dear_stranger whitechocolatewalrus you have a big problem mister 040628 ... Doar geez, it's that noticable? ... 040722 ... pete we walked about three blocks together, talking about the city. you are from out east, though have spent time in large american cities. you told me that you are going to california next. all you wanted was something to smoke. i had a joint in my hand which i had christened a bit too much, and it was no good. i was going to sell you one for five dollars, but as you had no money i gave you one for free. i really didn't want your money, it was more a test. could you afford to pay for a joint? since you couldnt and i was going to share one with you anyways, why would i charge you? brother, we are both of the same type, except you are a city wanderer, and i am a wanderer of the open spaces, the spaces between. i hope you made it to california all right, pete 040723 ... nonlucid I wonder who you are and what drives you and if you ever cry at night because nobody loves you I wonder if you're happy, if you like the person you're talking too loudly to on your cellphone on the bus with Do you ever wonder about strangers too? What would you do if they started talking to you instead of living in uncomfortable silence? What would I do? Are you just another person, or are you special too? Are you all special? Does it matter? 040723 ... nobody special i watched you move in with the couple next door ,and wonsered of your story. Quite afterbeing caught californian beauty. You all decked out in red capris white belt, and 3/4 sleeeve oxford..with wait.. yes ..matching Keds. You dropped your watermellon so I helped you carry it up 3 flights of stairs, noticing your amazing seapray eyes as you turned. Where did you come from my retro beauty? Why do you remind me so much of her. a glance here , a stretch there, (It's almost cruel) why are you her. I'm happy that you are. I fear I must tell about this couple, only I cannot/ willnot, they are not the best of people. Oh I fear for you little angel. I hope you are blood. Smile at me some more ,smile and let me carry you away from here - at least onto a dream 040724 ... three words i'd_die_for_you dear_stranger whats_in_a_kiss 060815 ... Soma We'd just gotten off the highway, on what?... exit number 3, I think, and were waiting at the stop light. It was fairly dark, spare for the orange light radiating from the street lights. I stared out the window, as I bit my tongue. I'd been crying, from the argument of course, and I was trying not to let her notice as the last tear trickled down my face.. "Never let your enemies see your weakness" kind of thing, I guess. But we both knew I'd been crying. The awkward silence in the car was getting to be unbearable. Two boys stepped out into the crosswalk in front of our car. I didn't really get a good look at them, mainly because I didn't care to, but they seemed maybe 15 or 16- both in jackets, heading who-knows-where. They must have been in a good mood, for they both waved at the car as they passed by. My mother waved back, and I- not feeling particulary happy- continued to stare out the window, kind of watching them as they passed. It's hard now, to remember what I was thinking at the time. I remember feeling like I couldn't do anything right, and felt that familiar pang of self-hatred, pity and disgust. No one liked me, I was sure of it. And I didn't see how anyone could. I thought myself fugly- inside and out. At that point, I was seriously considering the desperate escape options- suicide and the like. Life as I knew it hurt, and I was, and still am, a sissy for pain. So there they went, another pair of people I would never know, would never see again. A pair of strangers who could have been friends, if circumstances had somehow allowed. My eyes followed them, wondering about who they were, why they were here... I was wondering, "why did they bother to wave at strangers?" and here's what's important.. The boy, who followed a few steps behind the first, he turned around as he was almost at the other side of the street, and waved... at me. And he gave this great big smile, this smile that seemed to say "Hey, life isn't so bad" And I gave this shyandnervous "i-don't-think-you-understand, but-thanks-for-being-nice" smile back, as he turned back around and resumed following his friend. My mother snapped at me as the boys headed off. "Gosh, ------, you couldn't even wave back?" She sighed and shook her head disgustedly. But she didn't see me smile. And I didn't care anymore. I didn't worry about what she thought anymore. That wave, that smile- it just seemed to make things okay, if only for a short while. I wonder sometimes, about what I might have done if he hadn't waved twice. I really think I might have done something I would regret. I wish too, that I could tell him "thank you." "Thank you stranger, for your theraputic smile." Dear Stranger, I know you'll probably never read this, but there's that silly hope in me that maybe you, or your friends, would read it, recognize it, and realize that they did one of the greatest things anyone has ever bothered to do for me in my life. You cheered me up when I was down. It's been three years and that memory sticks sharp in my mind, a comforting thought when I'm in the dark. 060815 ... tessa when strangers are the most important people in our lives 060816 ... Pto strange_dearer 060816 ... leni i don't remember your name but i remember the night you poured me drinks and we talked about everything; your father's cancer, your mother's death, your faded dreams; i told you i didn't know where i was going, why i was going or who for; i remember you did magic on my hands, made ash flow through and appear on my palm, then showed me a game with a coin, a serviette and a cigarette; you lit my cigarettes too, and poured my drinks, and we talked all night, bottles lining the shelves behind you, solace in mutual loneliness; i felt our souls come out and meet in that night of that too-wet city, wanting only to share and echo, then separate and fold away, sleeping alone in cold rooms; i hope everything is well for you, stranger, i hope your father found peace, and though i know it would never be the same if we met again, i hope that night goes on forever, somewhere, lengthened, always, an endless bubble in time ... for that night we were not strange at all, and if we could meet like that in a long moment, surely all the world could meet and understand itself, some night, somehow. 060817 ... stork daddy well said 060818 what's it to you? who go blather from