He tried   

honestly tried
Never(thats always a huge order)

          to take for granted the simple things that provided him pleasure

sitting  having breakfast at a diner counter

rather than squandering an entire table

pleased him

his breakfast pleased him enormously

its buckwheat pancakes with fresh blueberries worked into its batter

the butter patties on white slips of paper  cherished on top small cubes of ice in a shallow sauce bowl to its side

a separate plate of thick bacon rashers  not well done

the ironstone cup(he could drive a nail with if need be) filled with smoking black coffee and the handsome buxom waitress(buxom  not fat  a rare commodity) who bent over his cup and listened to him

when he told her he wanted his coffee black

and she filled it completely without leaving room for cream

                                                                                                       

laying to the left of his meal he admired the ramshackle clipboard he scabbed more years ago than he cared to count from a garbage bin on a military base 

if not for it  he would have been arrested for trespassing

it distracted him

he went one way after it

the phalanx he was with went another

and while it clashed with military police and was violently subdued

he went over a chainlink fence into a woods and secreted himself throughout the night

he was fond of it  and its lever that slopped and clattered but tightly held the loose leaves of paper which one side had been appropriated with text  its opposite side unwrit was the side faced up  entertaining him  naked  begging to be clothed in ballpoint ink

its pages barely begged for long

his handwriting was expansive  and illegible

                                                                               

most people who became intrigued with his printing/writing wanted to know if the language was Chinese(their first guess)  or if it was code

replying that it was English didnt satisfy their curiosity

Of course its English   they said as they continued to scrutinize it and roll their eyes as if he thought they were stupid enough to buy that it was actually English

Move along  he wanted to say  Move along  Nothing to see here  I dont know why you should care what Im doing

Move along  he wanted to say  You surely remember that curiosity killed the cat and crippled the gawker

atop the loaded clipboard were usually a book or two or a complement of magazines he also admired

he loved the words they uttered  silently  and turned the clasp in his brain like skeleton keys unlocking unknown rooms pantries and cupboards

                                        stocked with either gruesome discoveries  murdered bodies never imagined to be found  trophies dead memories  or innocent moments laying forgotten 

words rocking ideations thoughts creative slips and slides   queer manipulations

then with breakfast savored and finished the waitress bent over him again  vigorous at his dishes and refilling his coffee smiling widely as she catches herself holds her tongue  remembering he was drinking it black  or either was alert to the hint were wasnt a creamer around him

Was there anything more she could do for him

 

he eyed the slice of her cleavage and told her the fresh coffee was wonderful and in a bit if either she could keep his cup refilled or provide him a carafe  in a bit  if her fruit pies were as good as she was  hed probably want a slice of one

Her pies were as good as her

Then fine  a bite in a bit

she smiled effervescently

reminding him of crescent moons appearing over the mountains  smiling over deserts  reflecting in motel pools and Midwest lakes and on the dark curl and spit of the sea

taking up his Bic pen sipping some coffee and then returning the cup to the worn Formica boomerang-etched countertop

he absently followed their design with his eyes   then with his pen

                                                                                             

he meditates
   

then lubed up  the coffee oiling his gears

he begins to write

write   

           what pleases him  

he wrote this(but kept the waitresss phone number to himself)

2324,  Friday,  3  7. 15