and more time together and finally Mitch had asked her to go to the show. She looked down at her watch again. The bus would arrive in five JAMIE minutes and Mitch still hadn’t come. She licked her lips over and over again. The corners of her mouth were beginning to crack, and she could taste the salt of her lips and feel the dry layer of skin which was beginning to peel off. She switched positions and leaned on her arm, while she looked up and down the street. She looked at her watch, then she raised her hand up to her mouth and began to nibble on her fingernail. The moisture in her mouth caused the nail to soften until she could peel it off. She brought her hand from her mouth to look at her watch again, took a few deep breaths, and yawned. Hearing a honk, Lisa quickly looked up to see what it was. She caught a glimpse of an arm waving frantically through the window in the back seat of a brown car cruising along Jackson. It was probably one of her schoolmates who would ask her at school the next day why she was standing on the corner by herself. The pavement was hot under her feet. She grabbed the pole with her left hand and swung half way around it. She searched the ground for some gravel to kick; and when she found it, she sent it hurling into the air. Plink. Plink. The sound was all around her as the gravel landed on the ground. She looked up and down the street and then at her watch. It was ten minutes after one. She swung quickly around the other half of the pole and looked down 18th Street. There it was. She watched as the bus moved slowly up the street. The sun caused a glare on the big front windows of the bus and in a matter of seconds it was directly in front of her. The front door opened and a large, fat man with a bald spot on the crown of his head, stepped down from the bus. He exhaled the smoke from the big, smelly cigar, and the air filled with a terrible, sickening odor. Lisa searched the windows for Mitch’s broad smile and big, blue eyes. She wished that he would be looking at her. The bus driver looked at her and with a faint smile on his thin lips. She shook her head. The driver closed the green, squeaky door and she watched as the bus pulled out in front of her. Lisa kicked the pole with her right foot and then with her left which caused a dead thud. Her sight was blurred, and then the tears began to roll down her cheeks. She turned toward home and started to run. She ran until she came to the fence that lined the school grounds. Panting heavily—a little from running, a little from crying—she slowed down to a walk. As she continued home, Lisa ran her fingers across the bars of the fence. They bounced up and down like fingers on piano keys, but the rhythm was unlike the tune on a piano. She moved her arm up and down as her fingers raced along the bars. After reaching the end of the fence, she stopped to rub her swollen eyes. When she blinked, the tears overflowed onto her cheeks. She wiped her dirty, moist hands down the front of her dress and continued on down the sidewalk, occasionally kicking a rock out of her way. HOW | think of you-~ Straight-black You When laughing A\n apricot morning... We walked Through The barefoot dew-soaked hilltop Blew grass. breeze your hair back from bx we watched Avn Indian You wore faded With your forehead the sun rise. Summer afternoon via 4 levis a Lhpee-cornered tear at the ines A\nd a grass stained T-shirt. We raked the maple leaves lin your back yard | nto mounds of muted red and yellow. os December night ite The warmth of your hand caressed mine A\s we tried to capture snow flakes On our tongues. Then, We saing "ingle with cold-red cheeks Bells’ in the park. | think of you-~ hair, laughing eyes. You arched one eyebrow in silent greeting The grassland sways as March winds blow. through fields of wheat and rye. Alone, the girl still waits When you strolled by. to see if birds fly straight to Peter’s Gate. Jo A\nne Vensen Sandy 14 eyes: in silent greeting you strolled by. Straight-black FAR? hair, arched one eyebrow Austin 15