jacktellslies

The universe sends me mixed messages. I will be in Pittsburgh soon, and I will graduate in two months. Customers said nice things about me. I was tipped by a gentleman for whom I shucked oysters. I'd never been tipped for anything before. And I shucked oysters again for a beautiful woman. Her eyes and hair are dark. I think she has been with a different man every time I have seen her. I imagine that she is a courtesan, or at least skilled at convincing others to buy her oysters and strange fruits and good cheeses. She tipped me only with her beauty, but when I think of her, she presses her gentleman friend to give me something, and looks at him with disdain and turns away until he gives me more. I found a baby crab in one of the shells I pried open. It was tiny and soft and still moving. I kept the oyster and let the crab stay. I hope to find it alive when I get back tomorrow. You should know that JJ and I recently acknowledged one another as formidable opponents, and have come to respect, or more playfully disrespect, one another as a result. She was testing every cart in the store today, rolling them to the door , ensuring that the lock on the wheel did what it is meant to do when she pushed it past the threshold. I called her Sisyphus and threatened to throw things at her all day while she toiled. I threw banana bread at her mouth, and then I gave her a small and black thing I didn't quite recognize but that was in the place where a heart should have been in a soup cup, and a parasite I named for her, and I threw my glove, rubber, at her. She picked it up, accepting the challenge. There is a scene in Richard II in which everyone throws down their gauntlet at everyone else. One character must even borrow someone's glove so that he can return a third challenge to him. We only had one glove to spare, but that is secretly what happened. And I have good friends. I am in a bit of trouble, and Parker is helping me out of it, yet again. Sometimes I forget how good she is. But, there is that trouble. I am working more than I should. I am exhausted and my back is screaming, and I am so, so very poor. I will graduate soon, and things will get better, if they will not be solved. And I have a job, and I know when I will be paid next, even if I know that it will not be enough. I am not sure what sort of day today was, but it was long, and I want my bed more than I want anyone for whom I've ever opened an oyster. May this never be true again.