as she walked up the sidewalk towards
him from a scarcely disguised warren in a thicket she tucked in above a broken
aqueduct she pushed her stringy disheveled hair out of her face and said Hey
man Are you hungry
in her arms she carried a smudged
worked cardboard box inside of it at a
glance he saw a plastic bag a sliced loaf of bread inside it a green twined bag
of tangerines tops of dented cans
a big black dog limped at her hip
struggling to keep up with her
a homeless woman needs a dog
a homeless dog needs a woman
but neither could fend for the
other if they were attacked and by three dead bodies found either near or in
the creek
homeless people were
targets
targets of either each other or
others
the police werent going to solve
those murders any time soon
those murders put word out on the
streets that the police would rather amplify than quiet or solve
need only understand that homeless
people didnt pay police for protection
though he mused who did the police actually serve and protect
Are you hungry
No thank you Im not hungry
If youre hungry dont be shy
Never been accused of being shy
since I was a stuttering little boy No
thank you I do appreciate your asking
however
Suit yourself she turned made kissing noises with her lips over
her shoulder Comon Mike Lets go boy
they walked off her laboring under the box she had deaths grip on and
Mike under his bad hips
he watched their backs until they
went around the corner
how many times do you hear Are
you hungry in a lifetime
too many times
to count
Are you hungry is asked of you when you wander into
a picnic among family or friends at the end of a long road trip invariably greeting
everyone at the front door the throng the knot then through the hall working your
way back into the kitchen to crowd around or sit at the dinner table a communal
table to break bread crack jokes get caught up get left behind attending all sorts of occasions different venues
camaraderie clutches societies food and drink binding the whole that you might not recognise until youre
eating alone or youre eating alone out
of a cardboard box pleasure not
attending you no table cloths TV
trays no one absently saying Yeah I
could eat to the offer of food
he had to be hungry to eat
he didnt eat to satisfy community
there were few communities he
wanted to associate with
he relished Groucho Marxs maxim I dont care to belong to any club that will
have me as a member
maybe she wasnt interested in
sharing food with him maybe she was offering to sell him some maybe
he couldnt say
he just wasnt that curious this
morning he was preoccupied shuttles of thought stuttering across
his mind and eyes like a badly-cut newsreel grainy and black-and-white
the only colors that penetrated
him were her shocking red hair and the brilliant green woolen pajama bottoms
she wore under her soiled black jeans
she looked like a cacophony sounded
0744, Monday,
21 11. 16
1204, Twosday, 22
President Kennedy assassinated 53 years ago, 11. 16
