Nook

Keith Irwin

Rule number one: Everybody needs somebody.

Somehow it is that I am a bum on the street. I don’t know how this came to be. So this rich guy picks me up and takes me to go eat. This makes me happy because I’m really hungry, right? So, we get there and it’s a really fancy resturaunt. Tremendously posh, right? The maitre d’ looks at me funny, but I don’t sweat it too hard. We get seated and I am just anticipating like crazy. The waiter comes over to take our orders. I don’t remember specifically what I ordered, it was some sort of pasta or something like that. The guy orders the beef tenderloin. The waiter tells him that they’re all out. The guy is very disturbed by this. He asks to speak to the manager. So after a couple of minutes the manager comes over to our table and the guy starts like yelling at him. It was just freaky. I’m sitting here all hungry, I’d have been happy with just a salad or some bread or something and he’s yelling at the manager because they’re out of tenderloin. Unbelievable.

Rule number two: All you need is love.

I long to be longed for.
I laugh to laugh.
I yearn to be yearned for.
I cry to cry.
I need to be needed.
I live to live.
I desire to be desired.
I hug to hug.
I kiss to be kissed.
I make love to make love.
I want to be wanted.
I love to love.
I love to be loved.

Rule number three: Everybody has got their eye on somebody.

Water dripped off the roof more heavily than it did from the sky. The rain had fallen back to a light decending mist. He wanted to cry, but he knew that the tears would be too visible when he reentered the hall. The rain was somehow a releif, a partner whose eyes never showed contempt. His faced crinkled the way it does when he cries, almost spasmodically this time, but tears were not there. He could make out the buildings through the mist, but barely. Loneliness hung upon him like a cloth upon a casket. Someone else stepped out onto the cement. He straightened his face as best he could and turned to see who it was. He did not recognize them. The two girls wavered for a moment, unsure if they were interupting something, but stepping out into the night air after the pause. He turned back to looking away from them and back to his loneliness. After a little more he cleared his face as best he could and went back through the door from which he had come.

Rule number four: