he had some odd quirks

but who didnt

they werent deficiencies or moral gaps to steer wide of

                                            not infectious contagious or cancerous

actually

        thinking of them then  and back to then now  they were pleasantries he longed for  missed  unseen since

 

their meeting was obtuse(a simple tick he possessed and never relinquished  he felt people might as well realise he was a bucket of cold water  if they didnt want to be wakened or aroused they would be mistaken to venture into his world or rather  witness  his perception of things)

 

                     their hands fixed a firm tight grip
 

Yah Dumber than what

he caught the inflection in his voice  Not dumber  Dummer  D-U-M-M-E-R

Thou dost protest too much methinks

Hamlet    Lady or  Queen    Queen Gertrude

She was ironic

Infallibly so

they formed a fast friendship

Dumber liked Camel straights

but when he couldnt afford them he fell back to Drum tobacco rolling papers and rolled his own

bartenders backed up braced by bouncers said  Not in here buddy Take your dope outside

going through the batwing doors he fixed him with his aside See  Dumber than what

Youll see

then more than a couple of astonishing times in foetid Minneapolis or Saint Paul dives they fired up a joint between them  its scent wandered lost amid the miasma of stale cigarette smoke beer booze sweat all faintly tinged by the stink of urine emanating from akimbo bathrooms or the graveled alleyways peeking in through the open backdoors
 

the red lettered EXIT sign above them were bullshit

patrons  they liked being called patrons  came and went

Dumber loved hockey

he was a huge fan

played it in his youth

he sported a wicked scar that ran from his eye across his temple and disappeared into his closecropped blonde hair from a crosscheck while he was up against the boards trying to force an Icing

he watched pro games on TV

its sound OFF
and listened instead to local radio station announcers making the play-by-play calls

he preferred their hardlearned pronouncements and on-the-air slapstick to the pretty suits the dunderheads on television

Yah  Dunderheads  another of his distinct affectations

Dumber loved fat women

it wasnt that he was unattractive albeit slightly walleyed

No  he maintained they were a Whole Lotta Love(a Zeppelin shout out) and were so very very damn grateful

Besides man its a dirty job but somebodys got to do it

he said they made him breakfast the next morning

he said he thought it was a reward for not slipping out in the middle of the night

How do you think I afford Camels when I do  A penny saved babe is a penny earned 

 

Dumber was quick and keen with his selfserving homilies  you could almost see his rat whiskers wiggle checking the hole if was big enough to escape through  and despite their friendship he was quite sure  he probably could be cajoled to say conceited  that someday somewhere Dumber would serve him up one of his homilies hot to his disadvantage

you play with fire youre gonna get burned  but sticking around was far too enticing

when in Season

 

lunch break

on the job

Dumber pulled noisily through his brown paper sack lunch

he pulled out a sandwich wrapped in waxpaper  meatloaf

a dill pickle also wrapped in waxpaper

alongside he had a cellophane sack of potato chips sealed with electricians tape

halfway through lunch he belched  they couldnt have lunch without a wet belch

then apparently finished folding his sandwich waxpaper saving it for tomorrow he grabbed his sack slyly  as if surprised  as if he forgot something  then catching his eye across the pallets of the separately stacked lumber they sat on  he winked at him

that puzzled him

then acting he was reaching deep deep deeper into the worn slack papersack he pulled out a good-sized peach

he smiled as he bit it

it squirted

Dumber made a spectacular mess of eating it  juice sparkled in his moustache matted his soul patch runlets descended the inside of his forearms and dripped from his elbows

he bit he sucked  then nearing its end only bits of flesh clinging to its stone Dumber eyed him and winked again over the mess on his shirt and pants

he got it

Yah I gotcha he said  I still prefer my peaches firm

Dumber played sax

he was quite good

he wasnt shy playing it for him  new songs he taught himself  hed have him over for a couple of beers then play  he liked his feedback  they were both into jazz while most around them seemed keen on the cooling embers of disco and rehashed rock n roll

with the reed in his mouth he set up his chair music stand arranged sheet music clues to jump from  yanked ON the pullchain of the naked lightbulb overhead

he was ready

You ready

Im ready

Lets go man Lets play some jazz

                           and he shut the door shut himself up inside a closet off the livingroom and played  sometimes he played an hour straight

but an hour was it if he really pushed it

he needed a cigarette

when Dumber invited him over to listen to music he usually picked up a pack of Camels as his thank you  the price of cigarettes a six-pak of beer were cheap compared to tickets at a venue

you couldnt get more intimate

quirks aside Dumber was alright

he never played his homily chit on him
Thank God he wasnt sure how hed react

he died of an overdose on the anniversary of his fiancées overdose just before they met

1123,  Sunday,  20  3. 16

 1417,  Monday,  21  3. 16

Dale Cooper Quartet  Sa Vestibule  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkrb3PRg2bY