MRS O'BRIEN AND I.

A YOUNG MAN AND A MARRIED WOMAN

Take a seat,
Mrs O'Brien said.

So I took a seat
next to her
and she said:
want a drinky?

Sure,
I said,
I'll have a beer.

So she called
the barkeep
and he came over
and she told him
the orders
and he went off
to get them.

I sat there
and could smell
her perfume
and it was stronger
than Hercules
and kind of made me
want to get
closer to her.

She had a red
sleeveless dress on
and her dark hair
was drawn up
into a bun
on the top,
and she had
thin wire earrings,
and her eyes
were gazing at me
as if she were trying
to see into my soul.

She took out
her lipstick
and made up her lips,
and I watched her
as I used to watch
my mother as a kid
and she applied
the lipstick to her lips
and made movements
with her lips together,
as my mother used to do.

She paused and said:
Odd isn't it
how we women
do this with out lips,
put on this stuff,
and drown ourselves
in perfume
(so that's what she did)
and why do we do it?

She smiled
and I swallowed,
I don't know why,
but I swallowed
and said:
Don't know,
but it makes you
look a hundred dollars.
The barkeep came
and brought the drinks.

I looked at mine
unsure whether
to take it or not.

She said:
you ever been to bed
with a woman before?

Only as a kid
with my mother,
I said.

She smiled:
I mean as a young man
with a woman?
She said.

No, I said,
not wanting
to pretend
as I may have done
to my friends
as guys boast
about these things.

Well aren't I
a lucky woman,
she said softly,
a virgin to break in.

I sipped my drink
unsure whether
I wanted to go ahead
and sin.