I'll know you when I see you. I too need you like I need one good line. Just one good line could save my life as well, give me reason to be alive. You would tell me that I'm a writer and you would look at me in ways that I can't imagine, helping me to know that you were right, that I wasn't just some tired, discarded object in this world. Work with me here. I need the sound of Stan Getz's breathy horn. I need an open window with a white sheer, inviting us to move in time with the breeze. I need a smooth thigh and a bare shoulder and a look in your eye that makes me feel bolder. I need a hallelujah on a young tongue and the bewildered catch of a breath like a song unsung, a secret for the time being.

And as I'm thinking all of this we wet our fingers and draw absent-mindedly.

Bon courage,

Mr. Goosedown

. . .

copyright 2000, Linford Detweiler