Authors: Kyle Smith

Love Monkey (32 page)

BOOK: Love Monkey

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My scarf is in my pocket. I leave it there. My gloves are at home. Right by the spot where I waited for her that time, there's a poster for a movie that quotes a witticism I came up with a few weeks ago. I wrote it to impress her.

The things I can't tell her. More than the times we undressed each other, more than the times we snacked and snorfled and slobbered on each other, more than the time in the park when I told her how I felt and she cried to hear it, more than the one and only time I slept with her in my arms, I remember Forty-eighth and Eighth. In the multiplex of my mind, it's always playing on one screen, in an endless loop. She is tiptoeing up behind me on an unfairly cold March night, in a little yellow coat much too thin for the weather.

Because she wants to be with me.

Acknowledgments

W
ithout the efforts of my super-duper agent, Harriet Wasserman, and my merely spectacular editor, Dan Conaway, this book would not exist, except as files on my hard drive, in which case you would have to come to my apartment to read it. That could be inconvenient for both of us.

Thanks to anyone who ever made me laugh, especially the Colonel, Der Spaniard und Die Austrian, Grover, Min, and J. Rack.

For their rah-rahs and whoo-hoos, cheers to Cutler Durkee, Larry Hackett, Gerry Howard, Jon Karp, Gersh Kuntzman, Stu Marques, Jill Schwartzman, and that cat-lovin' combat typist, Mike Hechtman.

About the Author

Kyle Smith
, a Yale graduate and Gulf War veteran, is the book and music review editor at People magazine. He divides his time between the front room of his apartment and the back room of his apartment in New York City. This is his first novel.

To receive notice of author events and new books by Kyle Smith, sign up at www.authortracker.com.

Credits

Jacket design by David High

Jacket photograph Â© Royalty Free/Corbis

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint from the following:

“Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” words and music by Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford, Rob Hotchkiss, Charlie Colin, and Scott Underwood. Copyright Â© 2001 EMI APRIL MUSIC INC., BLUE LAMP MUSIC, EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC. and WUNDERWOOD MUSIC. All rights for BLUE LAMP MUSIC controlled and administered by EMI MUSIC INC. All Rights for WUNDERWOOD MUSIC controlled and administered by EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

“Everything I Own” by David Gates. Copyright Â© 1972 Sony/ATV Tunes LLC.
All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not intended to be construed as real.

LOVE MONKEY
. Copyright Â© 2004 by Kyle Smith. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-booksâ¢.

ePub edition April 2004 eISBN 9780061747069

FIRST EDITION

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