i parked between a yellow ford mustang and a powder blue vw
my familys apartment was directly across from the high school
i was a senior . i walked to the front door and was about to
put in the key when my neighbor opened her door . i turned
she was wearing a kind of red frilly thing . the sort of costume
playboy bunnies wore . shiny red with black around the edges
and her boobies were half out . she was thirty nine and i was
only seventeen
she smiled and said " hey i need your help . my teevee needs
to be moved . come on inside " i remember standing there
staring at her boobies . " what are you looking at ? " she said
" come on in they wont bite you ! "
i walked in . the drapes were closed and it smelled like bacon
had been fried . she closed the door and said " so what were
you looking at ? i know a big boy like you has seen a tit or two "
i wanted to say something but felt too shy . " whats wrong the
cats got the big boys tongue ? poor baby ! come on now
the teevee is back here "
we went down the hallway to a bedroom . her bedroom
" theres the teevee . i want it in the boys room . theirs is broken
willy and petey got into a fight and a glass of soda was knocked
over it . burned the damn thing right out and without a teevee
those boys are going to drive me right crazy "
i looked around the room . she had a huge bed . a pile of clothes
was on top of it and more were on the floor . on the wall
opposite the teevee was a painting of a black panther . a man
and woman are riding it . the painting is in red and black velvet
above a dresser crowded with nail polish perfume and stuff is a
poster of huey newton sitting in a wicked chair . she told me to
have a seat on the bed then walks to a door in the bedroom and
opens it . its a bathroom . " relax a moment i ' ll be right out "
she went in and closed the door . i heard water begin to run
on a bed pillow theres a magazine about cooking . i picked
it up and flicked through the pages . in the center theres a
picture of her . she is standing beside a kitchen table thats
overrun with cats . theres a title " cat . the other white meat "
on the next page theres a recipe
cat soup
2/3 cup olive oil 4 medium onions
6 large tomatoes 3 pounds lean cat meat
theres another one
cats with rice
4-1/2 quarts cat broth 8 cat legs and thighs
2 cups rinsed white rice
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
and one more
twice cooked cat
5 quarts water 2 pounds of cat meat
3 white onions 4 split heads of garlic
i turned back to the page with her and the table full of cats
and said to myself " so many cats and so few recipes "
just then the bathroom door opened . she came out wearing
only a towel around her waist and a smile