It’d be four o’clock in the mornin’ and he’d be up…bangin’ ’round in the kitchen…makin’ coffee…lookin’ for a pan to fry eggs and bacon in…you’d hear the metal bein’ shuffled under the cabinets…pots tossed aside…he was so damn loud…tough to sleep when there’s that much racket goin’ on…she’d march down the hallway rubbin’ dust from her eyes…coverin’ herself with her thick red robe…little reindeer dancin’ ’round on it…

How’d you sleep…,he’d ask…she nodded her head and smiled…said somethin’ ’bout a dream she had…mumblin’ over the sound of bacon sizzlin’ and eggs poppin’…

You say somethin’…,he turned to her as he crossed the floor to place two pieces of bread in the toaster…,fried or scrambled this mornin’…,the man said…,you want fried or scrambled…,she motioned for him to stir ’em up as she sat at the table and lit a cigarette…,scrambled…I can do that…,he winked…

So…had this dream last night…the dishwater blonde said…,bout her…it was ’bout her…,he poured the mixed eggs into the pan and looked at her…went back to lookin’ in the pan…

She was with us…right here in this house…just like she used to be when she was a kid…’fore she became a teen…,the woman drew in smoke and blew it back out…,she was playin’ with her dolls in the livin’ room…little shit…just playin’ with her dolls…,he got down a plate and scraped the yellow eggs onto it while she got up and walked over to the toaster…,hadn’t had a dream ’bout her in a long time…it’s been a long time…,he shook his head…sat down at the table…poured cream in his coffee turnin’ it almost white…

Honey…she left us…she left us…she’s gone…

I still dream ’bout her…every once in a blue moon…

Been years…

I know…

She made a choice…

Don’t say that…

God knows what happened to her…

Stop…just stop…would ya just stop…

And they sat there in silence eatin’ their eggs and bacon…not a word was said…just silence…he stared down at his plate and she at her’s…outside the mornin’ paper made a thud against the screen door…an alley-cat whimpered…these mornin’s…these mornin’s…