Redecoration

The drapes had to go;
Sucking at their rail
like tanned pterodactyl wings
like a soiled mortician's shroud.
Jeff, sucking on a strawberry ice rocket,
Ascended the sofa with his boots on
Reckless as Mallory
Reached out, one foot planted on the sagging arm
Gripped and tore
Brass pins popping from pine rings
like stitches.
Black dust wafted from their folds
Settled across the carpet - a sign.
We knew it meant five years of pestilence.

Jeff was never the same.
He complained of chills
Took baths in scalding water that turned him
Red as a newborn.
With heavy tailor's shears
He clipped the drapes and made
Himself a cape.
I caught him once
Raising it like a dun eyelid to hood his face
Wincing at the glare of sunlight
Caught in the polished windowsill.