I love my best friend, Angie Girl!!

Thank you for always being there!! 

Asphalt Friends

My Filipino friend said she was a princess in her country. She waved in parades and taught me to see heaven in the landscape. She was a spirit caged, the kind

Tiara, smiling. We took Daddy’s Mercury, but the gas ran out in the street. We pushed it back in the drive. Our other friend came by and she

smoked cigarettes. “She is a bad seed,” Mom said. My Filipino friend said, “Caca and gross.” We took  the Mercury again, gas was good this time, music up, neighbors watched holding garden hoses as we

rolled by. The police called when were out past 12:05 curfew and left a message. We tried to erase it, but I couldn’t remember the code. I had to give an explanation, but all Daddy said was, “I thought it was something

worse, thank heaven.” When the boy died, underneath the boat, we were on spring vacation. He was a few years older than us. “He was the man,” we said when they mailed the eulogy to my   

address. I met Daddy on the front porch, underneath my basketball hoop next to the Mercury sobbing, “He’s gone, my friend.” The monsoon rolled in with sour orange. The dove sensed something and came running because she knew death already. In Manilla they said, “Come little one, get on the ship. Your

father is dead from fishing in the storm.” We met on the asphalt street in the bright sun, she knew inside that we would be friends. I learned the baby had scars from the pineapple trees she climbed. She was only eight when she heard chimes that scared off

ghosts. The bad seed said, “new kid,” but I saw a sweeter version of myself. The older kids always got me in trouble and driving around the block in the Mercury was safer fun than

nosebleeds. We kept our shoes off and played basketball. No one wanted to admit that we wondered where God was when the boy soared above. We looked at stars on blankets and hugged knees to

chests. That was the night I found a friend inside. Looking at heaven I figured, I might as well grow up. The air was warm coming off the blacktop, the palm trees swayed back and forth and if felt like freedom.

                                                                                    (homecoming pic for fun to tease the boys with back then)