excerpt from a work in progress: for David

Joe can’t take his eyes off Rebecca as she moves around his kitchen fixing what looks like a fruit salad. He didn’t know he had so much fruit here and then realizes that of course he didn’t, she brought it all. This is all new to him. He doesn’t think he’s ever had this much fruit at one time and he’s not sure his system can handle it. After all, it’s probably too healthy for him and who knows how his body will react. And then he thinks she is too healthy for him. It’s as if after being marooned on some lifeless planet, a rescue ship has arrived just at that moment when he not only has given up all hope of being rescued but might even be a little afraid of it. And she is that to him: both hope of a better life and fear of the consequences. His life, he realizes, was so much simpler when it only depended on whiskey.