The Two-Handed Thing

I.

A: The thing about the bench is the road. B: The thing about the bench is the grain.

A: The thing about the road is the traffic, the lorries, the school run, the delivery vans, the satnav voices saying turn left, turn right, the fact that the council resurfaced it last March and the white lines are still bright. B: The thing about the grain is the third plank from the left.

II.

A: The thing about the bench is the weather, the rain that comes sideways off the estuary, the wind that takes the bins, the forecast that said bright spells but the sky is the colour of wet cement, the fact that nobody checks the forecast anymore, the fact that the bench is wet and nobody has wiped it. B: The thing about the grain is the knot. The knot is the size of a thumbprint. The knot has been worn smooth by years of someone's hand resting on it while waiting for the bus that stops across the road.

III.

A: The thing about the bench is the years. The plaque is gone - the screws are still there, four small rusted crosses, and the bench is older than the road maybe, older than the estate, the fact that this was a field once, the fact that the bench remembers the field, the fact that the bench is the only thing left that was here when the field was here, the fact that - B: The knot. Just the knot. Warm from the sun that came out at four o'clock. Still warm at five. Still warm at six.

IV.

A: - the fact that the estate was built in 1972, the fact that the bus route was added in 1978, the fact that the bench has been here since before both of those, the fact that someone sat here before the road existed and looked at the field and the field is gone and the road is here and the bench is still here, the fact that the bench is the thing that stayed. B: The thing about the knot is the warm.

V.

A: The thing about the bench is the people. The woman with the shopping bag. The man who reads the paper. The boy who waits for the bus and never gets on. The fact that they all sit in the same spot, third plank from the left, the fact that the knot is worn smooth by all of their hands, the fact that - B: The thing about the warm is it stays after the sun goes.

VI.

A: - the fact that the smooth is the record. The fact that the wear is the love. The fact that the bench has been loved by every hand that rested on the knot and the love is the smoothness and the smoothness is the fact that - B: The thing about the smooth is the hand.

A: The thing about the hand is the bench.

B: The thing about the bench is the warm.

A: The thing about the warm - B: - is the thing that stays.