silver ornaments

i was starting to take a shower in th sanatoga roller rink. other men and some women also came in for showers. although all naked, we all more or less ignored each other

i saw patty enter with some other people, clothed. i turned around hoping she would not recognize me. i wasn’t particularly embarrassed, but just knew that i was not in any shape to see her right now. i wondered if she would recognize my hair

i felt a pointed jab in my back. i looked without turning around. she was here reprimanding me sharply for being naked in a public place where other naked people were mixed. i defended myself softly

i followed her to her house, like ray’s nursery in tennessee perhaps. she had not meant an all-out attack on me. if she had really been upset with my actions, she wouldn’t have even bothered, but would have just treated me like poison. she had hoped we could come to an understanding

her father came up in an old volvo with special siver ornaments, beautiful. i said to th reb close at hand that she’d have to get our car fixed like that

th ornaments were broken off by chris and his friends. patty’s father took it to be fixed: he took two silver bars and with his thumbs pressed them together and sent them through something under th car that pulled th bars through where they came out molded together into one. th car mechanism was really just for th finishing touch, they said. patty said it showed her father’s strength, that with his bare hands he could seal two silver bars together

talking with d bowman and a friend of his. saw nancy singing off to th right with other people. i was impatient to get back to patty. there was some grand arrangement for settling things

in a narrow coatroom where many people were seated, i saw some shelves with a collection of corduroy-covered round boxes. i took note and thought of getting one for th reb