Dark # 90 Claine Keily

It had never been
like this before
in the past
when the power failures were on
they had kissed forever

Now his eyes focussed on her
in the dark
as though she were
a distant object
so she tried to tell him
about her friends in America
or her days at primary school

But he got up
to walk to the telephone
in the other room
that was not ringing

So this is how it ends
she thought
side by side in the dark
dumb
on plastic fold out chairs

She could tell how
for a long time now
he had become practised
at nodding
at her more serious phrases
in between reading
the newspaper on his lap
while she wrote up a grocery list
and realised she was unable
to remember the last time
he had told her
she was beautiful