To Be Chased

The left side of the couch didn't feel soft, and his leg itched more when leaning that way; moving to the right side made the kink in his neck sting; lying down just felt like he was flat out lazy. The screen-door slammed behind and his steps thudded on off the porch and onto the pavement. Pacing like a flee bitten dog as he wandered tracing the dirt road around his neighboring, vacant home and back again to his porch.

There is foliage of 17 different bushes and trees, and just as many insects and animals. His house is hugged on the back the shade of a big live oak and kept safe by a slope too steep to allow anything but roots to build upon. After fifty feet the creek trickles and when the birds have their afternoon tea break from singing, you can hear it from the porch. It’s strange how living in a beautiful place can, at moments, feel like its squeezing you out like a wet-fish.

When he was about 15 minutes away, he thought that talking might stop what caused him to start driving in the first place. No friend was available at the moment. The grey suede of the bucket seat held him like a royal throne the day before, but today started to gnaw his thighs. The streets and turning down Barry Rd. was all instinct, so was turning left and then right after that when Regal St. ended. Everything was too familiar to appreciate. Reaching back into his memory he headed towards a beloved cafe shop, Stone and Larry's. Catching a glimpse from the storefront from a hundred yards, he let out a breathless and unsatisfying sigh of relief. Waiting for a blue Toyota Ranger to fill with the driver and three passengers and back out, a thought slipped in mind like a spatula in chocolate pudding.

He was running, and the only way out. So he thought of her, mystique and voluptuous with a full-bodied smile. He fixed his gaze, stern with a strong brow on the tip of anger, and said, "No."

He stepped out the car, dropped the keys in his pockets, grabbed some coffee and started to type: "The left side of the couch didn't feel soft, and his ...."