It would have been the perfect day. Billy had an opportunity to sleep late. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. Everything was going his way, so Billy decided to only shave the sunny side of his face.
The morning was just right. Eggs and toast and bacon made just the way Billy liked it. The perfect lover also made a perfect breakfast. Everything was going his way, even though Billy only remembered to shave the sunny side of his face.
Was any of it real? Billy had to stop and wonder. Somewhere along the line he lost his way. Didn't seem to matter much when everything was going his way. And this was why, on this particular day, Billy only shaved the sunny side of his face.
Yesterday was a different day, yet more or less the same. Up early to face the music. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. It was much the same for a different kind of day, but today was the day that Billy only shaved the sunny side of his face.
Lunch was more or less a mundane affair. In the end most affairs usually are. Sometimes you had to play the songs on the soundtrack of your life in a different order. And sometimes you only shave the sunny side of your face.
Billy tried to remember the face of his lover. It had only been six hours since he'd seen her over breakfast. Eggs and toast and bacon made just the way he liked it. The night before was already fading into a thousand memories of a thousand perfect nights. The time was never wasted in the end, but the memories drifted into one another like salsa in a soup kitchen. He thought it might help him to remember if he only shaved the sunny side of his face.
"There has to be a morning after," Billy heard someone sing. Their voice was on an old transistor radio held by an older drunk on the bench Billy liked to sit on in the park. It wasn't that the older drunk on his bench kept him from sitting on that bench. It just meant he'd have a little company today. Together they waited for the day to end. And the older drunk was the only one to notice that Billy only shaved the sunny side of his face.
Dinner time and Billy liked to eat in the pub two blocks from nowhere. They had a television over the bar and Billy always watched the news there. With the sound off you couldn't hear what the people were saying and it was better that way. At home Billy would be too tempted to turn up the sound. At home Billy might be tempted to shave more than the sunny side of his face.
A man on a nearby stool was drinking Budweiser and eating chicken fried steak. Billy looked over at him and thought about ordering the same. The man chewed his chicken fried steak with his mouth opening for big, voracious bites. Billy could see the food being chewed with each masticating movement of the man's mouth. This played a part in changing his mind. He ordered a hamburger with french fries on the side. As the bartender took the order, Billy thought he might make a remark about how Billy had only shaved the sunny side of his face.
That moment never came, but the hamburger and fries did. So did a parade of draft beers. They were cold and Billy was thirsty. After this Billy would go home, possibly but most likely not alone. And tomorrow he would shave only the shady side of his face.