Rocks Against My Window
Outside his office, cool fortress in a boiling world, the crowd riots.
Rocks and bricks thud against the security glass, for now raising only
pricks of white. The glass will not hold forever.
The crowd riots outside and he goes back thirty years and thinks of
Hannah. Hannah from college, riding a late night manic wave like an
ecstatic surfer, tossing pebbles against his dorm window at three in the
morning. He never said no. He went to her, joined her strange fever, rode
shot-gun in it until she came down and could sleep. Hannah would hum to
herself as she finally drifted off in the early morning light.
One night he didn¹t go to her. The pebbles struck and on he slept.
Would going out that night and joining her have changed anything? A song
lyric has haunted him all these years. Rocks against my window / were signs
enough of love. He thought it was just Hannah, but it was the world itself
coming unglued.
White pricks and razor cuts cloud the glass. Like eyes before tears.
Hannah¹s mind before fever. O clouded world! The glass will not hold, it
never does.
He smoothes his Italian suit and breathes deeply. There is a fever out
there. Signs enough of loveŠ The fever outside is a contorted love:
ravenous, vengeful. Love all the same, he is sure. If only he could wrest
himself from this cool wide-eyed sleep; go to it; join it. Would it change
anything?
The rocks pound. The glass hums. It will not hold. It never does.
By Scott Doyle
Scott Doyle has been published in Night Train, Sotto Voce, New Madrid, 580 Split, and River Oak Review. His stories have been featured in the New Short Fiction Series, LA’s ‘live literary magazine.’ He reviews short story collections for The Short Review, and blogs at litscribbler.wordpress.com.
This story was inspired by the Jen Trynin song ‘Writing Notes’ (off the CD “Gun Shy, Trigger Happy)
© 2009, Metazen. All rights reserved.
Related posts:
[...] launched a number of stories on the energy of a song lyric, and just published one, ‘Rocks Against My Window,’ at the new online zine [...]
[...] World” (Sotto Voce), “Harold Digs His Way to China” (580 Split), and “Rocks Against My Window” (Metazen). Plus, I wrote three reviews of short story collections for The Short [...]