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I knew at any moment during lunch I could be pushed by the wind, or slip getting back up, and that would be that. I actually didn’t mind the thought. Joseph had taken everything and left me with just the keys to our apartment and the couch.
“The only reason I’m leaving you with anything…” Joseph began, “Is because me and Maggie are moving into a brand-spankin’-new apartment and she already has this big leather couch…” He spoke as though we hadn’t known each other for almost a decade, completely disregarding the hug we used to give each other everyday before work.
Joseph hadn’t always been a brute, but when we started fighting over everything from what to eat for dinner to what movie to watch, he changed. He developed a knack for screaming and throwing things against the wall, and I asked for a divorce because there was no-way I could afford buying new plates each week.
I took a quick bite of my sandwich, before I felt my cell phone buzz in my pocket. I placed the sandwich down on the tin-foil I was keeping in place with a soda can, and answered it. Joseph was on the other end, and to my surprise he said, “I’m coming up for two seconds… I forgot my DVD’s and Maggie and I are having a movie night tonight… Maggie’s out front now.” Joseph hung up and I looked down. I was almost thirty stories up, sitting off the roof ledge, and down below everyone and everything looked like dots.
They were all the exact same size, and I could barely even see what color they were as the dots crossed the street, stood parked beside the parking meters or disappeared into my lobby. I began to wonder which dot was Joseph, but I knew there was no-way to know. Joseph was likely already upstairs and I decided I’d keep eating. Because Joseph wouldn’t even say, “Hi…” If I saw him. He would just make a mess in the closet looking for the exact DVD he had in his mind, before storming out the front door.
My pocket began to buzz once again, and with my sandwich in one hand I picked up the phone.
“Hello…” I said, nervously. “I’m already out of that dump… And I’ve decided I want the apartment back… Maggie wants an art studio… It’s her new thing…” Joseph didn’t even bother to hear me and hung up. I took another bite of my sandwich and continued to watch the dots. They were moving like tiny ants in all directions, but when I saw one stationary in-front of my building I had a thought.
I pulled out the half-eaten tomato from inside my turkey sandwich, flung it and watched it float down towards the sidewalk. I didn’t know if it would pick up enough speed to crush Joseph, but I watched it move like a diving bird, flying towards its prey. Until it suddenly disappeared. And instead of calling Joseph and seeing if he didn’t answer, and it did in-fact kill him, I took the final bite of my sandwich.
The turkey was the same turkey I ate everyday, and it made me happy. There were little things in life I knew wouldn’t change, and store-brand turkey was one of them.
I wrapped up the tin-foil and put it and my empty soda-can in my sweatshirt pocket, before I looked back down. The dot I’d aimed at was gone, and there was simply the gray sidewalk. I turned around and delicately lifted myself up, before I headed to the elevator with my first smile in weeks, hoping the tomato at-least make a stain on Maggie’s windshield while Joseph put the DVDs in the trunk.
Twitter: @letsbamboobaby
