0 4B - The Michigan Daily - Literary Magazine - Thursday, March 8, 2001 TAKIO Continued from Page 3B This was a shock to her friends and would have been a shock to Gavin's if he had any. She was of Italian-American blood, with wonderful tan skin and a nice physique. Her face seemed a little long and she had large eyes that drooped, making her look like an incredibly affectionate hound dog. She wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world, but she was intelligent and very hard working. She also thought Gavin was "to-die-for" cute, and an excellent writer. It was no surprise to the fam- ily when she said that they were going to get married. When hunter was born, they actually began to establish Gavin as part of the family. The doctors said that it was an aneurysm and there was absolutely nothing that anyone could have done to prevent it. One day after Fiona had tucked Hunter into bed she came into her bedroom and comlained of a headache to her husband. Convinced it was no more than the stress of being an over achiever, he got her a few aspirin and rubbed her temples for her. What did I ever do to deserve such a family, he thought falling asleep, unbeknownst that his wife would never wake up the next morning. Weaving in and out of the tombstones was no longer difficult for Gavin. He knew exactly where her plot was and he could get there in the dark or during the day, even with a blind- fold on. Many times he would stop by other gravesites just to say hello. Every once in a while he would bring flowers for young May Parker, she had died at only two months of age, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome. He would always say good day to Norman Osborne, an old man that had died of a heart attack during his ninety-fifth birthday party. Sometimes he would talk to him about sports, and other times he would just bring him a few of his old baseball cards. He never knew these people in life, but considered them his best friends in death. Rising up over a small hill, he crossed between two birch trees and came to rest twen- ty paces to the right of the smaller one. Gavin slowly sat down and let his head drop into his hands. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and let his shoulders heave. With one arm folded tightly across his chest, he draped the other around the gravestone. It was one of the only things that he could ever imagine lov- ing him back. Hunter walked in his house announcing his arrival with the slamming of the door and a loud shout. Walking past the living room and into the dining room, he glanced over the counter to see his father perched in front of his computer. "Hey Gavin, how was your day?" he boomed. "Okay," he said, a little startled at his son's powerful voice. "I think that we've almost got this book licked." "All right! My day just keeps getting better and better." He niade his way over to his father and gave him a rowdy bear hug. Hunter was the captain of the school's wrestling team that put his tiny high school on the map. They were known state-wide for their tradition, and he was the 178 pound state champion the year before as a '16-year-old sophomore. Gavin would never miss any of his meets and a few times went to watch Hunter practice during previous regional and state trials. Many times Hunter would find amusement in wrestling his father and making him say uncle, in order to let him go. "Hun-ter. Can't - breathe ..." Gavin choked out, his face draining of any color. Hunter dropped his father and patted him on the back as he took long gulps of air. "My aren't we happy?" Gavin said, a bright red color creeping up his neck to his face. "School was real uneventful." Hunter said, grinning. "Enough to where I was able to fin- ish all my homework in class." Gavin looked at his son, envying his cool composure and solid You only have one life, so choose your career wisely. When you become a Doctor of Chiropractic, you get lifestyle rewards plus the satisfaction from helping others to good health. You do it the natural way, with your own hands, not drugs or surgery. And, when it life. career. choice. comes to your chiropractic education, one name stands out. Palmer. palmer chiropractic. On the Palmer Chiropractic Web site you'll find out what it's like to be a chiropractor and how Palmer Chiropractic is leading "the good health revolution" in a surprising number of ways. Check it out today. www.palmer.edu strength. Every once in a while this tugged gently at the chords of jealousy. Only every once in a while, though. "So since I finished my homework I was wondering if I could go out with Melissa tonight? I know that it's a school night and I usually stay home but I would really like the chance to get to take her out to the movies instead." Gavin liked Melissa. He had met her once a few weeks ago at one of Hunter's preseason wrestling meets. She was pretty in a very plain type of way. She was short but muscular with thick legs and large breasts. She had a loud