Halcyon Days (2015)
In classical legend, halcyon is a kingfisher who quiets the waves when she nests on the seas.
I was 17, drunk at a party with a boy I liked, when I first learned the meaning of the word. The boy was a lawyer, many years older, he always wore a leather jacket. He took heroin (purely recreationally), slicked his hair back. Liked to have sex with his best friend Alec, but only when they were high.
I lost the argument with his ex-girlfriend right in front of him. She was a lawyer too. Later he told me that she once vomited on him when she was… you know. Gagging for it. She was angry and intense. Her name was Emily. I pronounced it HAL-EE-KON, like halogen but more yellow. I was sure of it. My halcyon referred to the golden glow of the best years of our lives. The mountain peak in summer. Emily, also old, knew better. She was civil but I knew she hated me, my silence, my stubborn ignorance, my doe eyes. We sat on red carpet, lit by candles, paint peeling off walls. Time was immense.
Him and I never really got off the ground. Everyone was still scared of HIV back then and whenever we kissed (only ever on the floor of my bedroom) I would worry that he'd get me sick. He had a broken heart of some sort. He was very kind and very distant. It just didn't seem right, somehow.
He's the chief business writer of the local rag now. He tweets about billion dollar development deals in the city. He's permanently single. He posts selfies of himself in the sunset on Cambodian beaches.
He's a real catch, people say.
In classical legend, halcyon is a kingfisher who quiets the waves when she nests on the seas.
I was 17, drunk at a party with a boy I liked, when I first learned the meaning of the word. The boy was a lawyer, many years older, he always wore a leather jacket. He took heroin (purely recreationally), slicked his hair back. Liked to have sex with his best friend Alec, but only when they were high.
I lost the argument with his ex-girlfriend right in front of him. She was a lawyer too. Later he told me that she once vomited on him when she was… you know. Gagging for it. She was angry and intense. Her name was Emily. I pronounced it HAL-EE-KON, like halogen but more yellow. I was sure of it. My halcyon referred to the golden glow of the best years of our lives. The mountain peak in summer. Emily, also old, knew better. She was civil but I knew she hated me, my silence, my stubborn ignorance, my doe eyes. We sat on red carpet, lit by candles, paint peeling off walls. Time was immense.
Him and I never really got off the ground. Everyone was still scared of HIV back then and whenever we kissed (only ever on the floor of my bedroom) I would worry that he'd get me sick. He had a broken heart of some sort. He was very kind and very distant. It just didn't seem right, somehow.
He's the chief business writer of the local rag now. He tweets about billion dollar development deals in the city. He's permanently single. He posts selfies of himself in the sunset on Cambodian beaches.
He's a real catch, people say.