Kansas City, the fifties,
to a lake in the country.
My brother and me, as daddy drove on.
We kids would get restless,
we had time on our hands,
and we'd get a game going.
Scissors, paper, and stone.
That old stone's in the dark.
Count to three, show your hand,
scissors, paper, and stone
I bet you played that game too,
it all depends on whether
By intuition, precognition,
or else how fast you can react
to what your own opponent does.
You begin with clenched fists
I'm sittin' pulled upright
in the backseat of daddy's 57 Chevy sedan watchin' Eric like a hawk,
gotta I gotta, gotta second -guess him.
the two of us, totally focused on this.
Oblivious to Pat, Broon, Kroon,
and Tammy's in love on the radio.
Don't smell those strong,
My folks are both smoking
in the front seat at all anymore.
We don't even see the long,
low Raytown lanes building
with its big flashing sign
with the bowling pins going down
and up and down and up again
of strikes and neon resurrections,
all tensed up on the edge
of the spring -coiled seat cushion,
Ah, but under that pa per
That old stone's in the dark
One, two, three, show your hand
And my kid brother and me,
we'd keep that game going
The scissors, paper, and stone
Be in love for the first time
my heart fluttered like pa per
Her own heart turned to stone,
I felt scattered and tattered
Maybe you've played that game too
It's one nobody really wins in though
And the stakes are way, way higher
And the longer the tension builds up
If you happen to lose, like I did
Oh, in the backseat of my daddy's cherry red Thunderbird with Eileen,
she was a raving Irish Catholic beauty,
actually the bolder sister
of a pair of devastating long
-haired identical red -headed twins,
both of whom I pursued like
two rare elusive butterflies
I had to add to my growing collection,
I got caught, and I fell for her hard.
Yeah, Eileen really turned me on.
Her, hope. or maybe what it is
that's straining at the inseam
as we writhe around on the narrow
whoa she suddenly sits straight up
pushes me off and transfixes me with those two
sharp steely blue Irish Eisenbergs
which aren't smiling at all
and she balls up her fists
I can I tell she's determined
Tension's getting so tangible in the car,
and then all in a rush, she blurts it out.
She doesn't want to see me anymore.
It's gotten too intense, so it's over.
the stone breaks them apart.
that old stone's in the dark.
We get back in the front seat
and roll off down the road
And go home and get stoned
4.8
