Falling

It’s the first free Saturday for three months.

And I don’t have to,

but I spend it with Nicu

on a patch of grass

behind his flats.

He won’t stop messing around,

making faces,

telling jokes,

and then he

unlaces his right trainer,

does the same with my left.

I don’t shoo him away

or smack the back of his hand.

I watch

as he ties our laces together,

binds us.

‘Up! Come with me,’ he says,

and tries to stand,

but of course he can’t

cos

I stay sitting like a stone

with my eyebrows raised,

being as cool as I can.

‘Bit old for three-legged races,

aren’t we?’

‘Come. I want to try,’ he says,

so I stand,

finally,

our legs pressed up against each other.

He throws one arm around my shoulder.

‘For to balancing,’ he says.

I put my arm around his shoulder too.

And we shuffle,

his left foot forward

            my right foot forward,

then

my left and his right together.

We walk slowly,

            awkwardly,

            laughing and on the

verge of falling.

We don’t get far.

But we do manage to move.

            We do get

            somewhere

            tied together like that.