PARKER ZANE ALLEN

from Dating Tips from Gangland Massacre of the Heart

DUCKS

quack, quack, quack

She started talking to you, not really the other way around. You had been looking at her all night, stealing glances whenever they were close enough to you that you had to hardly make a gesture to pluck them from her. But she started talking to you.

There was that record, a meaningless song that you can’t listen to anymore. You never liked it but someone must’ve. A bit about string, a bit about the way you woke holding each other. It was the same way you fell asleep, lips almost touching. You kissed in the morning before opening your eyes. Your songbird lips, her slept in hair, you feel every note, your whole body sings.

Ducks, duck, lets feed the ducks, you told her, and it’s a nonsense thing and you can’t even buy apples right, they shake too much and you can’t imagine eating them. The mallards flutter their blue tail feathers as you feed them. Bread floats on water like tiny ships. Peoples cameras make noise, you pull leaves off a cherry tree and you’re in love. It’s a nonsense thing and the song never meant anything, but the thing is you left them open. You left them empty and they filled up with her.

She gave you a charm, a small box filled with petals. to keep in your pocket, to keep you safe. And when you left you held it halfway across the country and you muttered things to her in your sleep.