DAYS OF EIGHT *************************** A rework and metaphor. ***************************** A few more kids had come in. They were standing in the hallway, either drinking or smoking, most doing both. He nodded at them all and went back into the pantry to grab some glass ashtrays, most of them chipped and all branded with the name of bars, taverns, and some gas stations from around town. Kennedy’s, Tom English’s, The Desert Lounge, The 1310, Doyle’s Cafe, and a few with names preceded by the words Stolen From. He figured out that the difference between a bar and a tavern was that taverns served food: boiled eggs, pig’s feet, chips, and late in the day, ham and cheese sandwiches. When they used to go for rides, back when his father had a car, they’d drive everywhere - to Jamaica Plain or Revere Beach and sometimes, if it was warm out, all the way to Nantasket Beach. But that was a long time ago and the more he thought about it, maybe they weren’t such great days after all. He remembered the arguing between his father and his mother and the long rides filled with either silence or screams, there never seemed to be an in between. What he did remember, with clarity, was the ashtrays some of the gas stations gave out. He remembered them because they were new and shiny and the glass was clear and bright. When he held them up to the light, they shimmered like diamonds and they were his to hold until they got home and were put to use. Soon, the glass would be blackened, stained from the snubbing of cigarettes and cheap cigars. Over time they would be chipped from being dropped and tossed into the sink and as with so many other things in their house, they would end up in the back of some junk drawer with other ashtrays that had once been bright and shiny. He could smell his father’s Camels, unfiltered and the matches, when he struck them against the edge of the book. He remembered the scent being the strongest when he was in the back seat of their car, a big, chrome-laden Ford with enough room in the back seat to play football.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:47:44 +0000