Standing
at the end of the pool table, the balls racked and ache1 looking for
somewhere to set down the template triangle, he says
Skunk: Toss for who breaks?
ache1 (not having
heard): What’s that?
Skunk (shrugging): Don’t
worry about it, it’d take too long anyway. Okay, we flip the coin
and
holding the cue between his knees, digs down into the narrow watch-pocket of
his Levi’s to retrieve the coin he knows is there, forgetting, and then the
moose head out and bright in his palm, remembering, and a quick cold ascends
each arm, his shoulders cohering in a single spasm.
ache1
(unaware, aware only of being outside whatever situation is occurring): Skunk?
What did you say there? Skunk?
He looks
back into her confusion; she smiles.
ache1:
Are you okay?
Skunk
(returning to the present tense): Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. You want me to break?
