Blue Pages 3.6 — Gale Acuff

. . .

Death Minus 15

I don't want to die but I don't want not

to so I guess that means I'm still alive

--I said as much after Sunday School to

our teacher, Miss Hooker, before I said

So long, see you next week, that's next Sunday,

but I never really got the chance to

say so because Miss Hooker knelt before

me, her skirt so wide, like Cinderella's,

maybe, that I wasn't sure if she was

on her knees or only bowing and when

she stood upright again I forgot to

notice but anyway while she was bend

-ing maybe she looked into my eyes face

to face, so to speak, maybe eyeball to

eyeball is better, and said Gale, never

doubt that God and Jesus and the Holy

Ghost love you and as long as you're as good

as you can be you won't have to fear death,

and then she was on her feet once more, tall

or at least taller than I am again

and having to look down at me, but then

she's 25 to my 10 but one day

maybe I'll be even taller than she

is and her husband, too, if she has one

by then and if not maybe she'll have me

though she'll still be taller in age, fifteen

years higher always, I'll never match up

'til we're both dead, which is, I guess, the same

age but I'm not sure if there's a number

for it, maybe I'll ask that next week, if

I'm not dead before then, that is, or she

neither. But I might just ask anyway.

- Gale Acuff