laugh, but she was so cute that no one ever got annoyed with it. Hunter and Melissa reminded Gavin of himself and his wife, during school. "No, no, no ... please go out." Gavin said, sitting back down. "Melissa is a great girl and you two need to spend more time with one another." "Thanks Gavin." Hunter smiled as he picked his father back up. Spinning him around Gavin felt the floor go out beneath him and in the wave of slight nausea, he laughed. Hunter sat at the edge of the cliff and threw another stone into the ravine below. Melissa was sitting with her back pressing against his, her head resting on the ridge made between his two shoulder blades. She blew the smoke of her cigarette into the air, looking up at the moon. "Hunter are you going to take me away with you?" "Now why would I ever want to cart your ass around, kiddo?" Hunter said throwing another rock. "Hey watch it bub." Melissa empha- sized this by lifting her head and thumping Hunter on the back. He laughed at this and even though he couldn't see her face, he saw her bottom lip inching forward pouting ever so slightly. "I guess it depends on if I decide to go anywhere." Hunter knew that his grades and his wrestling ability were good enough to take him to any college in the state, even the University of Pennsylvania,' in the Ivy- League. But Pennsylvania was a long way from home, someplace that he never really wanted to be. "What?" Melissa said, spinning around to face Hunter's back. "You would be insane not to go! You have the talent and the charisma to go any- where." "I know." Hunter said, no longer with Melissa. Instead, he was in the second grade and asking his mother what wresting was. He had heard a few boys in school talking about Terry "Hulk" Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage wrestling in a big match on tele- vision the upcoming weekend. His mother told him that it was a sport of endurance and pride that began back before Christ was born started by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Not really understanding, he told her what he had heard at school and his mother laughed out loud. She told him, "No Hunter those men are professional wrestlers, which really means actors. They are entertainers. Wrestlers are people like your grandfather, who really do battle like present-day gladiators." This left a riveting image in young Hunter's head, so when he found out that the community had a juniors wrestling club he begged his parents to let him join. They were delighted in Hunter's interest and signed him up immediately. For five years he wrestled See TAK0, Page 58 Despondent Winter sneaking And closing me in Hidden and protected No accumulation I thought you knew Alone at night Fan rolling, caked with ashen air The smell of a lit match Chemicals and wood Rushing upwards past my face Refrigerator vibrating cool cool cold There are birds in the trees Alone at night Knowing that you're safe, that I still have friends, That everything is good miles away, It's my kind of asceticism: Chosen Candlelight warm tonight Outside flakes and frost on glass No accumulation Scenes of us slow dancing More real than memory Don't vanish yet Stay with me - Sing Ray Charles' "You Don't Know Me" Between smiles and tears I thought you knew For the first time, like so many Other times, a confession to myself: I need to be alone I don't expect you to understand I need to be selfish sometimes Though I'm sorry, so sorry There are birds in the trees My tracks are in the forest I thought you knew These sounds of loneliness Interrupted bymy thoughts Fill the room translate Into languages you haven't yet learned I'm here, I will, I'm trying No accumulation The Michigan Daily - Literary Magazine Toms by Cirstyfer §er Under a Boiling Sky There was a ring around the moon tonigl perhaps hundreds or thousands of miles I imagined myself swimming back to you in that pink plastic dress . that shone in my picture frame that night before I thought of adding two plus two, like me and you in our five.by three wor So I reflected on this matter and beheld myself not to be so different from my fria the moon, surrounded completely by a ri like you want to do to me while wearing that pink plastic dress on this rooftop under the final boiling sky of Fall. Downriver Rain Tonight I'm enjoying the rain on February and courtesy of Philip Levine I've realized the simplicity of the smoke, created to hide my life as a dream. So, so what if romance is delivered in a coffee cup or a drunken beer? I've begun to fan the screen from my eyes in order to see the door as a way out to the prepubescent dawn too cold to be a sign of spring, too real to be sobering. I'm working my way back in through a that reads I feel like but I stay door with a white sign "No Bikes No Colors No Leathers: a hypocrite, for all of the above for one more "No Difference" because it's familiar and be( whether it's across the room or under he knows-as do I-the truth will be pouring all through the night.