Now That You're Here

by Jennifer Tatroe

Did you know that the olive green jacket you had, the one with the black stripe down the side, is the most popular coat in all of Seattle? Or that a hundred feet in this city wear those same ratty deck shoes I despised on you? Today, in the market, I chased after a gray hat bobbing in the crowd in front of me, after a tawny-haired ghost, after a prickle on the back of my neck. Since you left, my life has become an endless series of double-takes. Now you’re laughing. You got a new jacket.

6S

Jennifer Tatroe loves Elvis, hates olives, and is currently ambivalent about pirates.