You grabbed me in the parking lot and wouldn’t let me go.  It hurt.  I’d been sure not to meet you alone.  It was that damn Kundera you were reading when we met, it clouded my judgment.

I’m participating in x365

Hmmm.  Another one that has to have more than 37 words.  I met Tom in
college, at the coffee shop where I used to study  He was reading The
Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is the only reason that I didn’t
have someplace else to be when he started talking to me.  Something
about him scared me.  Probably it was the fact that he looked like a
linebacker and was so strong.  He kept asking me out and I kept saying
no.  Finally I agreed to let him come meet me at a bar where I was
shooting pool after work with my friends (huh. total pang for childfree
days brought on by memory of playing pool in a dive bar. wtf?). 

I decided that I needed to get home, and he walked me outside.  He
tried to kiss me and I turned my head so he’d just get my cheek.  He
didn’t like that.  So, he started talking, telling me how much he liked
me, and backed me up into the car.  He put his arms around me and I
could. not. move.  I tried to get away, and he held me so tightly that
I was barely able to breathe.  I was so angry and not just at him.
Feeling helpless always makes me mad, and this was partly my fault.  I should have seen it coming.  It
was a really awful situation to be in, and I think about it at the
weirdest times.  I recall that sensation sometimes when I’m scared of
other things, how it felt to be completely trapped by someone bigger
and stronger.

He only let me go because there were other people around.  I know that.  I was finally able to twist out of his arms and I drove home, shaking.  I parked my car and then threw up in the driveway.  For the rest of my time at school, I avoided him.  I more than avoided him — I hid from him.  The worst part is that he was reading the book for a class.

You worked a lot of crossword puzzles.  I remember you describing your girlfriend’s breakfast one day while we had lunch;  something like oatmeal with wheat germ and molasses.  Food is fuel to her, you said totally dumbfounded.

I’m participating in x365

3

You took me on my first ever date: The Winchester Mystery House, your parents and younger siblings our chaperones.  Things were okay until that bit at the end where you told me how big my nose is.   

I’m participating in x365 and feeling really glad I kicked Tom to the curb.

You drove your ice cream truck down our street every summer afternoon.  You lost your arm above the elbow in World War Two.  Did you come home and find the gentlest job there is?  Did it help?

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There’s something right there, you said, your eyes on my lips.  Embarrassed, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve.  Your fingers touched my lips, I see.  It’s two magnets, you said, bringing your mouth to meet mine.

I’m participating in x365

We spent a couple of semesters hanging out together at SFSU, comfortable, good friends.  I think you lived in Napa?  Waited tables at Thomas Keller’s restaurant?  That sounds right.  I see you did become an attorney.  Congratulations!

I’m participating in x365

You gave me my favorite nickname: Genoise.  One time you got drunk at a bar downtown and pretended to be a dog, chasing cars down the street.  Much later I went to your Police Academy graduation party. 

Brought to you by the letter G and the number 365

True, you had that cliché obscenely wealthy thing going on (the red Ferrari, the clothes, the gorgeous girlfriends) but I thought you were okay anyway.  I believed you were secretly down to earth underneath all that money.

I’m participating in x365

Coke-bottle glasses, skinny, jittery, fried.  You made me a necklace and gave me a tank top that said Skateboarding Is Not A Crime.  You wrote me poems that would have left David Lynch scratching his head. 

I’m participating in x365

Jenifer! Come Here, I Need You, you shrieked from the back of the store. I discovered you, holding a broom, and expecting me to hold the dustpan.  I already thought you were horrible, that sealed the deal.

I’m participating in x365 and it’s daylight savings time adjustment so i didn’t exactly miss a day.