St George Street

Shade from the eves cut a sharp line across his chest, allowing him respite to look out into the unrelenting sun that had been using his eyes like a pincushion all afternoon. He propped his shoulders up against the coarse coquina wall, enjoying the back scratch as he shifted his weight. The narrow St George street tourist promenade was packed with bodies, heaving, sweating, lumbering forward to the next Sweet Shoppe or Fudge Palace. Watching the parade of excess, middle America, he felt bad about his cruel judgments, and about himself for entertaining them. A lanky high school boy with severe acne offered a sampler plate of thin crust Pepperoni pizza, small squares. just outside the door of Pizzalley's. Only two pieces, mostly crust, were left. The Eagles, “Take It Easy”, drifted in and out above the buzz of the crowd, from the restaurant courtyard two doors down. A triumph of the singers will over his appalling lack of ability. Don't quit your day job, pal. Looking down to the far end of the pedestrian street, bodies became indistinct, blending into a sea of color, heat snakes rising above, heads bobbing like peaked waves, breaking just beyond the horizon.

Looking to the left, he saw her coming, hugging the wall on his side, gliding smoothly, faster than the crowd she was avoiding, as if it were a living thing, separate and unpleasant, which it was. She almost brushed him without notice. He was no more than a lamp post or another round trash receptacle, made of coquina to match the wall he supported. The slight breeze of her passing carried a hint of Lavender mixed with Ivory soap. A black tank top clutched small breasts, half oranges with nipples that apparently thought it was cold in that summer heat, held aloft by the Gods who vied for the honor to do so. Washboard abs spoke of beach time, ripping under a flawless tan. A perfect derriere, painted black in yoga pants, her second skin. She could crack walnuts, equipped with a vise disguised as a cherry tomato. He watched her go, a waterfall of shimmering russet flowing down her back, until she too was lost to the rise and fall of that human sea.

Shifting his weight, he closed his eyes, welcoming the cool dark as he put the chaos on pause, clearing his mind of everything...except for her.