They heard noises…train blowin’ through town…an alley cat screechin’…a john and a whore conductin’ business underneath an opened window on a hot Summer night…trucks passin’ by…far-off distant sounds of police cars racin’ to the scene of a crime…

He sat up in bed smokin’ a cigarette while her naked body lay next to him…there was silence between ’em…he didn’t know what to say…she was never any good at talkin’ ….therefore they just decided to be…two people at five in the mornin’…wide awake…he blew off dust on the nightstand…

She turned over and placed her arm upon his torso…started kissin’ his fat rib cage…small kisses…just lips to skin…blue stretch marks hung over her forehead…he patted her shoulder…put the cigarette out and turned towards her…this skinny blonde he’d been sleepin’ with for years…looked into her green eyes…and turned off the lamp with the other hand as he kissed her fully on the mouth…her lips tasted like cough drops…she liked to suck on cherry flavored medicine through out the day and into the night…always suckin’ on lozenges…started when she quit smokin’ years ago…but…she loved tastin’ the tobacco on his breath…

And outside the alley cat kept screechin’…the whore demanded more money…and the sounds of sirens got closer and closer…she turned over again with her back to his flabby chest…he held her in his arms…one with a tattoo that said JANEY on it inside a green heart…faded from the years…or maybe it was always that way…

They held each other tightly as they fell asleep with the sun just peakin’ through the gray cloudy sky…

It was just another night…