A Garden of Virtues

Come, my love, let's go a blackberrying. It has been raining all day, and the woods are fragrant and soaked with dew.   I had a taste. This is when I fell in love with you. The way your hair fell around your ear. Oh, God.   Forbidden fruit is the sweetest. The berry you never taste, delicious. I realized I just wanted to be alone with you. I forgot about everything else in the world. My whole world, which is too complicated. The light is starting to fade. Let's go in, my love. We are soaked from the rain-drenched grass. (Leslie promptly got a bath with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser).

This is my only doll. I have had other dolls. He has had other people. But things didn't turn out the way either of us thought. I never had an only doll, and he never was an only doll. I loved my dolls. I had a dream of Johnny last week. I dreamed I was in this deserted trailer park that was perfect for the type of photos I like to take. I was taking pictures of Leslie, but things were falling flat. I realized I still had Johnny in a box on the top shelf of my closet. I got him down, and started taking pictures of him, and everything felt right. When I woke up I thought about Johnny, realized he was gone, and I thought about Leslie, and I realized he was downstairs. Just downstairs. And something turned in my mind, something was healed. No one is going to take Leslie away from you. He is yours forever. I was never the best doll mommy. You know how it is. I purchase an expensive doll, certain that he will be "the one" to inspire my stories, and that I will be motiv...