Bees + Things + Flowers, page 1
Bees + Things + Flowers
Microfictions
Ran Walker
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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© 2020 Randolph Walker, Jr.
Image used courtesy of Julian Myles
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 9781020001130 (Paperback)
ISBN: 9781020001208 (Ebook)
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First Edition
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www.45alternate.com
45 Alternate Press, LLC
Contents
Introduction
1. First Things First
2. Awareness
3. Lady Sol
4. Playa Playa
5. Yesternow
6. MF Doom
7. Journaling
8. Track 1
9. Analog
10. No Fear
11. Thick
12. Hum
13. Rain
14. Accentuated
15. Public Theater
16. Semantics
17. Red Light
18. Boomerang
19. Til the Cops Come Knockin’
20. Bathing
21. Songs of Toni
22. Muthafuckin’ Moment
23. Love & Brown Sugar
24. Hot Nights
25. Thin Line
26. Insecurities
27. Massage
28. Sketches
29. Jigsaw
30. Destiny, Part 1
31. Love & War
32. Make Believe
33. Zagat
34. Why Not
35. The Healer
36. In Her Absence
37. Thirsty
38. Palm
39. Earth Is Between Mars and Venus
40. Slow Wine
41. Miles
42. Heroes
43. Anniversary
44. Killing Me Softly
45. Common Denominator
46. Riding
47. August
48. Tomorrow
49. How Did We Get Here?
50. Pretty Petty
51. Distance, Part 1
52. Distance, Part 2
53. Distance, Part 3
54. Last Time
55. LaGuardia, Part 1
56. LaGuardia, Part 2
57. Mixtapes Are Forever
58. Destiny, Part 2
59. Searching
60. Forever Ever?
61. First Things First Redux
Acknowledgments
Also by Ran Walker
About the Author
Introduction
What you are about to read is an experiment, an experiment in telling stories for which I am traditionally recognized and remixing them with a storytelling structure that I have heartily embraced over the past year and a half: microfiction.
Honestly, as I have read and reread these pieces, these “stories” have oscillated between feeling like prose poetry and microfiction. I attempted to create a seamless narrative, while simultaneously paying close attention to the language and how the words work together within that space.
In the end, such distinctions may not matter, except for how they are categorized on bookshelves. Here, though, is an expression that I liken to a concept album, that extended musical work that seeks to tell a collective, cohesive story over the course of its individual songs, albums like Marvin Gaye’s I Want You and Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite.
I see the stories in Bees + Things + Flowers as working in concert with each other to tell a neo-soul “love” story. They are inspired by many different songs, the title itself coming from Roy Ayer’s legendary, genre-defining song.
It is my hope that you will enjoy this story, as well as the form that I used to tell it.
Ran Walker
April 4, 2020
You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.
Oscar Wilde
1
First Things First
“This is not a love story,” she said.
“Good. I’ve never been big on those,” he responded.
“But this still might hurt a little.”
“Well, then make it hurt good.”
2
Awareness
It was the silhouette that started it all. Up until that point, he’d never paid attention to her.
But the light caught her lithe frame at an angle that created an inescapable gravity.
When he returned home, he couldn’t stop softly humming her name, eager to touch himself.
3
Lady Sol
The second time he saw her was at a concert in Central Park. The sun seemed to be doing the most, kissing her skin and bathing her in this ethereal glow that made him want to shout, “Come on! For real?” All of this while Roy Ayers sang about the sunshine, bees, things, and flowers.
4
Playa Playa
He used their third meeting as an excuse to engage in a more endearing conversation. She welcomed his vibe—old school neo-soul, that it was.
Before long they were lying on the floor of his bedroom, smoking out, staring into the darkness of the ceiling, D’Angelo’s Voodoo playing softly in the background around them.
5
Yesternow
He had felt her lips before in a dream he’d had when he was sixteen. She’d been a figment of his imagination then.
Now, incarnate, she took his lips and gently tugged those memories into her waiting mouth.
6
MF Doom
None of his relationships in college had panned out, and he believed himself to be the blame.
But she didn’t know that.
Maybe he could reinvent himself to be the man he knew he could be. After all, it was only a mask if you chose to hide behind it.
7
Journaling
She read his words, her hair brushing the prose of his notebook, her voice plucking each syllable and puffing them into the space between them.
The pen and paper, kindling. Her voice, the flame that set them both ablaze.
8
Track 1
“Be careful what you play,” she whispered, as he turned on that first song. “This will be the soundtrack of our experience.”
Experience. What an interesting word, he thought. But he was at a loss to find a better one.
9
Analog
In the fall she’d head to some school in the midwest and he’d head down south to take a teaching job. But that was months away.
They remained oblivious to the sands sifting through the hour glass of their summer, content to avoid connecting on social media, choosing to keep their entire experience analog.
10
No Fear
She broached the subject first, a flex to show she wasn’t the scared type.
He was caught off guard, but his body responded to her wet whispers as they slid down onto his anticipation.
11
Thick
Accelerated, syncopated heartbeats.
The longing was too thick for them to play coy. They wanted each other: he her thickness, she his.
