LISETTE GARCÍA is Justice's mom, a library page and La Fictionista.  Her work also appears at a library near you! Contact Lisette at:  ligarcia@yahoo.com.

                                                          depression glass


Celebrating his return, she gifted her rarely there (if ever) lover with a crystal flask of tears she'd shed and collected, Moses-style, during his year-long sojourn over the earth.  The prized and properly authenticated Czech decanter (nothing less suited the prodigal paramour) was, naturally, also unleaded, for purity's sake.

In reply, he didn't kiss her; he didn't embrace her; struck dumb, the sap didn't even think enough of her long-suffering to pocket the tribute.  Instead, he forgot the token, leaving it on the very cliff where she had presented it, the same precipice down which she would later drop from among the living to join the inexhaustible ranks of perpetually dying waves, the exact edge to which he now returns annually: expressing vain regret by weeping -- no, sobbing -- for what could've been if not for an unhappy stutter.

This is to say: Late's not always better than never.

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© 2003 Lisette García