The Magic is Dead

The magic has turned into something less.

it turns a left to look back and confess.

to unwind its mystery and tie my tongue.

to smoke and smash the mirrors that don’t reflect.

The magic rejects the facts far flung.

the memories, sharp edges of defects,

cold coffee and warm beer.

The magic regrets some illusions,

some misgiving misleading misappropriations.

The magic is alluding the point.

The magic has pulled its final act.

The clock ticks slower than my breath as the nurses crisscross in the hallway.

Midnight streetlights glow far below our hospital room.

Drug addled and weary my bride sleeps in the bed.

My son snores his first snores in the plastic bin crib.

I stare up at the ceiling from the narrow couch.

I’m trying to recall who I was before today.

I’m having trouble.

It seems irrelevant because it is.

Everything has become useless and trivial, save what’s in this room with me now.

The people in the parking lot are but extras, and the nurses.

A new movie has begun and my part for the rest of my life is clearly defined.

Julio

i guess now is as good a time as any to talk about Julio, my friend who passed away last week as the result of a car accident.  the funeral will be wednesday.   he and i met when we both worked at albertsons in lubbock.  he was just a part time grocery clerk, his full time job was prison guard.   i was full time - in charge of the frozen food.  quickly i learned that Julio and the grocery manager mike were friends.  in fact they were great friends.  mike and Julio met in high school.  they both went into the marines, did basic training together, and went to war together.  they were like brothers.  i always knew it was going to be a good day at work if Julio was there.  with mike and Julio together there was always more talking and story telling to be done than work.  eventually, i began to feel a part of the group.  i’ve never felt so privileged to be accepted, and i’ve never had more fun at a job.  the group was mike, Julio, kevin aka “coach”, jeremy, and myself.  we were the grocery department, and we specialized in having fun.

on more than one occasion, Julio would be upstairs in the men’s room and mike would say “check it out.  i’m gonna get him.” then mike would grab a can of the girliest smelling air freshener off the shelf (you know, the aerosol ones) and go running upstairs to the restroom door.  once there mike would take the top off the can and remove the little spray pointer leaving only the tip of the plastic straw.  mike would give it a good shake and barge into the bathroom.  with Julio helpless in the stall, mike smashed the can on the ground forcing the straw into the can thus releasing all of the foul petunia/orchid/vanilla musk in one unstoppable stream that sends the can skipping and rolling all over the floor.  i could only vaguely hear what Julio was screaming as mike came running out.  those were good times.

so yes, there were pranks played.  there were also:  impressions, eating contests, arguments, various versions of bowling, overnight shifts, near fatal safety violations, rumors of liquor consumption on Christmas Eve, contests to see who could chop the most ice out of the back of the freezer, “quick” trips to buy Texas Tech football tickets, breakfast burritos, Freebird burritos with too many scoops of jalapenos on them, copious energy drinks, and laughs.  lots and lots of laughs.

He was only 27 years old, but he lived those 27 right from what I could tell.  He did right by his friends, his family, and his country.

I completely forgot to mention all the times we played golf and watched football together as a group.  Those are the times I will never ever be able to forget.

It’s Regular Tea

When and why did regular iced tea become “Unsweet” iced tea?  It didn’t used to be this way, at least not here.  I go to a restaurant and I say “I’ll have iced tea.”  And they ask “Sweet or Unsweet?”.  I always say “Regular tea”.  And they always say “Unsweet tea then”.  Like there’s no such thing as regular tea!  And it’s always with a sense of “You should call it Unsweet because that’s what I just called it”.  Well you know what, I’ll call it what it is and nothing else!  Not that long ago there was no “Sweet” tea.  You ordered tea, and you got tea - REGULAR tea.  If you wanted it sweet guess what, you sweetened it yourself.  I guess that became too big a hassle for some people.  I’d like to meet the lazy jerk who stood up and said, “Hey! I’m tired of pouring sugar into my drink and stirring it myself.  My wrist is getting tired!  Can’t you just sweeten it for me? Waah wah wah (tear)” Gasoline is called “Unleaded” because they took the lead out.  “Unsweet” tea would mean you took the sweet out of the tea.  I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of tea that comes naturally sweetened.  You know why, because there isn’t one.  That’s why there is Sweet Tea and just plain Tea.  There is no such thing as “Unsweet” tea.

The Drive Thru Lane

The Drive Thru Lane Where I live there’s a very popular fast food shop called Rosa’s.  They serve decent and overpriced food of Hispanic origin.  I don’t care for it since you can find a half dozen sit down Mexican restaurants with better food for the same scratch.  In spite of all of that, I found myself in the drive through lane of said establishment this evening.  I mentioned that it’s popular.  The drive though line is always out into the parking lot.  The line of cars had a break in it.  I wasn’t sure at first why, but soon enough I realized each car was leaving a space so as not to block the flow of traffic in and out of the parking lot.  This was working splendidly.  Each car pulled up into the drive thru lane when there was room, and the 3-4 cars pulled up but not too far.  Then it was my turn.  And just as the line started to move up, a 2008 Chevy Tahoe pulls in front of me.  I honked and honked.  I had the window rolled down.  I held my hands up, extending my entire left arm and leaning my head out the window trying to see who in the hell had the nerve to cut in front of me and 4 other vehicles.  I can’t tell you how mad I was.  I thought about getting out and asking whoever was driving why. Why?  Only I couldn’t.  You never know who you’re going to meet like that.  And I don’t know if I could have kept it civil.  I could imagine the cops being called, and not caring about my grievance.  So I decided to do nothing.  I still have to wonder if they just didn’t see the line of cars? Did they think they shouldn’t have to get in the back of the line?  Were they retarded? Am I a sissy for not doing something more?  I did honk a couple of times while they were trying to order.  I hope that messed them up some.