A Little About Greg Putts and His Sister Vivaldia Nimee Mosquimmonetti

A Little About Greg Putts and His Sister Vivaldia Nimee Mosquimmonetti

Greg’s sister, Vivaldia Nimee Mosquimmonetti thought she was meant for exotic things because of her exotic name. Her mother never told her, along with all her other imagined conversations unfolding: over box wine in front of Wheel of Fortune, flipped to The View on commercials: V, sweetie, (a natural nectar pause) your middle name is simple byproduct of coming off a cocaine bender while I was pregnant with you. I did a lot of coke. I love coke to this day. But god damn, this nose was pretty. 

Military shorthand, NMI (No Middle Name) was what the hospital presented on the birth certificate. Nimee, phonically as the years grew. And after 27, the most exotic thing V found was a fiancé. The FedEx of two Continental Airline tickets on Greg’s door stoop shorted the 5 year sibling silence streak by two weeks. The wedding shower was all the way down in Houston. How am I going to survive such a trip, Greg thought. OCD had whittled away his thirst for travel over the years until Greg found himself narrowly trainspotting 3 places: Sac-N-Save, Sally’s Dinner Bell, and the race tracks; any race tracks, but mostly the one out by Bultiler Springs, Vermont. 

V had been attending the Culinary Art Institute of Houston when she met Ralph Sickle. Ralph was studying to be a mortician. His enveloping thick head of hair reminded V of the The Lion's Haircut, by Jennifer Giddings. She wrote this down as a possible chorus line for an electric cello and soprano duo from Cats oh Cats,a local Americana and Reggie fusion band booked for the reception:   

Never felt so couture as I felt next to his skin, next to his rough hair. Color of the T.V. Color of melted candy corn. Color of -  She was running out of comparisons.- Goldfish screen saver. Salisbury steak. Electric toothbrush. - Her own brilliance was endless. Her own brilliance didn't surprise her. She felt brilliant.

Greg list makes. He’s not biased or prude: writing tablets, bridge scoring cards, waiter guest checks, margins of diet revolution books; each claiming Revolution. There’s pride in his Rs punctuated by pregnant swells, Ls gangly with stems long as The Great Canyon turned skyward, Os gilded in thick soupy swallows. And so on with Alphabet and simile. Greg’s avowal is to put a line through what he's done. His reason for taking showers at exactly 4:15a.m. is so he can line through 1)  shower. Then. 2) two cups half-calf coffee. because he can’t stomach diuretics like he used to. 3) Jelly jar of tomato juice. 4)  - The list is listless. The days are long. He must wake early to get through his list. He must stay up late. These line throughs’ start and end his day.