Surveillance

as if to confirm greater differences between boys and girls than Louisa
had made obvious the girl next door grew breasts

i was twelve to her sixteen when passing behind her in the band room
i found them budding beneath her cotton blouse

they were unquestionably...well, female (on second pass)
and became artfully flushed as she manipulated her flute into the upper
register "David, stop pacing back there and pick up your trumpet!"

i set up a command post in my bedroom,
complete with dime-store binoculars and toy telescope
and begin a stakeout of her window

for months i was constant in my duty
and only once did she forget the shade

as her fingers fluttered at her throat and the plastic
lenses shook against my eyebrows the
first blizzard of 1958 sluiced a million snowflakes between
our homes and
she disappeared

"When you're ready to settle down back there, David. We'll begin."