Jon was on his way to the store. He had just come from a meeting with the Visual Dictionary people, in which he had been told that he was responsible for Ae through Au, a small but important subset of the named things in the universe. He bought a bottle of muscle milk with exact change and walked out. The lid unskrewed easily and he drank.
Across the street was a park where a fair had been set up but was now being taken down. It was in various states of unpacking: there were trailers where workers were piling up pieces of the rides. He went to a bench and sat down. " American Indian? Amtrak? Amigo? Amphaloskeptic?" All these would look awful visualized, perhaps except American Indian. He imagined a teepee, loin cloth, beer bottle, and casino. Awful, indeed. But funny? He didn't think so and sipped more milk.
Two children were playing on a jungle gym on the other end of the park. The monkey bars, to be precise. "Africa?" John thought. That one could work. He took out a pen and small notepad from his pocket and wrote down the continent.
On a bench near the jungle gym was a pretty women Jon knew had to be the mother of one of the boys playing. She looked overlooked but fresh at the same time. New mothers had a light inside them like a lamp. It must have been because kids are afraid of the dark.
Jon took another swig of muscle milk and, wiped his mustache, and walked over to the mom at the playground. The birds dove through the sockets of light in the sky and a crisscross pattern of light pink shadows fell on the woman's face. "I knew I recognized you," Jon said, "Your Molly Perkins."
Molly blushed. "I'm sorry I don't remember you. Where have we met?"
"Just now. It's written on your name blouse."
Molly looked down. Her name was written on a tag. She laughed and puckered her shirt above her breasts, pulling the label off with a velcro noise.
She had noticed Jon walk toward her from across the park. They had caught each other's eye and now she was pulling him in. She still had it, even after child birth and child rearing. But what would he think when he saw my sagging breasts? He wouldn't want to suck on what a child had, would he? She smiled at him as though she were shy. "Sit down, please."
Jon sit on the bench and spread his arms and legs, making himself comfortable. The muscle milk was more than half way gone and he offered Molly a drink. She shook her head and blushed. "Suit yourself," he said, "But it's delicious. And makes you healthy."
"Are you suggesting I need to eat better?" Molly said, brushing a hand through her hair, which fell over her naked shoulders in a waterfall and descended to her neck and delicate collar.
This morning is turning into quite an adventure, Jon thought, adding, Let the wind take you where it will. That was the motto on the back of the muscle milk bottle.
Jon laughed. He had large teeth like an ant's that stuck out beyond his gums, a well-razored chin, and a cowboy hat on. His job as a visual dictionary designer had very little to do with his love for picking up moms in the park and fucking them silly. But here it was, ready to come out. "Everyone could use a balanced diet, especially you with all your responsibilities, those kids to look after and all. I'd say you eat well but there's one important thing missing from your diet." Jon drained the last of the muscle milk and tossed the bottle into a nearby garbage.
Molly looked Jon up and down. His cowboy hat was a bit much, but he had a boyish grin and long legs and powerful looking hands. He was coming on so strong it was taking her breath away. She could feel her heart beat below her blouse as though it wanted to pop the buttons off. Unconsciously she began rubbing the space where the name tag had been and blushing, knowing he had been staring at her breasts to see her name and was doing it again now, guided by her movements.
