Madness and Women
Stories
Poetry
marie
he read an article called math in our everyday lives.
it discussed an algebra symbol called an absolute value symbol.
as he understood it this symbol worked in the following way:
a negative number in between
two absolute value lines
like this:
| -x |
automatically becomes a
positive number when
you take away those lines
like this:
x
______
he applied that math concept to his everyday life and his girlfriend marie.
she was too beautiful for her own good and insane and wild and out of control when she stood in between her absolute behavior lines.
that was a negative thing.
when he took away those lines marie was the girl of his dreams.
that was a positive thing.
he gave up on her after her most recent trip to las vegas.
while she was out there she got married and divorced twice and also slept with a few chorus girls from her hotel casino.
she called him at the end of her stay to come and rescue her but he didn’t go.
______
he stopped seeing marie and suffered a breakdown.
he blamed her and God for everything and committed suicide.
he woke up dead and was sitting on a folding chair.
a lawyer for God appeared and put his briefcase on a table and sat down at his desk.
the lawyer asked him if he knew why he was there.
he didn’t know.
“you’re here because you destroyed a perfectly good body and soul without permission and you’re going back down there to try and get it right this time."
the lawyer stood up and gave him some advice.
“first of all lighten up on marie and when God’s in between His lines it’s one thing and when He’s operating outside of them it’s another thing."
_____
he stood in the lobby waiting for the elevator and wondered if the lawyer read that same math article he did.