholeheartedly asserts that the cocktail, Sex on the Beach, was created by him during his time in Fiji.
Matt vehemently denies that the cocktail, Rusty Nail, is in any way related to the events leading up to an emergency room visit that will never ever be repeated again.
Matt is earning his PhD in mystical eroticism at Hogwarts and has several restraining orders filed against him for its practical applications.
Matt joined an oil rig crew in the Pacific and is still waiting for the call from the President to drill a hole for a nuclear bomb in an asteroid of apocalyptic proportions.
Matt sells sheets of Bounty under the brand name, Shamwow.
Matt showed Crocodile Dundee what a real knife looks like.
Matt steals from the rich and gives to the poor for a small finder's fee.
Matt fathers children for replacement parts.
Matt is the subject of an adoption custody battle between Angelina Jolie and Madonna.
Matt preached responsible contract acquisitions to the New York Knicks and was laughed out of the building.
Matt has so much game that sports writers now compare Kobe and Lebron to him - with no derisive sarcasm whatsoever.
Matt is so def, conventional hearing aids are rendered useless in his presence.
Matt is so raven, he got his own Disney TV movie.
Matt is so phat, he got a "No Trans Fat" tattoo.
Matt taught Obama how to properly execute a terrorist fist jab.
Matt, as Bruce Lee's sifu, taught him the Battle Tourette's technique, wherein an opponent is disoriented, sometimes incapacitated, by a series of whoops and shrieks while he's struck. Matt claims responsibility for Little Dragon's success.
Matt has a helper monkey named Norman who fetches him beer.
Matt auditioned for the Amazing Race but was not accepted because he was deemed "extraordinary," an inherent violation of the producers' guidelines and potentially overshadowing the show's merely amazing programming.
Matt was dubbed the poor man's Sanjaya by Simon Cowell.
Matt thinks he can dance, but not in sequined spandex on television.
Matt was honored with ten gold medals in seven sports at Beijing - a first for any American - at a sidewalk vendor outside Olympic Stadium.
Matt showed up at an Iron Man competition in a red and gold metal suit.
Matt's milkshake brings all the girls to the yard.
Matt is so out of sight that you'll go blind if you stare directly at him.
Matt is an Ebay power seller of zero gravity writing instruments (pencils). He has a lower than desired rating.
Matt traveled around the world in 80 days in Phineas Fogg's luggage.
Matt yells, "Freedom!!!!!" every time he relieves himself in the bathroom... for the entire duration.
Matt is the starting center for his peewee basketball team, The Mighty Mites. He averages 34 rebounds a game.
Matt applied to graduate school but was told he was too cool for school.
Matt's cereal was stolen by a talking rabbit.
Matt hid in Amish country from mob enforcers, but was ultimately found because of his inability to grow a beard. And he's Asian.
Matt costarred in a movie with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson titled "Starsky, Hutch, and Some Chinese Guy." It went direct to DVD.
Matt's one man show, an interpretation of "Free Willy," was poorly reviewed and grossly misunderstood.
Matt became Lindsay Lhhan's AA sponsor, just to prove that he can't succeed at everything.
Matt will play a hip-hop savvy teacher's assistant in "High School Musical 17."
Matt has a Segway for each day of the week.
Matt's competitive streak led him to complete a five day fast in one day.
Matt was exposed as a fraud when he was found lip-syncing to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" on America's Got Talent.
Matt showed up as a Great White Shark to his junior high school production of "West Side Story" to a crescendo of applause. The atmosphere soured and turned into panic when half the Jets were eaten in a tragic feeding frenzy.
Matt wanted to be Defender of the Universe when he was a child, but that title was already taken by his arch-nemesis, Voltron.
Matt singlehandedly liberated Europe from the Nazis.
Matt was going to appear in the "Fast and the Furious" sequel, but could not get his stock 2003 Honda Civic to drift.
Matt introduced Austin Powers to a shag carpet and can never look at it the same way again.
Matt was on board the little known 4th ship of Columbus, the Shaniqua Jackson.
Matt can turn water into wine, but must immediately turn it back into water again.
Matt was almost sent to rehab, but he said no, no, no.
Matt yelled fire in a crowded theater just to see what would happen.
Matt wrapped detonation cord around a tree in the forest and left a tape recorder nearby to see if it would make a noise when it fell. It did.
Matt once punched a guy while he was eating pizza and Andy Samberg stole the idea for an SNL Digital Short.
