Inklings 2021

“Now, now, it’s not old, Sandy. It’s well...er...vintage,” he said to ease the tension. “But yes. I mean, I’m not a fan of that couch for instance,” Harold said as he walked towards a late-eighties couch that was wrapped in plastic in the center of the living room. “Well, if the plastic is the problem, why don’t you unwrap it to get a better look at it?” It took us roughly ten minutes to unwrap the dusty plastic off the velvet sofa, but when we had finished, a sigh of relief possessed us as we sank into our new couch. “Was that too hard?” the old lady said as she came back into the living room. “My husband and I wrapped that sofa about two decades ago. We never got around to unwrapping it because it was a trend back in my day!” she said passively . I rested my head on my husband’s shoulder with the old lady’s warm Buffalo Country Club mug resting in my hands. For the first time since we had passed the “Welcome to Buffalo” sign on the Highway, I felt at ease. I slid my hand in the crevice of the couch and completely sank in between Harold and the velvet cloud, but my fingers’ warmth was penetrated by a cold touch. What is this? I wondered as I pulled out a pearl necklace covered in dust. “Oh my goodness!” the old lady said, surprising me with her presence. “Well, where did you find that? I have been looking for that for so long!” she said. “Oh, it was in here. No worries. I just found it Mrs...?” I said, realizing I had never asked her name. “Smith. Mrs. Smith.” she replied. I dropped the Buffalo Country Club mug. POEM AND ART Felipe Campano 20