A Brief Bash

Strange & Beautiful - Aqualung

She turned 18 today.

It's been two months since we had that brief conversation next to Esplanadian waters after drinking Horchata. And the light was from behind her, and there was over-priced, under-performing tea and a revealing smoke and a sparse distribution of sweaty people in plaid along marble seats.



We were Scrooges with our secrets and life stories because we were so keen not to cheat the other one of us of first reactions and live telecasts. So we were careful about saying things, so cautiously and consciously punctuating every other sentence with "I'll say more when we're together.".



Because it was important that we be together, like some kind of superstitious requirement for magic to happen. So that night, we cleared the air only enough for vague outlines of what is to come and left quite quietly with only a sketchy idea of the next time we were going to meet.



I miss her to extents so wide my arms would have to break off if you were to ask me to show you with my hands. But I wish her a happy birthday still, because that is what she deserves: happy and a birthday.



This one's for Linette Cheong, the shiny star that she is.