Tail Gate Makeout Session

I parked my car at the South Jetty. It was around noon and threatening sunshine on a weekday during the second month of the virus lockdown. Twenty or so feet away a huge gray Chevy Silverado pickup was backing up to the edge of the jetty. Any closer and the truck would find itself drowning in the mouth of the river. Odd. I’d never seen such a thing before here. I started making my way to the beach to hunt for choice cuts of beaverwood to add to the world’s greatest collection. An osprey flapped by overhead with a wriggling silver fish in its talons. The ocean was rolling in grayish green and I had positive thoughts circulating in my mind in a deepening time of of negative energy. I passed the truck and looked back to see a large young woman and a large man emerge from the cab. She was wearing blue scrubs and had an ID lanyard strung around her neck. He wore construction worker clothing. He walked around to the back of the Silverado and unlatched the tail gate. It crashed down into position. The couple proceeded to sit on the tail gate. It held. Chevy is hearty brand of American truck. Then the couple embraced and started making out! I mean this was no tender kissing. They were going for it hard. Why the hell not go for it? Why not while sitting on the tail gate of a truck near a mighty river as it emptied into the ocean. Why not make out with ospreys flying above you and seals undulating in the surf below you? Yes, why the hell not? Seeing the makeout session quickly brought to mind one my favorite poems of all time, “Kissing” by Dorianne Laux (please Google and read). This couple was doing exactly what that poem was all about—resisting by kissing. Kissing as something that could never be taken away by a regime or disease or indifference. Some 20 minutes later I returned from the beach with 11 choice cuts carried over my shoulders and stuffed in my pockets. The couple was still making out! I laughed a little bit to myself and snatched secret looks. It was about the damn most romantic thing I’d seen in a long time and that was even despite the Trump decals plastered on the truck. As I loaded the wood into my car, they hopped off the tail gate, got back in the cab and drove away. I put it all together pretty fast. She worked at the local clinic or hospital. He was probably building or remodeling something close to town. He picked up her for lunch and away they went to the jetty to make out. Then they returned to work. Lovely. Love. More love like that. More, more, more as that disco song goes.