Mr. State Trooper

No, I wasn't recently stopped by a state trooper nor had a close call.  It's just that I've been fighting a cold, finally got an antibiotic, and got worse after taking it.  I think what I really have is the flu, and I don't feel good.  My dogs and I watched about twelve million episodes of Sex and the City today, barely budging from my couch.  I never just lie on the couch watching the tele, but man, I just am beat.  Ugh.

Anyway, I sat in front of my computer for a moment, and just wanted to hear something dark, ya' know?  I thought immediately, "Nebraska,"  Bruce Springsteen's 5-star murky, storytelling masterpiece, and I just needed to hear those sharp, echoing, howls of his...like calls in the inky darkness of endless, black highway.  Listened to it over and over again while I drew something.  It's been awhile.

I have been busy, and busy, and busy again, turning myself into a sliver, like a pencil pushed into an electric sharpener for too long, until all the wood has been shaved away and only a stub is left. Tired, baby.  I'm so grateful for the cold.  I'm ready to hibernate.

Bruce Springsteen - "State Trooper" from "Nebraska" (1982)

Day 185. A Ballerina and Her Stone Fruit Kiss

Jeffrey never intended to be at a ballet, but one of his clients had given him a ticket at the last moment.  With nothing else to do, he accepted this unasked for bestowal and settled into his seat.

On some level, he knew he remained in this rooted position, yet it felt as if his whole being was levitating upright when he first viewed the beautiful Russian creature dancing across the stage.  Just as the performance was about the intertwining of death and love within life itself, he simultaneously felt euphoric and green with sickness as he was thunderstruck by her beauty.  How could she contort herself into such complex positions?  Her partner disappeared from view, as if he did not even exist.  Jeffrey imagined sending her expensive gifts which she would accept with gratefulness and growing affection.

Even Fate, that most reticent participant in changing life's inevitable ebb and flow, took pity on the delusional chap.  He knew this gorgeous ballerina was completely out of Jeffrey's league.  Fate tried to blow cooling breezes onto the tangled, amorous emotions of the poor fellow, but alas, it was too late.  What Jeffrey thought was a gift from the universe, brought to him on the wings of a bird of happiness, was in truth, a torment that he would barely escape from with his life.

All that grief waited in front of him, however.  For now, he was completely naive to its unfolding.  Instead, he recalled when he had secretly watched every episode of "Sex and the City," and he specifically remembered the episode when Carrie Bradshaw went out with her Russian, Aleksandr Petrovsky* (Mikhail Baryshnikov).  Aleksandr told her of his country's tradition of sweetening tea with black cherries.  Later that night when their lips first met, Carrie said their kiss tasted like them...would his Russian's sweet lips also taste like purple stone fruit?  He couldn't wait to find out.

*Season 6, Episode 12, September 14, 2003 "ONE"  Nothing available of this fantastic episode on YouTube.  you'll have to watch the one and only Mikhail Baryshnikov by buying on amazon.com if you don't already have it.