What I'd look like with a mustache

By Jon von Nottingham

Morning exhumed sanity back into my world. I lay awake in bed wondering what I would look like with a thick mustache; the well groomed thick ones that all of San Fransisco had in the late 60’s, even though there is no proof of that, it just seems self-evident that they were always there, hanging on the faces of the men, the women, the grandmothers, the boat captain, the secretary, but not the man behind the deli counter, no, he had a thin mustache. At the time, it seemed like a rational thought.

I found myself lured into a shower by the scent of running water and Irish Spring. In there, there was a very lathered up naked woman who gave me a surprised smile as I stepped into the tub. It was early and she didn’t expect me to be up so soon. I could have stayed in bed, but this was more interesting than thinking about mustaches. She agreed.

She didn’t stay long, but before she left, she turned the water dial to “fucking freezing” and stood under the spray for a long time. She is a weird child. I had to stand back and watch her skin contract and her nipples harden. It was quite a scene. She apologized and turned it up before getting out and I found myself missing her.

As I rinsed the Dove from my hair, I thought about the dream I just had. I was never a big dreamer, but my brain has a lot to process these days. The one I had today wasn’t as bad as the ones I have been having. In it, my girl was sick with the sniffles. It was winter, and I felt bad for her. I could tell her sinuses were irritated, and there wouldn’t be much relief to come. Cabin fever had set in hard and I could feel the walls kind of closing in all the time, but as I was comforting my daughter with the idea of a hot and steamy shower, it all seemed ok for a minute. There was nothing I would rather be doing than nursing her back into her happy self. I sat on the john and almost lost sight of her dreamy little smile in the mist, so I listened to her clunking away in the tub with her toys and wondered what I would look like with a mustache.