the old farmhouse creaks and
groans
it sounds like two older lovers
remembering their bright yellow days and at it and at their lusty kisses their
caresses and clutchings they recognise their bodies arent what they were their
flesh no longer tight or as wet their hands not as strong or as skillful their
backs not as elastic
their passions were there
passionately
humbly grateful
the farmhouse sounded something was at the failing screen door
not the wind
it wasnt its usual tremble and
slap
he kept thinking he wanted to fix
it but not fixing it told him it was only his thinking reminding him he liked
its aged reassurances guardian at the
door
why would he want to fix that
he crossed the uneven woodslat
floor covered by small islands of odd throwcarpets to the door he had caulked
so many times and repainted that it looked as if it were weeping
standing before the door he bowed
his head listening
who would possibly have come here
this remote farm and not knock at the door to announce themselves
he fingered the straight razor he
carried in his hip pocket
Hello he called into the door and paused to listen
no one responded but seemed to stand opposite him then moving
off the stoop listening as he listened
Hello
Youd be wise to acknowledge me
before I open this door I would look unkindly on any
mischief
Im not kind to begin with
the screen door trembled but not who stood outside it
it was his home
it had been in his family for two
generations before his brother took it upon himself under duress to sell it
cheap for cash
family is just people he
cautioned his siblings
he convinced the new owner to
take a substantial return on his investment or else and moved in
the farmhouse wasnt owed by
family any longer
it was his home
the weeping door wasnt locked
never was why lock a door that couldnt withstand a kick of a hobnailed boot
he turned the brass doorknob
opened the door within and stood widefoot in the threshold behind the patchwork
screen
it was deep beyond dusk the colors
had seeped out of the western sky behind him
he could make out ahead of him
the darker stand of trees he thinned two falls ago for firewood this past
season for their health staking seedlings across the yard chickenwiring them to
keep from deer
but there was something more
something it seemed draped an indistinguishable silhouette
upright on the flatstones he worked into the
grass he handmowed just that afternoon
it was getting shaggy
Yawanna speak your peace
it shifted a bit side to side but
remained mute
If yer not from these parts Id
appeal to commonsense It dictates Dictators
aint pleasant fok
it seemed to enlarge but not by moving forward
he bounced his leg a bit on the
ball of his foot reassuring himself of his blade
he knew he was voice in a doorway
to whatever was out there because he hadnt turned on any electrical lights or was
burning a candle
they were matte blackness facing matte
blackness in the haunts of lethal nightbirds and foraging bats
Well now stranger move along Yave exhausted the extent of my hospitality I bid ya a goodnight
he stepped back into the house
and snugged the door shut
he kept a sawedoff in the corner
of the house that he could put his back into if necessary by design
it wasnt far to come in any
direction across the open room but itd be hellish trying his hand
he already shuttered the windows
the screen door continued its
quivering like an extended antenna its eyeballing of the big black presence quiet
in the yard but since he too fixed it in his spine theyd be quite the tandem enjoying favorable two to one odds
hed planned cold food that night
for dinner so burning a beeswax candle on the diningtable on a slice of wood
that tickled his fancy from the grove he busied himself with its fixin
ham and beans and bread root a
pitcher of cold milk
he planned to have a pipe and
whisky too on the porch
an maybe he still would
then he heard the scream of a
rabbit taken by an owl and he decided he would a pipe and a whisky
it reminded him timid things became
prey
he warnt timid not timid on his
land and certainly no in the face of a mute stranger
he ate the cool white fat
he always disliked that people
trimmed it seemed ungrateful if
he were feeding them and they wasted pieces of him hed want them to choke till
their eyes bugged
eating he wondered why that thinking
came to mind
sitting there he held his hands
up
they were steady
he wasnt uncomfortable or
fearful peeved yah
but nerves werent twisting him
he was looking forward to his pipe
and whisky
he put the boned ham back in the
refrigerator washed up the few dishes there were and silver and returned to the
table to wipe it down
he took the whisky bottle by its
neck pinched a glass by its lip patted his shirt pocket with his free hand to
confirm his tobacco pipe and matches
he went through the door leaving
it open and through the screen it slapped shut behind him
he dragged the chair out from
under the wood table on the porch sat poured three fingers packed his pipe
fired its bowl inhaled exhaled took a sip
then raised his eyes to the dark
then raised his eyes to the dark
if tall black was there he couldnt
see it maybe when the candlelight went out of his eyes
he didnt hear it
smoking and sipping enjoying the
night he tilted back in the chair on its two hind legs and mused remembering what
his Grandmother said what she told him once sternly an she was never stern
with him she didnt have to be when he was a boy about Death knocking
if that was Death standing out
there maybe he preempted it
who was he kidding
he didnt
he finished his whisky bit his
pipe stem poured himself a shot rocked back onto all fours and standing up he
walked back over to the screen door
facing it he held his glass up
out to it
he pulled his pipe from between
his teeth
Door Id like to propose a toast Ive always had affection for you Thank you for having my back
Door Id like to propose a toast Ive always had affection for you Thank you for having my back
Ahfer Christssake for once you got nuthin to say
it didnt
Fine then To my guardian
Death hadnt moved
It watched this soul turn away
from the door walk back down the porch take a seat again pour himself another
drink relight his pipe then tilt back against the wall and exhale a blue plume
it wasnt much fun taking life
from something that wasnt afraid
It supposed the rabbit would have
to do
and left
and left
1537, Thursday,
3 3. 16
0046, Friday, 4 3. 16
0046, Friday, 4 3. 16
