1. Erica had a sinewy neck. Glossy eyes. Always stoned eyes. Dark and thick eyebrows. Dark hair too but she’d bleached it blond. I want to say she was from New Mexico.
2. She had trouble speaking. It wasn’t her voice or her ability to form sentences. It was these little ticks and jerks. Whenever you asked her something like what she was doing for the weekend, her neck would flex and spasm. Then she’d ram up her shoulders. Smile. Pretty lips but ruined teeth. She’d say something like “not sure” in a bubbly voice.
3. Erica lived with this guy named Show. He was supposedly from Huntington Beach. He wore dog tags around his neck. He was an ex-everything. Ex-surfer, ex-writer, ex-racecar driver, ex-high school English teacher. He’d always tell you something different. And he’d always hit you up for beers or tortillas or whatever you had.
4. One day Erica and Show started building a rock garden. After a day of work they had a three foot wide by foot deep hole. They lined the hole in black plastic then stacked red flagstones around it. Then they filled it with water and bought three large goldfish.
5. This was summertime.
6. As winter came on the pond started freezing. I’d walk out and see Erica dumping pots of boiling water into the pond.
7. The ski season had just started when Show left. He didn’t tell anyone. Later we found out (from the landlord) he had a trust fund.
8. One morning Erica knocked on my door. She said she was leaving. “To look for Show.” She handed me a bag of dried chili peppers and two glass bowls. I asked her where she thought Show was. She smiled and shrugged.
9. I never saw the fish encased in ice but my neighbors said they looked like bars of gold.
David Miller is an American writer and editor working in a variety of forms, from travel writing to poetry. In 2008 he contributed a chapter on Atlantic Patagonia for Fodor’s Patagonia. (2009, Random House). In the Spring of 2009 he’ll be among a group of Pacific Northwest writers and poets invited to read their work for Drash, a magazine dedicated to Jewish thought and poetry. He is the Editor of Matador, a worldwide travel community and the largest independent travel magazine online. Currently he’s working on a novel composed entirely of real time updates on twitter. His work has appeared in literary journals, alternative weeklies, and newspapers across the US. Interviews with David can be found at his blog.