the men

ONE:
There was a carnival during the day, some kind of festivities and at night there is a movie shown on bleachers in a classroom of sorts. I am sitting next to a friend, getting sleepy and he puts his arm around me and I lean deep into his shoulder. His hand wanders down my arm to my waist. Don’t you have a girlfriend? I ask and he hesitates only for a moment, smiles a bit. We are whispering close enough that we can feel each other’s breath on our faces. Our kisses are short and stolen and disappointingly uncharged. When we get up, I realize my boss is sitting right behind me and am embarrassed.


TWO:
A villa at the end of a cobblestone road in the city where everything is enclosed by stone. Some combination of Italy and New Orleans, though I do not claim to know either well. I have been living there, with a group of girls and a hugh hefner type man-of-the-house. I have been practicing using feminine wiles to get my way.

THREE:
It is a Monday and I’m supposed to be at work, but am instead in a cabin room somewhere. Somehow it is already 6pm and I am instant messaging with my exboyfriend who I have not spoken to in years and whatever we are talking about it confusing me. He shows up with his new girlfriend and I am not entirely sure how he found me but he is there and he wants to make a stop action animated porn. It’s never been done before, he says and I cite things close – aeon flux and team America and they are not quite the level he wants to take it. he has suggestions, ideas and pretty soon we have enlisted dozens’ help in constructing the set and I am arguing about the way to do it, the size it ought to be and we are hammering into uneven wood to create a model as wide as the one in the beetlejuice attic.