there was little to nothing he could say or do to convince her

if it were a short staircase hed shove her down it from behindshed be able to throw her arms out and grapple at the bannister and handrail  slow her fall  not be terribly hurt

but according to her

                    she stood atop a precipice a darkling void which may or may not be deadly

if she didnt know he couldnt possibly

he wouldnt risk it

she meant too much to him

he stood back

she had to find her way

he was bred in the school of hard knocks

if he couldnt understand at least he could commiserate

he had more practise

he was less compassionate

mercy had slender tenet with him

his worrying chased him outdoors

the sky was marbled  slate grey   a wintry hue

birds cawed and gathered to their evening roosts

the big hawk returned  it was enormous and black amid the sparse upper boughs of a digger pine   or was it a redwood a redwood

a lone hummingbird fed at the feeder projecting out from the corner of the porch railing not three feet from his hands  

she was drab brown she eyed him suspiciously she was unaware that he filled itsuddenly her suspicion was a hot poker slapped on his imploring hands  her manner at the feeder clarifying proving too how unaware he was of her tribulations 

he was on the outside looking in

a woodpecker tapped riveted unseen at some tree limb

the neighbours weeping willows were shabby  they drooped unclothed  unafraid   unbothered by their nakedness

Nature onto herself was never embarrassed by the perception of others

stroking his closecropped grey beard he wished he could summons Its verisimilitude  let her be  let her endure her disquiet and discomfort   let him turn a cold shoulder to the solution he imagined which if he had his druthers he would ruthlessly employ
                                                            a hellbound train

1624,  Day-between-Two-Ts  Pearl Harbor  75 years,  7  12. 16

Savoy Brown  Looking In  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KGQarFvuk

Hellbound Train  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyw-dfXRhks

       dri z  z  l    e

   the rain was noncommittal                          

how many people had she known in her life who were like the rain   drizzling    piddling  candles quivering at the slightest breath that pushed them  challenged them

she balled her fists and dared anyone who tried to challenge or dissuade her because  comically  she was a woman

she was a woman

Stop!  Put it away!  Thats mans work . . .

Thats man work . . . from her perspective men had little work had few things only they could do

tilting her head closing an eye peering sharply through the other like a hawk the only thing she could possibly agree to was insemination

but like milking a cow they could be relieved of that work  the Animal Kingdom didnt have to be the only kingdom dispossessed of its natural tendency and course  men didnt rut didnt fight to possess harems didnt have to prove their manhood spill their singular blood battling  the survival-of-the-fittest

what were their rites of passage

what remained

siring a child wasnt extraordinary or noble

what remained?

the drizzle kept up scarcely wetting the ground  she watched the plants lean back sway side to side their mouths open their tongues stuck out fierce in their hope to fill their mouths  swallow   and quench their thirst

1314,  Day-between-Two-Ts  Pearl Harbor 75 years later,  7  12. 16

Harry Belafonte  Man Smart Woman Smarter  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DK_qqDC1VE