Something About Lions

They sit in the street as the twilight fades, choking down their smokes as the memories linger in the back of their spines. They were not a king or queen of this broken down town , perhaps a joker and his jest at best. They had no gems but their arms laid scarred from the battles with life itself. They didn't know the world but they knew the people . They didn't know life but they knew that they were living. In the end they figured that best. Wasn't that enough? She sits taking a drag, " were fine as long as you don't love me ", she mutters as she blows the smoke from her nose. She was always full of smoke , could haze your eyes for miles. He leans on the guard rail beneath the street lamp flicking the but over the edge of the rail * " As long as you don't love me first.." * He was always throwing things away ,could never keep it together long enough to build anything of value.

 

it was always innocent beginnings like that that led to the worst of endings, but like everyone else heading out on the ride to defy god himself they rode . They were not advocates for good will and hope and pure hearted love as they suffocated the streets with their preaching of life and uncertainty. They spoke of the lions in the lambs and as they stood on those tall wooden boxes they heartily proclaimed, " We are Lions!" dressed in their gaudy chained mess of a excuse for attire.  Self proclaimed lions will never know a true lion in front of their eyes, after all that is why a lion is a lion and not some feeble cub stirring up the dust.  A lion knows the world in a sense of waiting, a lion knows the time it takes , and the power needed to drag down it's prey. A lion is not self righteous but intuitive to the functions and the movements of it's surroundings,  never announcing it self with haste.

 

A few years pass and living life in haste has led the cubs though Lions. A nasty divorce on one side, unpaid child support on the other , but now they stand face to face at the same place where they last met. They are dressed to please no longer wearing their rock and roll freedom fighter assemble, tresses cut in modern conservative fashions. She doesn't smoke anymore , it's bad for the baby so instead she sips gingerly at a bottle of coke, but some habits don't change as it's still spiked with a little bit a jack, her own dirty little secret. He no longer uses cigarettes but he holds a well fashioned cigar, macanudo by trade, a working man complete with a pin stripe navy tie. The wife has chased him out of the house again , he now has a new scar to be on his face, but it's not from the world, it's from the china plate that was hurled at his face as he was told to leave quickly. She looked up with a tired gaze * "So you sure you don't love me..?" *she asked , after seven years of passing by with out a single look at his face . He blows a ring of fluttery smoke and looks to her face and the dry cracking hands, ruined by the often use of dish soap. " Nope " *. He was no longer a man of many words, words got him back in his house but they also got him thrown out in a equal amount of time . " Then your blinder then i thought " . She leaned against the guard rail and took a bigger swig from the bottle giving the hint that it was something more then soda . "You told me not to and i listened". He was confused , brow raised and ears opening to better listening ."I wanted you to love me , i wanted you to try harder to make me love you, i wanted a us..not a this.." . She whispered looking to her shabby pink house shoes her oh so considerate new husband had bought . He scoffed and tossed his cigar, he was still keen on tossing thing, just like he had his recent wife, he hadn't been served , her served her on her birthday with those lovely papers, she was getting to mouthy in her age, far to stupid for his taste. " Should have said it then , I'm not a mind reader ..One b***h to the next , always thinking ill get it right , your all disillusioned and can never say what you want, i'm done with this s**t.." . He pulled on the coat he had draped on his shoulder and walked away down the dim lit street. It was a grimier place then it used to be but slime comes with age and just like them this places had gotten older. Just like them the world had gotten older and though it had faded nothing had been forgotten. She goes home and forgets their talk, does some ironing like any good lady would. He goes home and sits in his chair, drinks some gin like any refined man would. Neither is heard and neither is understood, no wants are met and no needs are recognized. The tables of emotion are turned and yet just like the rising sun and the morning dew..all the tears are quickly sucked dry.

 

Sixty year pass and the next meeting is far from intentional , her bed next to his in the middle of the intensive care ward. They look each other , her mind waving in and out from the onset of all timers. She once knew him , she knows that much and on her good days she can even remember his name, but her mind is the least of her worries as the cancer is spreading faster everyday. He knows her face even when her hair is sprinkled with gray and despite their bitter parting words he finds her just a beautiful . The heart that led him to her is failing and any day could be his last.

 

A good Sunday comes and she finally speaks through the breathing apparatus that they have plastered on her face, "We were never lions were we Henry..". The sound is muffled but just loud enough for him to hear. The beeping of machines talking to one another fills the stagnant air as she takes a turn for the worst. "No i don't we were Gloria..".  He watches her at the lights flash furiously around her bed. He knows he will follow her soon but he's had a good life, the life they met in  and the life they would both leave behind but as they met that end they met it with strength, and for once they were almost Lions.

Reviews

[NA]

Not too bad at all, a couple of errors that can be found if you re-read it a few times with things like capital letters. Also remember an ellipsis "..." is always THREE dots, no more, no less, always three. Other than that it's a fine story, definitely check over it yourself though.