Attention Pay
Sometimes it’s heartbreaking, how much we can lose. Of course, that’s when you can look more clearly at what’s left. Might as well see it in the present tense and let thoughts run together, as they’ve been known to do. I hold a certain affection for Jimmy, and though he’s entirely fictional, I liked spending this time with him.
A smart young man who knows the words but struggles to pay attention sits on his boardwalk bench, salty sea breeze swirling around him, the ice cream of his sugar-cone melting in the warm Florida sunlight.
And he cries.
His routine etching deep grooves through simple days, Jimmy has learned to find near-contentment in the markers of predictable moments reliably reminding him what must come next. A beeping alarm always means bedspread toilet shower
