"Memory of a Kiss" by Scott Keene
Something Taboo and Daring from one of the exceptional writers of Long Beach Library Coffeehouse Writers Group. Scott Keene
Painting by Artist R. VanLanyenhove
There was a word for it - this feeling he had. He knew there was; there must be. But words eluded him. Not just today, but every day.
He turned on his side, his right side and changed his gaze from the ceiling to the wall. He stared at the wall for a while, wondered if the wall knew it was being stared at. Wondered, for a moment, if the wall were capable of staring back at him.
After a time, just how long he couldn't be sure; time had no meaning for him anymore; but after a few seconds or a few hours he felt himself begin to drift away, exactly as he had hoped he would. He was staring - still staring -
Long Beach, Photo Artist Juan Coronado
not at the wall exactly, but just staring in that direction. His eyes lost focus, began to see nothing and everything all at once.
An image began to take shape in his mind; a pattern he could almost have pulled from the wallpaper just beyond the focus of his gaze.
A shape much like the silhouette of a love, long lost. The memory flooded his consciousness and he let himself see the image ahead begin to take the shape of Ben; the strong jaw, the dark hair, the chestnut eyes. He could see them all very clearly now.
Why, he wondered, had it been so difficult to see Ben this clearly when Ben had been alive?
He smiled as the image of Ben leaned closer to his face. He could almost feel the weight of his body on the edge of the bed as Ben moved in for one last kiss.