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Valentine's Card from the Get-Well Bin
Tim Walker
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're feel- see the world. You told me about how you wanted
ing okay. It's been too long. I thought I'd never
hear from you again.
How long has it been? Three or four years
maybe? I don't know. But I remember the night I
met you. That night on Valentine's Day, a few
friends and I set sail for your school, your build-
ing, your school's party. We descended down those
narrow wooden steps to the dance floor. It was a
little dark and the floor wasn't occupied enough to
stop a cold breeze from passing through. So the
dance began. Then another gust of wind, a drunken
wind named Alli, swept me out into the middle of
the dance floor. She was extremely tall with ear-
length dark brown hair. And her eyes were glar-
ing ebony stones. "Dancing Queen" blared and
bounced off of every surface as she spun me into
an abyss. Then she drifted me along to meet her
best friend. You. Elizabeth. I still remember how
you look as well. Short with lighter hair and eyes
than Alli. You told me that if I messed with your
friend that you'd kill me. I Swore to you that I
WOUldn't. Then you laughed. Alli drifted off as
we talked. How it was coincidental that my birth-
day was the same as your father's. We talked about
our majors and what we wanted to do with our
lives. Then we danced. I proceeded to take center
court as your jester as I wiggled and bounced to
the music. Whatever made you laugh. Then Alli's
wind carried me away once more.
But enough about the dance. How are you
doing? I heard that you weren't doing so well be-
fore. I'm out of school now. Working. Trying to
make something of my life. I wish I could help
you.
But remember what we used to do all the
time? We used to lie in your bed all day on our
stomachs side by side. Calm waves of blankets,
pillows, and bed sheets flowed between us. Your
colored lights painted a blue and violet sky. We
talked. You reminded me about our first date how
I brought you a single rose and you asked me where
I picked it from. I told you about how I wanted to
to help the world. Help the people starving and
dying in the forgotten, web-laden comers. You also
told me how you wanted to vacuum the world of
all its dirt polluting the environment. And ho~
your experiences with teaching left you as int~xl-
cated as a fresh river of heroin in a junkie's vems.
But you couldn't teach anybody how cold
the water is. Nor could you change it. But if only
I knew that night, maybe I could've changed the
directions of Alli's winds. She swept me out onto
the floor once more. After drifting along to a couple
of songs, we harbored ourselves next to the win-
dows. She rested her hand on my arm.
Her beer-stenched breath drifted my way
as she asked, "Will you be my Valentine? I don't
have a Valentine."
I told her that I would.
Later on, the wind calmed down. I found
you again and we floated the floor for the last
dance. Then the party was over. AlIi picked up
her strength but my odyssey was over and I re-
fused to surrender to the wind.
"You can't go," she begged, "you're my Val-
entine. You can't go."
But I left.
I heard that AlIi's winds drifted fiercely out
into the cold oceans. The poisoned oceans. Her
winds collected black mists of other men, drugs,
the plague. Then I heard that the winds lost shape,
strength, then finally disappeared forever.
Whatever happened between you and I? I
suppose it was the passing of time that drifted our
continents apart. I heard about AlIi. Then I heard
about you. I heard about how you tried to take a
swig of the poisoned waters you wanted to clean
and chased it with a handful of tranquilizers. I
COUldn'thelp but think that this was my fault. How
was I supposed to know?
I wish that I could help you. And maybe I
can. I've seen the world now. I used to think that
if I carried the load, things would be alight. But
you can't measure the weight of the world with