she was shaking and talking louder and louder each sentence was sifted to a very fine powder her face was wet and tight her grip was cold and light a strong wind could blow you down i heard myself say word up sister a strong wind could take me away i said how long have you been at large they told me you were stashed last time i asked she said i ve been out now for all of three hours i just resurfaced and here you are i must admit that it has been hard so far i said skeletons are fine your closet or mine and we took turns recounting the details of lost time and when we had both admitted it all we threw our heads back and laughed until we cried we laughed because the world is absurd and beautiful and small there we were washed up on the curb as the rush hour traffic went out with the tide and i was aware that with every word spoken and shared i could see her shaking subside i said sister looks to me like you re going to be fine