Living in dreamdays

Christine was the shy deaf girl who sat
in front of me through grade 9 math.

Her dad was a yodelling cowboy singer
and her mom was dead.

She wore red cowboy boots with her name
stitched on them in silver thread.
I followed her round everywhere she went
waiting for her to smile at me.

One day I went by her house to see her
and give her a card
All I found was a dog's skeleton, a tennis ball
and a toilet seat in her yard.