I watched Wuthering heights a lot when I broke my ankle. They were playing it

on the classic movie channel. My favorite scene from the movie is when Cathy tells Heathcliff she wants him to fill her arms with heather.” All that they can hold.” she tells him.

I finally go back to work after I can’t stand the boredom of microwaving pizza and

watching black and white movies. I was determined to have a life again. I still needed my crutches so I ‘had a neighbor drive me to work and I figured I could sweet talk the new guy at work to give me a ride home.

I work for a publicist. I basically surf the web for a few hours and then make some follow-up calls and after that it’s time to go home. There’s a guy that sits across from me that does the same thing, essentially. His name is Mark. I decide to be extra nice to Mark to see if he can give me a ride home from work.

“Mark, can I borrow a sticky note?”

His eyes light up like flying saucers. Mostly because I haven’t said a word to him the entire four months I’ve been working here. It’s not that I’m anti-social, there’s just never any need to.

“Sure Jordan, How many you need?”

“Just one.”

Mark hands me the note and I write down a name and web address that I don’t really need.

I watch him for a little while until I see him getting nervous.

“Mark.”

“Yes, Jordan.”

“Could you give me a ride home after work?”

He looks at me for a moment.

“Absolutely, “he says.

Mark helps me put my crutches in the back seat and opens the door of his 92 Chevy Cavalier and I immediately start to regret my decision. Mark drives like a wild-man.

He heads south on 99 and I remind him that I live in the opposite direction.

“I’m the captain tonight.” He nearly snarls.

My ankle hurts a little and I’m getting a bit tired of shenanigans already.

“Mark, I’m a little tired. “

“I want to show you something really cool.”

“It better not involve strippers or sex shops, “ I tell him.

We pull off the highway on to a gravel road.

“You hungry for snacks or need to pee?” I ask him.

“Neither,” Mark says, “I want to show you where I was abducted.”

I don’t know what to say. I don’t have experience with this sort of thing.

“Where you were, what?”” Where you were abducted, you mean by an alien

or by Mexican  drug lords?”

“Jordan,” he picks up my hands and starts to kiss it.

“Mark, you didn’t answer.”

“One of the reasons I like you is you are so open minded,” he says, “I know it’s a hard thing to wrap your mind around but I wanted to share it with you.”

I look at Mark and do a quick assessment. On the one hand he’s obviously crazy, or reads too much science fiction, maybe has Robert Heinlein books piled up on his kitchen counters. On the other hand, he’s crazy cute, has a steady job(I know where he works), and I haven’t had sex since before I broke my ankle.

“So, it happened here? “ I ask, “next to the highway?” I put my hand innocently in his lap.

“I ran out of gas that night.”  He says.

“I was sitting in my car waiting for roadside assistance and at some point I must have fallen asleep.”

“After that, the roadside assistance crew was knocking on my window, and I felt completely dazed, almost like I had been drugged.” “Then the dreams started.”

“That must have been awful, Heathcliff, uh, I mean Mark.”

Mark looks at me strangely but continues talking.

“I went to a counselor who suggested hypnotherapy and that’s when I started putting the pieces together.

I stroke Mark gently with the hand I already have in his lap and then unzip his pants.

“Tell me about it.” I say. “Don’t leave out any details.”

Marks eyes soften and he seems to be enjoying what I am doing.

“I remember being boarded on to an aircraft of some sort on a stretcher.” He says

I stroke him harder.

“I wake up surrounded by several females of a species I can’t identify.”

“They all take turns having sex with me and then they somehow return me to my car several hours later.”

Mark moans and I take off my underwear.

I straddle him inside his car right there on the side of the highway.

I guide him inside me and he is very excited and comes very quickly.

“They violated me,” he sobs.

I pull myself off of him and fall back into my seat.

“I’m sure it was all in the name of science,” I tell him. “I don’t think you should take it personally.”

I ask Mark if he has a cigarette but he says he would rather I not smoke in his car, because he is leasing it. He pulls back on to the highway heading towards my house. I wonder about what work will be like the next day, but then I decide I really hate my job so I ponder calling the boss to tell her my ankle isn’t really fully healed, that I was premature coming back to work so soon. Mark pulls up beside my house and I tell him goodbye. He doesn’t help me with the crutches this time. I limp into the house and plop onto my bed, searching the T.V. Guide for a Hitchcock movie. I light a cigarette and fluff my pillows.
Melanie BrowneCo-editor of Leaf Garden press http://melspoemsandsuch.blogspot.com/ http://leafgardenpress.com
Heaven is a Giant Pawn Shop/ Poems by Melanie Brownehttp://www.erbacce-press.com/#/melanie-browne/4533546014/