true lub

he nearly lost the will
to live
and teetered crazily on
the edge
of the calvert
bridge.
he couldn't take it anymore.
the traffic,
the cable bill.
indigestion from
all the Chinese food
he'd been eating from
hunan duck.
not to mention Susie who left
him for another man.
he held on to the cold
buttress
of the bridge and stared
at his phone.
scrolling through
the text messages that they
exchanged over
the past
three weeks since they met.
thousands of them.
picture too.
them eating ice cream,
going to the carnival,
to the botanical
gardens, the zoo.
I love you he thumbed in
one last time before
the leap.
but his hands were cold
and he had his gloves on
so it came out, I lub you.
he stared longingly at the phone
as his feet began
to slip and his hands
grew numb.
then the phone dinged. she wrote back
I lub you too sweetie.
I want you back.
the other guy had no sense
of humor and would never
misspell a word
in his texts. but not you.
what we have is true love.
or should I say lub, she wrote.
smiley face.
but it was too late,
down he fell into the dark trees
of the park.
thankfully though he was caught
by a net the fire department had
installed
just for this reason.