he was weeding working the plants in his yard watering them with a galvanized two gallon can
the weeding it humoured him it was no different than plucking the occasional grey hair out of his chest
and every time he did he found himself caught off guard by the queer hairlessness his American culture desiredits obsessive shaving waxing bare skin an unseemly obsession with impossible youth children arent hirsute he was struck that adults couldnt seem to accept their bodies
“. . when I became a man I put away childish things(Corinthians 13:11 KJV)” teased him
out loud he said Its called puberty
it was the closest thing Americans had to a rite of passage
we werent compelled to kill a lion with a spearaspire to a vision questthere werent life- threatening challenges to attain our manhood or womanhood that other cultures once commended
but then this culture wasnt of his choosing
he was embeddeda weed sown years ago and grown in their midsthis taproot was deep
he kept his head on a swivel looking out for arms that reached hands hoes weeders
that they didnt try to extract him surprised him(tables turned he might have)
they simply flourished grew up all around himtheir hairlessness tats piercings plugs
they spent scads of money identifying their uniqueness although it seemed it was consumed by everyone elses until no one was anything more than just another tree in the forest stereotyped IDd
he was obvious for what he didnt have
unclothed then more obvious by his scars
they were as close as he was ever going to get to a tattoo
he took pride in them their origin and storiestheir unexpectedness
shoving liquor bottles on the counter towards him Wheres your tattoos man
No tattoos he repliedhe smiled I wouldnt have a tribe that would have me
nonplussed the man glared at him
quickly ringing up his order You havent heard that oneGroucho Marx
No I havent No tattoos man
None
haltingly abruptly he paid his bill with crumpled cash Why wouldnt you have a tat
They never appealed to me
You think Im unappealing
handing him his change looking him in the eye Definitely Thank you for your business then he looked pass him to the next customer
Man Youre a freak
No I am not You should take your purchaseyour nonplussed puss and leave the store
Wha Puss Ya callin me a pussy
If you think nonplussed is pussy Sure Why not Please take your disconcertedness and go
Big words man
No Vocabulary If I had a moment Id write them down for you so you could look em up in a dictionary
Fuck you man
So sorry Youre not my type
1504, Day-between-Two-Ts, 17 5.
17
1340 days remaining or fewer Russian buhbye
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