He sits by himself, at a cheap Italian place on Mulholland. Loud opera music, cheap bread, and Chianti in its little straw suit. After paying the bill, he finishes his decaf, and takes one of the Crayons from the glass jar, usually reserved for children. He never liked it here, but she did, and it’s been so long that he can’t retrieve her features with ease, but across the white paper tablecloth, he begins. A nose, her nose, a neck, her neck, and he strikes luck with a reminiscent shape of her eye. Hair, loads of it, curly, messy, and lots of wrinkles from laughter, sun, and laughter in the sun. Cheeks high, and tight. A smile, her teeth, crooked, chipped because of French bread in Bayonne. He recognizes her, traces her jaw with his fingers. He leaves the restaurant. He looks back through the window. She’s there, Happy, perfect, even in a color called Wild Blue Yonder. — MATHIEU CAILLER
Mathieu Cailler is an award-winning author whose poetry and prose have been widely featured in numerous national and international publications. A graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, he is the winner of a Short Story America Prize, a Shakespeare Award, and a Best Microfiction Prize. He is the author of six books, just finished his first feature-length screenplay and is hard at work on a YA novel.