Ain't No Sunshine...

The song melted into my ears. "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone... Only darkness every day..." I could only hope to focus on the wine glass in front of me. With each ripple of the beautiful white liquid I saw only her face. I'd only known her so briefly, I shouldn't have these feelings, I couldn't have these feelings... I haven't had these feelings in years. Yes, I was married but that thermometer read dead way before we even were married. We were blind mice in society's maze looking for cheese and yet finding only poison. See... I'm still jaded and bitter, so why these feelings? "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone... and this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away..." I was mad. I was sad. I was... lonely.

All I had at that moment was Vince, my piano man I've known for five or six years. I've seen Vince play in his apartment which used to be right above mine. I've seen Vince when he played at Gert's. I've seen him play at Jo D's and then the Bulldog. I now for the first time witness him in all his glory as a single man, in a place called Thomas on a dead Tuesday night. He's magnificent... he knows people, he knows life. The piano man has heard every story, every heartbreak, every failure... now he gets to hear mine. Poor guy, mine is a story of a boy with a heart too big and skin too thin to bear it. I try to not feel, to not want. It would be a shame to let all that I have to give in love go to waste. I'm more than I was and now as a man I'll be so much more. I'm scared. I'm lonely. I'm also stronger. For once I'm really me and that's what everyone is going to get. I have no idea why she won't call or text but it's a little unfair to not get an answer after a couple of invites. I just... really enjoyed being with her, more than anyone I've met in awhile.

"Anytime she goes away"

— Please visit my buddy Vince Cook at Thomas right next to KU Med by Spit Fire. Give him some money and then ask him to play No Handle Bars by the Flobots... It's great! Mention you know me and maybe after enough people mention me he'll add Nina Simone to the book.