I went to visit you in the hospital, but you weren't there. The hospital had burned down many years before, one of the doctors told me. How do you argue with that? I didn't. I left and ended up in this neighborhood.
It is painted in bright coral colors: blues, greens, and soft pinks. The lawns are perfect and children are playing on the front lawns dodging streams of water from sprinklers, skipping rope, and running.
The ice cream man comes to pick me up. He is nude, no taller than three feet, with an enormous round head and eyes the size of my fists. His pupils are black. His penis is almost nonexistent. I get into the truck next to him and, happy to see him, I kiss his head and lick his ear. It tastes like sweat and blood. The children continue to play in front of the bright houses as I sit back in the passenger's seat and we begin to make our rounds.
