Persimmon

Author ID: 42834Persimmon.

She puts in the cassette and presses play. On the screen is a man in a uniform lying in an alley somewhere. Theres a close up of his face and you can see that his mouths filled with water. Hes facing the camera. His eyes are rolled back in his head. The shot moves slowly down his body. Past his medals, past his thumb tucked into his jacket. It comes to rest upon a snail that is crawling up his leg.

Did you put it there? I say.

This isnt one of mine.The camera follows the snail. It crosses his hand and then continues up his arm, up his neck and onto his face. The snail stops, for a moment, on the edge of his lip. Then, it lowers its head and drinks from the water inside the mans mouth. When it has finished, it continues on its journey - across the mans face and out of shot.

I look at her. Whys that more beautiful than anything else?

She plays with her necklace and then undoes one of the buttons on her shirt. She looks at me and smiles. I just thought

I shake my head. I dont know. I say. Im sorry, I just dont.

Yeah. She looks at the screen. Her bracelet slides down her arm as she redoes the button.

The TV goes back to static.

She looks at me. Ok, she says. Its ok.

Yeah, it is.

She smiles. Im sorry.

I know.

250 Words