Haircuts & Garages & Wars
Now Voyager, Marc Majewski
I have been seeing you more lately. You always make appearances when my life is changing. Cheeks red and chapped, shave a couple days old. Your hair has gotten long. I wonder when you’ll ask me to take you to the Great Clips off the highway by the mall. You’ve zipped up your windbreaker and still haven’t thrown out your jeans with the hole in the pocket. You’ve got on the boots we bought five winters back. Every time I see you, you look worn but still you. Where were you walking to when you were in the crosswalk? What were you buying in the check-out lane?
Life is hard for me lately, and I want to talk to you. About the world. Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago. Everyone is arguing about Israel and Hamas. What do you think? Will we be okay, all of us? I’d give a lot to know. Do you remember the time we sat in the garage? You were in a folding chair and I was on grandma’s old walker. We talked about US-Latin America relations. The dictatorships and supported coup d’etas. I had just finished In the Time of the Butterflies. I was about to move to Washington. It was the second to last time I ever saw you. It is also one of the memories I hold closest.
I have felt dumb since then. There is no one else in my life who likes politics and history. Not like you. There is no one else who I trust their opinion of it more. You spoke without preaching. And you’re gone now and I can’t help feeling that part of me is too. I’m nervous I shelved the ability to be intellectual and now it’s been so long that I’ve lost it forever. There is so much I will learn in this life and you will not be there to talk to me about it. There is so much you knew and I never got the chance to hear.
A lot is changing for me, and I wish you were here. I’ve been seeing you a lot lately, and it’s not the same. You won’t be calling me for a haircut. That garage is no longer yours. The recent wars of this world haven’t reached your ears. My history partner is gone and I miss you and I will go listen to a podcast about the relations in the Middle East as I drive because I want to fill the emptiness of my passenger seat.