I'm Loving The Street

I'm Loving The Street – Bonnie Prince Billy(listen in new tab)

It is bright outside. The sun pushes through the window panes, bouncing off the walls, the chrome, the monitors of this and that machine. The room is a glare of yellow white; everything is the colour of wedding dresses in fading pictures.

K walks in slowly. His eyes adjust. He carries a pot of African violets cupped in both hands. They're unwrapped in the cheap pot they came in at the grocery store. The nurse told him this was Jenny’s room, but he’s still unsure. He knows he should have come to see her months ago and feels that he has only selfish excuses. He asks awkwardly: “Jenny?”

The familiar lilt, slightly dampened, answers from behind one of the drawn curtains. It ends in a cough: “K? Is that you?”

He draws back the white cloth. She lies on the bed, tilted up with her torso at an incline. Jenny looks drained, as if the tubes in her arm were taking a share more than they were giving. Her eyes are sunken, but still are bright with their customary mischief.

K: “Yeah, Jenny it’s me. I didn’t bring you a coffee. I wasn’t sure if they’d let you have any.”

Jenny: “Sweetheart, they won’t let me have anything. It’s a tragedy. But I must say, some of these young doctors could lay their healing hands upon me a mite more often.” She laughs, her chest heaving into a deep rattling cough.

K still holds the potted flowers, bearing it carefully so he doesn’t spill the soil: “You want me to fudge your chart a little so they do? What do you want to have?”

Jenny laughs, coughs again and waves at him to come closer. “Oh leave it be. I see you brought me flowers.”

K puts the pot on the bed stand next to get well cards and a few vases of lilies. The brown plastic pot looks squat and nervous, a little pathetic next to the tall elegant bouquets. K suddenly feels a little embarrassed for them. “Yeah, of course. Cut flowers are so, I don’t know, pessimistic. I guess, I thought you’d like these.”

Jenny: “I think they’re resplendent.”

K: “Plus, I’m sure you could find a handsome orderly to keep them watered.”

Jenny winks at him: “Heavens! I wouldn’t think of such a thing. I’m so glad you came. Tell me what’s happening in your life.”

K pulls an austerely padded chair closer to the bed and sits down. He puts a hand carefully on her shoulder. “So you heard about Shannon, I guess.”

Jenny: “From a few people. I’m so sorry for you dear.”

K: “Uh huh? Right. So, I’m going to tell you a story and you can tell me how much of it’s true.”

Jenny reaches up, slowly puts her hand on his. It’s thin now, her skin taught over her bones. “Honey, I’m not going anywhere.”

K: “Ok, so I met this girl at the Ulysses’s, right? ...”