It felt good. I have been struggling with this book for so long that it's refreshing to have a streak where writing is effortless. I had a day of flow.
Here is an excerpt of my story:
Josh and Penny sat down with their beverages. “I hear you play violin,” Josh said, falling into the typical conversation gambit.
“Yes, I do. At the conservatory. In the Baroque Symphony and a string quartet. I’m second chair.”
“I like baroque,” Josh said awkwardly. “It helps me relax.”
“Your mother says you’re an instructor at a college. Tell me about it,” she countered, sounding equally awkward.
“Yes, I am. I teach English composition. I also write — mostly poetry.” I won’t show you what I write, Josh thought, because it’s all about Jeanne. He had written some of his best poetry about Jeanne.
“Have you been published?” Penny asked as she dug her phone out of her purse.
“Yes, a few places. It’s part of what you have to do as a faculty member — at least once you’re a professor.”
Penny pulled up a picture on her phone of a tall woman with a spare body and sharp cheekbones, wearing black and white concert dress. “This is my girlfriend, Natalie.” Natalie’s hair was short and spiked, and she held a clarinet.
Josh looked again — the woman was compelling — until the words registered to him: “Girlfriend?” He felt an unholy glee that his mother's plans were foiled.
“I hope that doesn’t bother you. I tried to tell your mother, but — “
“Nobody tells my mother anything she doesn’t want to hear,” Josh sympathized. “Besides,” he pulled his own phone out, “I just broke up with the love of my life.” He pulled up a picture of Jeanne sitting in the cafe in a purple sweater that brought out all her color.
“She’s beautiful,” Penny said. “Why did you break up?”
“Because she thinks I’m too young. She says I have my whole life ahead of me.” Josh closed his eyes because he didn’t trust them not to leak tears.
“How much older is she?” Penny picked up the phone and studied it more carefully.
“She’s twenty years older. But that didn’t matter to me. I never felt like I was that much younger, because — I don’t know. I feel like I went from too young for my contemporaries to too old for them overnight. And he knew which night — the night he saw a tree struck by lightning as he stood out in a park after midnight. And Jeanne understood — or tried to, anyway; Josh wasn’t sure anyone could truly understand his visions without experiencing them.
“Natalie is seventeen years older than me. Look,” and Penny showed him another picture of Natalie, a close-up picture of a woman who certainly looked about forty. “I’m not sure it’s as big a thing for lesbians.”
“So tell me about her,” Penny coaxed.
“We’re broken up,” Josh said miserably. “But she’s a professor of plant biology, and she designs gardens for people with trees and berry bushes and all sorts of edible things, nestled in their backyards. She has a voice that carries effortlessly. She’s got a dry sense of humor, and she’s passionate about things, and she — I’m not used to being at a loss for words,” Josh finished. He looked at his hands.
“It’s a bummer when you break up with someone, isn’t it?” Penny said, and got him another cup of tea.
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