20. the long distance telephone lights, that flashed from a suburb away
if there was one lie in particular that i really enjoyed, it was the one about the flashing lights in the telephone box, i didn't enjoy the one where you told me that you would leave her for me, or that one where you said that you loved me, now that was just silly, it was the one where you couldn't talk in the telephone box, the one where you couldn't tell me the truth, because you said that the lights were flashing & that you had no money left, indicating that the long distance phonecall was about to be cut off, i liked this one & the way that your voice sped up to accommodate the drama, particularly after you had told me that you were calling from the next suburb, well, you just insisted that the lights were flashing, even after i had started laughing, you just insisted on not being caught out, even though you had told the dumbest lie in the world, i must admit to enjoying the stupidity in you, & in particular this lie, & having an appreciation of the absurd, i was thinking, perhaps the flashing lights were extraterrestrial, or perhaps they were flashing red & blue, i should have asked what they were saying to you, out there in the dark on your own, & i had this thought that every time you rang from now on, that i wouldn't bother talking about you & me or you & her, that instead i would just focus on the flashing lights, the long distance telephone lights, that flashed from a suburb away, & i thought of the way this relationship would end up, that is, strictly by phone, & that each time you rang, i would ask about the flashing lights, until in the end, you simply became that weird unhappy man, that obscene phone caller that rings up now & again, to talk about the flashing lights, his lonely life |
