Battleship

by Sarah E. Alderman

We play Battleship in bed

Our memories the pegs

The darkness our divider

The ceiling our board

Like children at a slumber party we giggle

As we call out positions

And it has been so long

Since a night we spent together

Was filled with sounds of our laughter

You reach for my hand in the dark

Breaking our moment of abandon

And innocent pleasure

I pretend to be in the act of rolling over

Shoving my fingers beneath my head

Just out of your reach I call out another guess

You pause as if to think, as if you weren’t hurt

By my backward advances

Then you interrupt our silence

By making me promise not to cheat

I cross my fingers beneath the pillow

And I agree

I do not want to be cruel

In my attempt to be kind

Sparing your feelings has become a fulltime job

But I let you believe what you will

By telling you a lie

“You win,” I whisper, in the still

And let you enfold me in your arms

As I pretend I am somewhere else

Anywhere else but here