Blue Eyes

   We pulled in to a dusty roadhouse, not for a drink- we had too far to go before we could start that routine again- but we needed to get a break from the road: the sun and the heat and the monotonous farmland. All of it stultifying, the only breaks were the the gangs of other-worldly wind turbines which snaked their way across the landscape.

   It was a small place: decorated in beer signs and worn-out farm implements. There was a stage in the corner for the week-end bands. It was quiet; the bartender was restocking the bar and we were the only customers.

   "Two lemonades, thanks."

   The joint still had a jukebox; "Hey play something while I hit the can." she said. It was that quiet.

   The box held mostly country, or what passes for country nowadays, no Hank Williams, but I managed to find a dollar's worth of listenable tunes.

   As I sat down at a table in the corner the music started to play. The bartender brought our drinks. She came out of the ladies room. She had washed her face, but hadn't redone her makeup. Not much point in doing that, I guessed, not when you're going back out in the heat to a car without A/C.

   It had been too noisy to talk in the car and now as we drank our sours we exercised our right to remain silent. The last song started, it had an old Fred Rose lyric that I liked, it was the Willie Nelson version...

In the twilight glow I seen her
Blue eyes crying in the rain
When we kissed goodbye and parted
I knew we'd never meet again...

   "Shit."
   "What?"
   "You would have to play that song."
   We had only met the week before. We'd hit it off, as much as two people who have been through the routine more than twice are capable of doing. Love may be wonderful the second time around, but not the third. There weren't any illusions between us, but there were whole novels full of unread pages in each of our backstories.

Love is like a dying ember
And only memories remain
And through the ages I'll remember
Blue eyes crying in the rain...

   "Sorry, it's just something- nothing really, you couldn't have known."

   I tried not to gulp my lemonade.

Someday when we meet up yonder
We'll stroll hand in hand again
In the land that knows no parting
Blue eyes crying in the rain...

   As the song ended there were tears rimming her lower eyelids.

   "Let's get out of here... I'll drive."




Fiction