description

in the back of a truck with a coffee, i explain that there is "the girl" and "the friend who's a dancer" and "you and me" and "the american" and...

a trio of mucky children play football with an empty coke can. they want to look at the girl's beads. they want to touch a white man's hairy legs, the want to climb all over and tell all about school, football, soweto. they want to be the stars of the show, the want 50c-a-piece. they want to show off their shoes and their dancing skills. far far away, an alto-stratus translucidus shapes up to veil the moon with a dark drape. a party goes underway, sloppily, while the market winds down outside. baristas make coffees and grappas. the girl dances on her own. black boys and girls stare shamelessly and smile. black girl in white skin, they say, and what can you say about that.