Matt has never viewed pornography. Ever.
Matt's misunderstanding of the term "seminal professional" resulted in a very awkward job interview.
Matt runs five miles a day, but only if he ran the day before.
Matt's moves are so sick, the swine flu needs a vaccine for him.
Matt has been directed to never tickle Elmo, no matter how much he's asking for it.
Matt opened a clinic, but found out that playing doctor and actually being a doctor are two different things altogether.
Matt gets frequent flyer miles for flying into the face of danger.
Matt went to a land down under, where women glowed and men plundered.
Matt smells like teen spirit and was ostracized for it.
Matt fell from Grace, but got right back on her.
Matt fishes for compliments in the Dead Sea.
Matt has been known to rock the casbah.
Matt prefers dark meat over white..., ladies.
Matt was the original inspiration for "MILF," as in "Matt I'd Like to ...."
Matt fights crime from 11:30 PM to 11:45 PM each night. His signature move is the atomic crotch punch.
Matt strips under the pseudonym, Attorney General. His tag line is "Liar, liar. His pants are on... FIRE!!!!"
Matt traveled back in time and roundhouse kicked Arnold Schwarzenneger in the throat as a child, resulting in a lifelong speech impediment which is commonly mistaken for an Austrian accent.
Matt thinks Chuck Norris is a mama's boy.
Matt brought sexy back, so Timberlake can suck on it.
Matt is friends with JLo and can confirm that she is indeed from the block.
Matt finished the NYC marathon in under two hours but was disqualified for using Heelys.
Matt was trained by Navy SEALs and can kill with virtually any implement, even with Facebook messages.
Matt was swallowed by a whale and found his long lost father inside in a boat.
Matt drops it like it's hot.
Matt lost a pinky toe in a freak hunting accident with Dick Cheney, the details of which are a matter of national security.
Matt rode on a steamship on a long ocean voyage, where he met and fell in love with a young woman, drew her naked, made hot steamy PG-13 love in a car, but was eventually killed when they were struck by an iceberg and he sank into the icy abyss, slipping from his beloved's fingertips, all the while enduring a Celine Dion pop ballad.
Matt says never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
Matt beat Michael Phelps soundly in men's solo synchronized swimming.
Matt is so dope, he fails random drug screenings.
Matt operates a brothel for koalas called Marsupial Menagerie.
Matt is so fresh, he gets baked twice daily.
Matt once joined a gang, but quit when he discovered what gangbangers actually did.
Matt called Betty White a bitch to her face and has the scars to show for it.
Matt occasionally walks with a limp and goes by the name of Keyser Soze.
Matt is a mysterious smoke monster with anger management issues.
Matt stays green by stealing SUVs for chop shops.
Matt ascended Mount Everest on a sedan chair carried by sherpas.
Matt is a stunt double for one of the sextuplets on "Jon and Kate Plus 8."
Matt asked Mark Paul Gosselaar why he never saw him in Bayside and then pestered him for Kelly Kapowski's phone number.
Matt wholeheartedly asserts that the cocktail, Sex on the Beach, was created by him during his time in Fiji.
Matt vehemently denies that the cocktail, Rusty Nail, is in any way related to the events leading up to an emergency room visit that will never ever be repeated again.
Matt is earning his PhD in mystical eroticism at Hogwarts and has several restraining orders filed against him for its practical applications.
Matt joined an oil rig crew in the Pacific and is still waiting for the call from the President to drill a hole for a nuclear bomb in an asteroid of apocalyptic proportions.
Matt sells sheets of Bounty under the brand name, Shamwow.
Matt showed Crocodile Dundee what a real knife looks like.
Matt steals from the rich and gives to the poor for a small finder's fee.
Matt fathers children for replacement parts.
Matt is the subject of an adoption custody battle between Angelina Jolie and Madonna.
Matt preached responsible contract acquisitions to the New York Knicks and was laughed out of the building.
Matt has so much game that sports writers now compare Kobe and Lebron to him - with no derisive sarcasm whatsoever.
Matt is so def, conventional hearing aids are rendered useless in his presence.
Matt is so raven, he got his own Disney TV movie.
Matt is so phat, he got a "No Trans Fat" tattoo.
Matt taught Obama how to properly execute a terrorist fist jab.
