just follow the cat

Rose 12 - a dozen roses

"Do you like her, Starlin?"

I made a face like I didn't know what he meant. Then I shifted the shopping bag from my left arm to my right, and the paper crackled. My thumb found a soft spot on the brown paper. When I pushed on it, a long, puckering fold formed from the bottom of the bag to the top. It made a snapping sound when it reached the top.

"Do — you — like — her — Starling?"

I tried ignoring the question again, but Crow insisted on an answer. Finally, he settled for a shrug.

"Well, I thought she was real nice and the flower is pretty too."

Then Crow took the flower from my hand and blew on it. It was like he was trying to get it to open right away.

"We should put it in a vase, you know."

I nodded and said it would probably just be a drinking glass, since Room 6 at the Pirate's Cove Motel wasn't likely to be well stocked in vases.

"Well, that doesn't really matter because it'll bloom on out just like she said."

As I was imagining the woman saying words like "moon", "swoon", "spoon", and "afternoon", Crow was digging through the sand on the side of the highway with his foot. There were lots of little shells in the sand and even more broken pieces of shells. After digging down about 5 or 6 inches, he turned over an unusually large shell. It was light brown on the outside, but the inside was pink like the woman's lips. I pointed to the shell and asked him if he had seen the woman's lips from the store.

He nodded and said, "We'll have to come back tomorrow and see what color they are."

That was an amazing thought. Truly amazing. What was even more amazing was that I hadn't thought it before. We could just go there again tomorrow. And since we were staying in North Carolina forever, there would always be another tomorrow.

Then (in a really quiet voice) Crow said, "Pretty things are weird, Starlin', don't you think? It's like with that woman's lips. They're so pretty you want them to last forever and that makes me wonder if things like that get reincarnated from body to body. Not the whole person. Just the lips. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Really nice if the prettiest things on Earth were passed down from person to person. Weird things, too."

Suddenly, Crow shouted. "Mussolini!! Maybe she got Mussolini's lips."

Then he pursed his lips and stuck his chin forward. He looked ridiculous that way, and nothing at all like the woman in the store. I made a face at him and shook my head.

"Well, maybe they were from someone else. How about Oedipus' mother?"

He laughed when I made a face.

"Or Delilah? How about Delilah, Starlin'?"

I shook my head again.

"No, I know! I got it. They came from Helen of Troy?"

I thought about it for a second and smiled.

"That's good, isn't it, Starlin'? You like it, right?"

I nodded because it really was the perfect answer. I could practically see Helen standing on the walls of Troy with her lips beaming like two perfect pink lights. They were small lights, but they were bright enough to shine all the way across the Aegean Sea to the coast of Greece.

Suddenly, Crow brushed his eyebrows the wrong way to make them wild looking. The hairs were standing up and out and he looked completely crazy. "Hey! My lips may be nobody's, but I've got Einstein's eyebrows."

Then he really really got excited. He stuck his fingers in his hair and made the strands wiggle like short black snakes. "And I also got Medusa's hair. Snakes! I have to wear a shower cap at night or them snakes will get me."

Crow, you don't wear a shower cap to bed. I saw you last night and you slept better than I did.

"Well, then I was just lucky last night, cuz them snakes can get you any time they want."

He wiggled the snakes some more and then pointed his index finger in the air. "This is Anne Boleyn's extra finger. Henry VIII chopped if off right after he whacked off her head."

I put my finger next to his and said that I had John Dillinger's trigger finger. When I pulled the trigger on my imaginary gun, Crow made a scared face. His eyes were open wide and his teeth were chattering.

Then, in a goofy voice, he said, "Hey! I'm burnin', Starlin'." He began moving his arms and legs quickly like he was running or walking fast, but all along he was going the same speed.

If anyone had seen us (I don't think they did), they would have thought we were both nuts. It didn't matter, though, because it was fun. It was fun and silly all the way back to the motel. In those few minutes from the store to our room, everything felt perfect. Crow was just scuffing his feet back and forth on a thin layer of sand. He was making the same sounds he had when we were little, and I could have kissed him for being there with me.

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