What We Offered as the World Collapsed
by Juliet Waller
My neighbor offered her couch for naps. She claimed that it had magical properties. Sixty minutes max, she said. I wondered why she didn’t say one hour. But I suppose that’s what you do if you measure your days in naps.
The Robertsons, two doors down, offered their shoulders. Mrs. Robertson had a bony shoulder, good for a short cry, the kind you apologize for. Mr. Robertson was proudly full of padding, his back rising up and spilling forward. His was for a good, long cry.
Jackson, age eight, offered to teach us how to slide into third base, his specialty. His sister, Lucy, age five, offered to teach us how to climb a door frame by pushing against it with your hands and feet. One of their mothers said, it’s all about resistance. And we laughed behind closed lips and nodded.
Eulala said we could sit on her porch. Surly Bob Janowitz said, for what? Sit for what? And Eulala, who is eighty-five, stared at him for a full fifteen seconds before saying, Bob Janowitz, have you ever sat on a porch with a friend? Have you ever said how are you? Fine, how are you? And then you both look at the road, at the kid on a bike riding on the sidewalk and thank goodness because there goes Sean who just got his license zooming down the street. Then you both nod because the sun will set soon, and the sky is just right? And Surly Bob just said, ok, Ms. Eulala, ok.
I offered cookies, freshly baked, as many as I could make until I ran out of sugar. My love offered to sing one song a night in our backyard, come on over. My heart leapt at that because his voice is always the perfect temperature and sometimes, I didn’t want to share but oh, what luck for others to hear.
The mail man came by and told us he may move into his mail truck and might park it on our street, if we didn’t mind. We said we didn’t but Claudia, always one for socialism, asked what he could offer, and he said, letters. I’ll write you letters.
Juliet Waller is a Seattle, Washington based writer and playwriting teacher. Her pieces have appeared in a variety of publications. You can find her work at julietwaller.com.