he walked inside from out of doors 

out of doors at 1234   a day of sparkling sunlight and obscene blue skies
 

inside  everything fell into silhouettes  varying shades of darkness 

the lump on the couchlump was John

sitting exactly where he sat drinking coffee when he left to put mail in the mailbox on the street

John didnt like that he called him John

John now preferred Jack 
he said it sounded harder  tougher

--   I agree you need help in the hard department  

but I met you as John as youll always be John to me

Its your given Christian name

--   Given

I can change it if I want

--   You can  And you can legally

And you can call yourself Nails for all I care                                                                                          

but Ill always call you John

John was always flitting between things  buying into whatever the fad was to appeal to anyone and everyone 

he had an indecent desire to be liked

they had gotten together to ride south to St Pete to visit a friend  Frankie  in the bughouse there

Frankie was hard  he was Johns epitome of hard  and tough

Frankie was in the bughouse because he was incorrigible
his mother didnt have the sense and schooling for that word
she got it from the head psychiatrist at St Petes who got a good long look at her ass as she walked past him one day in town as he was having drinks with visiting colleagues  

Frankie told his Maw the Doc got a whiff of her

--   Cant you be polite
--   I aint the one snorting whiffs  Maw

and then all of a sudden Doc was around falling all over himself to help with Frankie

how couldnt he have issues  his father abandoned his mother and him   

Frankie desperately needed a father figure and a fathers iron hand

Frankie broke the Docs face with his iron hand 

the Doctor rather than prefer charges  --  Throw Frankie away  --  recommended that he could personally counsel him through his overt psychological issues

the Judge  like most the Up-and-Comers in the Community  believed the Doctor a Pillar of the Society in St Pete and readily gratefully turned the charge of Frankie over to the Doctor

with Frankie inside the hospital
the bughouse 
contained         

the Doctors whiffing became unrestrained 

Frankies Maws gratitude was unrestrained as well

they married inside six months 

the Doctor had Frankie and his Maw exactly where he wanted them

Frankie was always three sheets fucked up to the wind when they visited him

whenever they visited they had to wait in the lobby until the Doctor saw them first 
take his valuable time to prepare them for Frankies current state of mind  the Dos and the Donts of what they were allowed to talk to him about(whatever they wanted  --  You can suck our cocks Doc)

and then they had to contend with that Cheshire Cat grin on his mug 

though  probably unbeknownst to him
                                                               the nice thing about his Cheshire grinning was it brought out the series of scars about his eyes and across the bridge of his nose that Frankie gave him

No 

      they didnt mind waiting the two or three or four hours before the Doctor showed up    --  Im so busy boys  You should call ahead so I know when youre coming  --  to see those fine white lines and know exactly how he got them

they learned to take solace when they could

Frankie was fucked

they wondered over the last year they had been coming to see him if he ever have had any concurrent thoughts or ideations

the wisecracker he was  wasnt home

original thought went on a long coffee break and had someone on the inside working the time clock for it

they quit going to see his mother 
she was never home 
she attended luncheons and affairs at the Country Club                                                                                     

she was the attractive face and body standing-in for the Respected Doctor

she wouldnt even answer their calls when they telephoned to check-up on Frankie between visits

anything they needed to know about Frankie  the housekeeper said  the Doctor could advise them    
Ive been assured you have his number

Yeah  they had his number

like Frankie had his number

but conveniently everyone else including his Maw looked in the other direction
away from the troubled juvenile delinquent 
who had been tempered
and now  was no longer trying

but Frankie hid his one last Try 

kept it to himself(he didnt even ask them which hand it was in)

and when opportunity knocked he answered

he Tried                                                                                                                                               

he was successful 

he hung himself with a torn bed sheet

there was a lavish funeral

they buried him under a huge headstone                                                                                                                     

it made everyone in St Pete feel better

he and John didnt make it 

they had drinks in Minneapolis in a joint down by the river they liked when the three of them were running hard 

and hard breaks hard

they didnt show

                             because anybody who knew Frankie knew he wanted to be cremated

to be vanquished   from the face of “this miserable planet"

2345,  Wednesday,  24  6. 15