all too bright, and the rain seems
all too loud, like the thunder of
soldiers running across a field to
war, swept with the drunken feeling
of patriotism, charging toward their
unknown enemy. And so it happened
that night, the lights got brighter,
the car started to spin, and then
she started to dream.
And she sees herself at the
end of the church, the bridesmaids
have just walked down the
aisle, the music changes for her.
She feels swept with the euphoria
of love, and she begins to walk,
but she falls, the bouquet falling
from her hand. And in slow motion,
white roses and lilies
scatter along the aisle. And she
looks up, and the groom is gone,
and the ground is the ashes
of the house they bought together
after they were married. She
sits up, and she’s at the desk at the
bank, trying to get the loan for the
house. His job is secure, we’re young,
nothing could go wrong. Good thing
he wore the blue tie to the bank, and
not the red one. And she sees herself
waking up from sleep, the oxygen
pipe still under her nose, her husband
there, tie in hand, asking if she’d like
to hold their baby. But she
could have sworn she heard the
baby stop crying. And she panics.
And then she wakes up, her head is bobbing,
but now she’s back, back at the
hospital, looking at the tubes running
out of her fiance’s arm.
Scars Publications and Design
in conjunction with Penny Dreadful Press
first edition
copyright @ 2004 Scars Publications and Design
827 Brian Court, Gurnee IL 60031-3155 USA
Editor@scars.tv
http://scars.tv
and assistance from Freedom & Strength Foundation, Troy Press, Hawthorne Press & Dried Roses Press
printed in the United States of America
writings @ 1979-2004 Janet Kuypers
book design @ 1998-2004 Scars Publications and DesignThis book, as a whole, is fiction, and no correlation should be made between events in the book and events in real life. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.Information about past books is available upon request through Scars Publications and Design. Materials from the literary magazines “Children, Churches and Daddies” and “Down in the Dirt” are available on line at http://scars.tv, as are .mp3 files, .ra files, .aif files, .au files, .wav files .mov and mpeg files of Kuypers, both reading her work and singing with three sets of musicians.Oeuvre is published through Scars Publications and Design, whose publisher is a member/minister through the Universal Life Church. Scars Publications and Design, the logo and associated graphics @ 1979 - 2004. All rights reserved. Kuypers and Scars Publications and Design welcome your comments, tips, compliments or complaints. Direct all comments and suggestions to the e-mail addresses listed above.The definition of oeuvre (the works of a writer, painter, or the like, taken as a whole) is from the Websters Unabridged 2001 Dictionary.