Nash

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it. In fact, I blinked once just to make sure. Yep, there she was, running down the street with nothin’, and I mean nothin’, on. Every single roll of fat we had tried not to imagine was running down that street. And after she was out of sight, I walked down to the front lawn and watched her go. She turned right onto Daisy Avenue and to tell you the truth, I couldn’t blame her one bit. ### “Well,” I thought, “I might as well go see Jim Jim.” ### So I got walking and with every step I took I was more and more sure of what I was gonna find. So that by the time I had my hand on Jim Jim’s door knob, not even God himself could have convinced me otherwise. He’d been talking about it for years. About how all he ever wanted was one of those microwaves. And one day when he saved enough, he was gonna get one. Penny was scared shitless of ‘em and I can’t say that I blame her. Swore that if he ever did it though, she’d leave him on the spot. ### So you could not have believed my surprise when I threw open the door. There was no microwave. There was no Jim Jim. Just a note on the table, held down by Jim Jim’s favorite thermos. His red Marlboro Thermos. He didn’t even smoke cigarettes but he loved that thermos. We found it out shootin’ one day, not a soul a sight. Tipped over on it’s side, with just enough dirt on it to prove it could be his. And I could see for Jim Jim it was love at first sight. So I just smiled and said, “It’s all yours.” ### I crept real slow over to the table and gently pulled out a chair. I sat down and lifted Jim Jim’s thermos. Full. I couldn’t believe it was full. And I don’t know why I did it, but before I even read the note, I unscrewed the top just to see what she’d put inside. Whiskey. Ol’ Jack Daniels on the rocks to be exact. Devil woman! ### I went home with more questions than I cared to have answers for. I burned Penny’s goodbyes. I drank Jim Jim’s whiskey and I hid that thermos underneath my sink. And to this day I tell Jim Jim it was the strangest thing, watching that woman running down the street with nothin’, and I mean nothin’, on, swingin’ his Marlboro Thermos with every stride.