walking into their backyard on invite of the Acquaintance who insisted he wasnt 

insisted rather that he was a friend 

but who he corrected -- a friend -- wasnt a term he was careless with bantered about or readily affixed

Youre odd man Thats why I dig ya Were definitely friends

                                               he wasnt listening

that wasnt something a friend would do

the Acquaintance was throwing a barbecue

he had recently arrived

he was new to the area

to the invite which was personally extended he said  What can I bring Keeping in mind I have to bring something or Im not coming

My wife said everything is covered

So then what is least abundant

Who the fuck talks like that  Abundant

I do  What can I bring

Beer

Id suppose beer is always least abundant as you say  A side if you like We having burgers nothing special nothing elaborate Just a barbecue to get together knock around get to know each other better

he brought iced melons a serving tray and two six-packs of cold beer

he carried them in brown paperbags on bent arms as he walked up from the street

enterimg the yard on a flagstone path through an opened gate at the side of the house at the back of the yard he saw him

beer bottle in hand

everyone  and everything out in front of him

how hed fix it for himself

though less conspicuous

fucking less obvious

the bags complained about the way he gripped him

eyes-on he didnt like him

he was going to make sure if it could be up to him that there would be plenty of ground between them

the cocksucker fixed him right off too

he was alert

amid this civvy life he was On

they were both On

then sudden eye contact

Conspicuous nodded at him

he nodded back

Shit

the burgers smelled good as they cooked over an oak fire

he had a one of the beers he brought

he walked near the fire and chitchatted

his Acquaintance who invited him

his wife was a genuine looker

he liked showing her off

he really liked that he liked showing her off to others

as a possession

thinking mistakenly that he owned her 


he made a point of introducing himself to her

she was oblivious to her husbands thinking

her husband told him her backstory at the office -- something a friend wouldnt -- that she was raised in a firm religious family
she was docile as a doe
the sweetest little thing you ever lay eyes on
sweet like sugar candy

meeting her now his description was apt                                                                                

though hed bet shed whip up into a fine high mountain of pink cotton candy if she ever really got going

got going was part of the brain the Bible affixed lesions to tamped down like cold ashes rendering it sexless 

eradicated it

too bad

No
   she would never see herself as he saw her when she looked in a mirror

if she was told she wouldnt hear it

she was brainwashed

it didntHell no It never mattered at all to her

there was no inverse to her

she was completely His

her husband wasnt her possession
No

he sought to be possessed regularly

he was firmly convinced thats what men did that was their obligation

men who upheld their homes and households in the palm of their warranted hands

he was a whore

hence an Acquaintance

                                                                                                                                                                Shit where did Conspicuous get to

he took his eyes off him when he laid them on the misiz and saw the misiz was more magical than he anticipated

Gawddamn

Ah
       There he is
still skulking at the back of the property near the tall hedge keeping everyone in front of him not to be flanked
or gotten behind

happily he realised he could enjoy his cotton candy reverie unmolested

as the afternoon whiled they did their dance that only they were aware of 

they ate apart 

drank apart

however  need for the head ruined that space

there was a commode built into the detached garage

all the men gravitated to it

he lost Conspicuous in the faltering sundown haze
he was distracted by his full bladder
exiting the garage(it was an elaborate bathroom complete with shower and urinal) they nearly walked into each other on the darkened stoop as he blew his nose into a handkerchief

Hey

Yeah  through the handkerchief

nodding at it  Camo  

-- since he was a kid he preferred large cotton bandannas to a gentlemans white silk why-the-fuck-would-he-blow-his-nose-into-such-a-paltry-snatch-of-fabrick his mother firmly believed he ought to have rather than the handkerchief he did

Having a silk one aint using it Maw he told her Ill never be the Frankenstein monster youd like me to be
Created in your image --

Yeah

Service

there was that inevitable err or mistake or accusation military made about him which he knew they didnt like making

as if Service was the only means to create or required awareness and stealth

No  Not service 

              As a matter of fact  blowing my nose into a camo handkerchief is probably as much as the military would ever get out of me

Conspicuous took offense
as he expected
he wouldnt have expected anything less

Conspicuous stepped back away from him  making room  he stood with his feet a shoulders width apart
on the balls of his feet 
Challenging

he learned all that as a kid from boxing

Conspicuous took on the look all fighters worked on endlessly in mirrors like mesmerised New Zealand Maori warriors to instill terror in their opponents chase their blood to icewater and also to convince themselves they were as terrible horrifying as their tortured scowls and distended features depicted

Intimidation

(Oh the part intimidation is meant to play is apparent at its root   -- timid   make timid)

Friend(Ah his insult)  Its my understanding this is a friendly barbecue
A gathering 

You recognised I conceded the backyard to you  So then dont come up here and act like Im provoking you with a singular albeit clever -- I must say -- remark

Use the head as you intended please

he stepped around him and walked away 

he showed Conspicuous his back

though he walked with his ears on backwards 

taking a man from behind has proven itself a high probability of success

despite cowardly

highly probable

being a soldier unfortunately made one less and less likely to fight in a ring

their techmachines arent made for hand-to-hand combat

as it turned out militaryman -- Conspicuous -- was another related though quickly-forgotten watercooler backstory

another colourful garnish for the plattered burger barbecue his Acquaintance assembled

he obviously was a practitioner of twisting human psyches

part of Managements team

evidently – which is always rife with hearsay – Conspicuous often said everything was small stuff now  nothing to worry  once youve fought your way out of an ambush everything afterwards was small stuff

Acquaintance was duly impressed

he was more impressed with Acquaintances beautiful sexually-repressed wife and played hard with the thought if it were possible she had a wick or a fuse to light

1400,  Saturday,  18  6. 16 
 1119, Sunday,  19  6. 16