12
Hum
Late at night, as they whispered to each other over their phones, she would ask him to hum long and hard, then pretend she was holding the phone to her ear.
13
Rain
It rained the weekend she went out of town. Occasionally he anthropomorphized the droplets on his window pane, imagining the shapes of their bodies undulating beneath the spray of a shower they had yet to share.
14
Accentuated
“You’re so country!” she said, laughing and resting her hand on his chest.
He’d tried to bury his accent in the vernacular of the city, but she’d seen through him.
Now he was completely vulnerable, but that no longer seemed like such a bad thing.
15
Public Theater
The sweat of sex still drying beneath his shirt, he realized the truest satisfaction of her body came when her fingers interlocked with his as they walked the streets of her neighborhood.
16
Semantics
Joking, he said, “We have a New York love affair with an L.A. soundtrack.”
Nodding to Anderson .Paak, she smiled.
Later that night when she went home, the only part of his statement that continued to needle her was the “love affair” part.
17
Red Light
She remarked that the red bulb he’d bought for the lamp in his room was corny, but the more her eyes adjusted, the more she realized how wrong she was.
It also didn’t hurt that TLC’s “Red Light Special” played softly on repeat.
18
Boomerang
One night she appeared at his door, cloaked in a trench coat and heels. She wasn’t surprised when he answered the door wearing even less.
Til the Cops Come Knockin’
They didn’t remember who’d come up with the idea of them locking themselves in his apartment all Saturday, making love, only stopping to sleep and nibble on Friday’s leftovers.
On Sunday they awoke refreshed, had breakfast by the park, then kissed each other goodbye until Monday.
20
Bathing
The bathtub was too small to comfortably hold them both, but that didn’t stop them from trying. Water and bubbles sliding over the edge, extinguishing the tea candles, leaving them wet and alone in the dark, a feeling they were all too familiar with.
21
Songs of Toni
She would later admit to him that she’d fallen a bit harder for him because he had both versions of Song of Solomon on his bookshelf.
22
Muthafuckin’ Moment
Her body moved in time with the strings, her fingers plucking pizzicato softly over his body, her arcane words burning into his soul, one syllable at a time.
A melancholy overtook him, as he knew it could never be this good again.
23
Love & Brown Sugar
Hand-in-hand, they navigated the labyrinth of Basquiat’s mind, as Brooklyn hummed outside the gallery window.
They were a cliché of bougie Black love, but they couldn’t help it. Each secretly wanted to be the lead in a romantic comedy from the aughts.
24
Hot Nights
July was too hot. Even breathing made him sweat.
At night, he slept with the window opened, the sounds of the city pouring into his room, swirling above his head like a fan, cooling him.
But then he’d think of her….
25
Thin Line
It was small, slight, nearly imperceptible, but the shift had occurred.
As their bodies vibrated in the post-coital glow of orgasmic bliss, they had unknowingly crossed the line from having sex to making love.
26
Insecurities
One evening they stood entranced on the promenade, watching the sun set.
She wanted to ask him what would happen when the summer ended, but the moment was too perfect to fracture with her insecurities.
He struggled to suppress the words that bubbled in the back of his throat, the three words he felt too perfect to fracture with his insecurities.
27
Massage
“You were one of those guys in college who used the excuse of giving a massage as a chance to shoot your shot, huh?”
“Wow. You have a low opinion of me,” he said, laughing.
“I would have let you give me a massage,” she responded.
“Really?”
“See, I knew you were that type!”
They laughed, as he continued to knead the warm oil into the small of her back.
28
Sketches
She carried a sketch pad with her everywhere she went. Occasionally she’d find a bench, sit and draw the scenes of Fort Greene or Crown Heights or Park Slope or Bed-Stuy.
Before putting away her pencil, though, she would imagine him the way he appeared the last time she saw him and recreate that memory as best she could, unable to conceal her anticipation at seeing him again.
29
Jigsaw
She couldn’t tell how he was supposed to fit into the puzzle of her future. He was a splash of magenta contrasting against the achromatic tabs and blanks of her existence.
She wanted to ignore the future in favor of the present, blaming it on Zen, but every time their lips touched, she grew more and more afraid.
30
Destiny, Part 1
That they were both in the city on internships for the summer could have been viewed by some as a coincidence, but they chose to view it as destiny, like The Jacksons’ classic.
But, though neither would admit it then, they worried the albums that followed were better.
31
Love & War
It was a dare, that they could lie beside each other and not touch all night.
Each took turns trying to tempt the other: him humming in her ear, her singing softly in his.
He finally reached for his phone and played track three from their soundtrack (Janet Jackson’s “Anything”).
“That’s not fair,” she said, beginning to stir.
He smiled. “All is fair in—“
But she quickly placed her finger to his lips and replaced it with her tongue.
32
Make Believe
Neither were real New Yorkers, but they playfully bantered about whether Harlem (where he was staying) or Brooklyn (where she was staying) was the dopest spot. In the end, it hardly mattered, but for the moment they were cloaked in those costumes, so they decided to play the parts as they imagined such parts would be played.
