Imogene takes a moment

Imogene forgot how vulnerable laying on your back feels. At the doctors, typically bare feet scrunched down onto the cold metal stirrups or at the dentist, mouth plied open, the occasional water spritzed into your dry mouth. Even at the beach, half-naked begging for the sunshine to overcome the creepy stares from awkward pre-pubescent boys. And now, laying on her back at the bottom of her apartment steps, tomato sauce dripping from the walls, Imogene decides to take a moment and think.

Her thinking is briefly disrupted by Mr. Cox calling out for the 100th time, "Imogene, watch that top step. I haven't fixed it yet!". He hasn't fixed it yet. What is he waiting for? He is waiting for her to die. Death makes people do all kinds of things they are too lazy to actually consider doing within any relative framework of daily life. She debates getting up before her boyfriend emerges from their third story apartment. He will undoubtedly be racing for class, see her at the bottom of the stairs and freak out. It doesn't help that the fantastically delicious tomato Ragu he has so lovingly made and packaged for her lunch that day is now covering a good portion of her unaffordable white blouse, as well as the surrounding wall space. "Typical", he will say. Typical.

In this, now growing moment, Imogene remembers something. She recalls something: a memory. The thought of this memory so overcomes her present state that she actually stops thinking and only remembers. She is so lost in the memory that she doesn't notice the pair of feet coming down the stairs and gently stepping around her. A tall gentleman, wearing a suit, a large coat and a purse disguised as a briefcase, is talking on his cell phone. He looks down at her and quickly mouths, "You ok?". Clearly, she is ok. Despite the fact that there is fantastic tomatoe Ragu everywhere, SHE is ok. She understands that he really doesn't care, and so she doesn't even bother mouthing back to him, "Yeah, I'm ok". Instead she mouths back to him "Stay tuned" because that is the only phrase she can think of, lying on her back.

She wants to go back to her memory. It was comforting and it made her feel young again. Younger than thirty. Ok, younger than thirty-two. She was six again, and she was hanging upside down from the monkey bars. She could feel the summer air, coolly pressing against her naked torso. Her favorite striped shirt hung around her face and she felt like she could do anything. be anyone. go anywhere. Imogene could not remember the last time she was not bound by time, by appointments and bills and the state of the union...

Imogene did not want to get up off the floor. She was growing fond of the floor. She debated the possibility of staying there all day. Until she saw Jamie's turquoise blue Puma's coming towards her. She quickly closed her eyes.

"Immy...what..are you hiding? You need to get up. How long have you been here. You were supposed to be on your bus a half hour ago. Oh my god, my Ragu is all over. Can you go get..." and on, and on, and on.

Imogene's eyes remained closed. She could hear Jamie say something to the effect of, "I don't have time for this". Time. Yes, she had eluded time. A half hour? She had left time and space. Could this be possible? All her life a time machine lay at her feet: The floor. She realized that no one died standing up, they lay on their back. Here they were able to flush out time and fill up their hollow bodies with memories.

This was comforting to Imogene because she would be dead in six to nine months. She was probably slowly dying right now, on the floor. She could not figure out how, if at all, to tell Jamie. There wasn't enough time to explain it all to him, but maybe if they lay on the floor, together, they would have all the time in the world.

Jamie stopped trying to clean the Ragu off the walls with his handkerchief and reached for Imogene's hand.

"Immy...you need to get up. You're freaking me out."
Imogene's eyes opened and she stared into Jamie's freshly shaved face.
"You shaved. You look different now"
"I had a few minutes to kill, so I thought I'd surprise you."
Jamie gently pulled Imogene to her feet.
"Surprise!" she said, "I'm going to go upstairs and lay down"
"Are you feeling ok?"
"yes. I just want another moment"