Nothing's Wrong

he says,

“Nothing’s wrong, Sugar, so quit'yer fussing and git on back inside”

she wipes her split lower lip

picks up her Dr. Pepper and a half-eaten Snickers bar

straightens her short denim skirt

out of principle

then hitches it up high

to climb inside

_____

he sniggers to himself and licks his fingers

he has her exactly where he wants her

_____

she whispers,

“nothing’s nothing”

so low not even her ears

hear the truth of the moment

and the moment slips into the back seat of his tan ’65 Ford

_____

after,

she rolls down the window while he’s popping her

into first

as the radio crackles and pops

some old Hank Williams, Sr.

his bloody thumb smacking hard

against the steering wheel

_____

just up the road

just past the railroad tracks

he’ll cross the line again

and she’ll cross her fingers

this time

there won’t be any trouble

_____

and she fiddles with her buttons

and she shows a slice of thigh

and she speaks her mind

in solitude

when he pulls over to the side

near some tattered fence

or road sign

or even at some filling station

even though he knows for sure his face is plastered

_____

wasn’t always like this

with his fists white hot

and crackling dry

with her strawberry blonde hair as dirty as his language

and his appetites

but there came a day when praying

for a prayer to pave the way just didn’t cut it

and so she falls down

and she falls down

and she stays down

on her knees

until she can’t remember how it felt

to stand up

_____

he says,

“I wasn’t thinking—

wasn’t meaning any harm”

hell...

he loves his baby doll and would never hurt her

if she would just shut up

—just shut the fuck up—

then he could handle it okay

and they’d be happy

and she might never have to brush the dirt off another Snickers

_____

but Jack trickles down his throat

with a jigger full of Coke

and he finds the motel’s bed sheets to his liking

and he pins her on her stomach

and he tells her to shut up

and she’s a whore

and she’s damn stupid

because he said so

and he lets go

and he lets go

and he lets go

and he lets go

but he won't ever let her go

_____

and in the morning

he’s on his knees

with the TV cut on to Jimmy Swaggart

and he’s clutching a sweating bottle

barely even touched

unlike her purpling hips and her broken ribs

_____

and she answers

when he calls her

and she answers with his gun

and she speaks so loudly no one hears him praying

she says,

“Nothing’s wrong, Sugar, so quit'yer fussing”

strokes the strip of metal toward her breast

and counts to ten

_____

and now she’s headed for the border singing Elvis

_____

somewhere shy of old San Dusky

she’ll stop his rusty Ford and start to laugh

as she's tossing out the garbage:

three pristine Snickers wrappers

and a whiskey bottle

completely drained of substance

_____

she’s say,

“Nothing’s wrong, now, Sugar,”

and she pops her into first,

a dust trail kicking up the ghost she left behind her

_____

Copyright © 04/25/2001 by Christy Munson. All rights reserved.