walking and reading wasnt
something other people did often or preferred and they made no bones about it
to him because he did
the crux of their argument
simmered down to what he was missing as he walked focused on the words the
story and ideas in the book rather than on the things happening around him
Really he said midday during the
week on courses for the most part I can walk blindfolded(except for the
inexorably wide intersections where automated crosswalks were installed but whose
mechanisms spoke too softly compared to the overwhelming drone of traffic
despite his repeated complaints to city government which he lodged on
behalf of its disabled persons)
I aint missing shit was his usual
reply to their unsolicited remarks
Youre rude
I didnt ask you for your two
cents either did I
it amused him people were
defensive or injured(shit) when he replied abruptly to their provocation
he wasnt born yesterday and his
utility to walk and read he practised since he was a boy it was better than a mile home from any of
the schools he attended and walking because no ride came or went he knocked off
reading assignments a loose piece of paper inside at the back of the book a pen
riding on top his ear to make notes if necessary he was a Swiss Army knife
though walking home today up a
street he didnt frequent walking into traffic along its curb he kicked
something that spun on its axis flatly through fallen leaves that gathered
there
he stopped and looked
a crushed jerked squirrel formed
into a flat disk with its furry tail still intact
Motherfucker
he was dejected that
someone hadnt picked it up off the street and laid it on the shoulder in the
grass or up higher under a tall rosemary plant
but then who the fuck walked anywhere anymore
it was ignoble
no creatureno fuckin earthling
deserved its gore to dry and become desiccate on the edge of a trafficked 25
miles an hour residential roadCocksuckers
because he knew indubitably some peedestrian some shithead had walked
along and seen the squirrel and kept on without a moment to reflect without the
courtesy to do what he would
he didnt have a high opinion of his
species
life was cheaper and cheaper
every year he was alive their skillsets more and more deficient and decrepit
he stooped and picked up the
squirrel
he carried it up the slight
incline probably from where it descended and set it down on the brown grass and he
pulled debris out from under the rosemary
then gently he slipped the
squirrel under its boughs covered it with matter cut a flowering branch and
laid it atop its makeshift grave
he spared it words
its religion and his didnt have
any
1524, Twosday,
27 9. 16
Ben Harper Excuse me Mister https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtPly0WmgOw