Matt, as Bruce Lee's sifu, taught him the Battle Tourette's technique, wherein an opponent is disoriented, sometimes incapacitated, by a series of whoops and shrieks while he's struck. Matt claims responsibility for Little Dragon's success.
Matt has a helper monkey named Norman who fetches him beer.
Matt auditioned for the Amazing Race but was not accepted because he was deemed "extraordinary," an inherent violation of the producers' guidelines and potentially overshadowing the show's merely amazing programming.
Matt was dubbed the poor man's Sanjaya by Simon Cowell.
Matt thinks he can dance, but not in sequined spandex on television.
Matt was honored with ten gold medals in seven sports at Beijing - a first for any American - at a sidewalk vendor outside Olympic Stadium.
Matt showed up at an Iron Man competition in a red and gold metal suit.
Matt's milkshake brings all the girls to the yard.
Matt is so out of sight that you'll go blind if you stare directly at him.
Matt is an Ebay power seller of zero gravity writing instruments (pencils). He has a lower than desired rating.
Matt traveled around the world in 80 days in Phineas Fogg's luggage.
Matt yells, "Freedom!!!!!" every time he relieves himself in the bathroom... for the entire duration.
Matt is the starting center for his peewee basketball team, The Mighty Mites. He averages 34 rebounds a game.
Matt applied to graduate school but was told he was too cool for school.
Matt's cereal was stolen by a talking rabbit.
Matt hid in Amish country from mob enforcers, but was ultimately found because of his inability to grow a beard. And he's Asian.
Matt costarred in a movie with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson titled "Starsky, Hutch, and Some Chinese Guy." It went direct to DVD.
Matt's one man show, an interpretation of "Free Willy," was poorly reviewed and grossly misunderstood.
Matt became Lindsay Lhhan's AA sponsor, just to prove that he can't succeed at everything.
Matt will play a hip-hop savvy teacher's assistant in "High School Musical 17."
Matt has a Segway for each day of the week.
Matt's competitive streak led him to complete a five day fast in one day.
Matt was exposed as a fraud when he was found lip-syncing to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" on America's Got Talent.
Matt showed up as a Great White Shark to his junior high school production of "West Side Story" to a crescendo of applause. The atmosphere soured and turned into panic when half the Jets were eaten in a tragic feeding frenzy.
Matt wanted to be Defender of the Universe when he was a child, but that title was already taken by his arch-nemesis, Voltron.
Matt singlehandedly liberated Europe from the Nazis.
Matt was going to appear in the "Fast and the Furious" sequel, but could not get his stock 2003 Honda Civic to drift.
Matt introduced Austin Powers to a shag carpet and can never look at it the same way again.
Matt was on board the little known 4th ship of Columbus, the Shaniqua Jackson.
Matt can turn water into wine, but must immediately turn it back into water again.
Matt was almost sent to rehab, but he said no, no, no.
Matt yelled fire in a crowded theater just to see what would happen.
Matt wrapped detonation cord around a tree in the forest and left a tape recorder nearby to see if it would make a noise when it fell. It did.
Matt once punched a guy while he was eating pizza and Andy Samberg stole the idea for an SNL Digital Short.
Matt has never viewed pornography. Ever.
Matt's misunderstanding of the term "seminal professional" resulted in a very awkward job interview.
Matt runs five miles a day, but only if he ran the day before.
Matt's moves are so sick, the swine flu needs a vaccine for him.
Matt has been directed to never tickle Elmo, no matter how much he's asking for it.
Matt opened a clinic, but found out that playing doctor and actually being a doctor are two different things altogether.
Matt gets frequent flyer miles for flying into the face of danger.
Matt went to a land down under, where women glowed and men plundered.
Matt smells like teen spirit and was ostracized for it.
Matt fell from Grace, but got right back on her.
Matt fishes for compliments in the Dead Sea.
Matt has been known to rock the casbah.
Matt prefers dark meat over white..., ladies.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Five Blood Soaked Tissues
This is how it ends.
Everything will change now, Jennifer thinks. She wiped down the floor some more and tossed the tissues into the wastebasket.
"I told you not to tell anyone," she says to Mark.
Mark doesn't reply because Mark is dead, with a tent spike through his chest.
"Now, you never will."
Everything will change now, Jennifer thinks. She wiped down the floor some more and tossed the tissues into the wastebasket.
"I told you not to tell anyone," she says to Mark.
Mark doesn't reply because Mark is dead, with a tent spike through his chest.
"Now, you never will."
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