the flirt

the minute i stepped into nikos's shoppe, we locked eyes.
he was waiting at the cheese counter for his grated peccorino.
he was dark, with raven black eyes, short and about nine years olde.

i could feel his gaze follow me as i picked up
tea that is strangely flavored like cardboard
for which i am aquiring a taste..
matches and candles..
(i have taken to keep a candle going 24/7
for the weight of the world and good company)

he shadowed me over to the fruit market..
bursting in to say to the shoppekeeper
something like:
"she is still a looker even if she is olde!"
for which he was thwaped on the head
and sent out..

he was waiting for me..
we walked in silence,
matching our footsteps
step for step
on the cobblies..

when we passed the restaurant i hope
will open soon, he plucked a beer bottle
out of the crate of emptys..
i clicked my teeth and raised my eyebrows..
this seemed to spur him on..
he ran to the wall to fling the bottle as far as he could..

looking back for my reaction, which was considerable ~
he then leapt up on the ledge,
the edge of the rock wall -
scampering,
running,
climbing higher and higher..
giving me a fright; we are way up here..

he jumped down just in time
to join me in syncopated step..
breathing heavy from his courtship climb..

we reached the crossroads ~
he turned the corner like a soldier
and walked away.