Pennies

She can’t abide no knot.

I leaned in to untie what I could reach; picked her up to untie what I couldn’t.

A stack of kindling where the wood pile ought to be.

Like gravity can’t be bothered by her mess now.

She breathed in my hair hard but I don’t know how much of that was me wanting to describe it as such or how much of that was her gasping involuntarily or how much of that was her breathing in my hair hard.

Knots untied and her gown pulled aside I told her to keep all of this in mind if and when she decided to roam the halls immodestly in the night air.

She breathed in my hair hard again and made no doubt of it this time.

I kissed her on the neck.

“You got this?” I asked.

She was already where she couldn’t or wouldn’t hear me yet.

We were at a disco in Greece a few years ago.

A local boy walked up behind her, slipped his hand down her blouse, and cupped her breast like he was buying peaches.

I stood and came at him loaded for bear because that’s how I was trained.

She held up a hand as if to tell me, “I got this, baby sister.”

I was already where I couldn’t or wouldn’t hear her yet.

She was mad at me for weeks.

I always wanted her to love me for being such a raging bitch — even if out of spite.

I’m lying.

I never thought about my sister’s love because I never needed to.

Pennies in a mall fountain for all I knew.

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Photo by jasonlumpkin.