Halloween had brought him fits of
joy since he was a boy
sadlyhowever he mimicked them now
and not one to be taken downrarely reduced to
rubble usually able to keep his chin up
it seemed some thing had taken his number
it seemed some thing had taken his number
like
a cat at a gopher coolly exercising its natural torment leaving all that space for the gopher to
escape into all that hope all that futility
one difference between a gopher
and a human being is that a gopher hasnt a choiceits hardwired to survive
human beings long ago slipped their
noosetheir big brains authoring their consciousness and since selfconsciousness has stomped with
heavy hobnailed boots their survival instincts
human beensbins? laissez-fairefairly-lazy
are maladjusted animals to the extent where any lifetheir life
is meaningless Christ-Believers have doubts
of the Hereafter WHERE? they resort to
making titheawcomon
a hundredthe to cover their soular asses
he owned two 60s VW buses one named Furthur in honor of Ken Kesey You’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus the second Hereafter patiently waiting on cinderblocks
in light of his assighned Uselessness he always tried to keep a sense of humour about him albeit a blackpearled humour
this some thing laid cloaks on his shouldersone over the other sublimating him weighing down his unadulterated joy
fondly he recalled the city Halloween parades(he won three 1st places three consecutive years) beggars nightthe night before Halloweendressed in costume begging candy door to door for Trick or Treat he had tricks prepared so no one could ace him out of candy Halloween was cutthroat then ahthe crisp apples carameled apples in waxpaper Saranwrapped freshbaked cookies and slices of cake seasoned pumpkin seeds flickering Jack-o-lantern faces the ruffling-to-silence sound of the brownpaper grocerybag he carried
he met his wife on Halloween working his first shift as a busboy at Bodega a Miami restaurant off US 1 south of the Checkmate Lounge a live jazz club he frequentedMonty Alexanders trio he dressed as a wounded soldierhead wrappedone eye hidden by a bloodied rag she was the best-looking pussy he ever saw in his life he remembered the costumes she handmade for their daughters how they walked their Minneapolis neighborhood enjoying the madeup children their parent also in costumeenjoying the inspired decorations often wholly elaborate the carved pumpkins smashed pumpkins hairy wiggling spiders propped up coffins jiggling skeletons bony hands reaching up out of front lawns black catsbacks arched swaying ghosts shrieks and cries BOOoooos cackling witches lumbering Frankensteins fairies and pink princesses lions and tiger and bearsohmy hobos zombies vampires headless horsemen wolves Little Red Riding Hoods teethy rats quivering bats paper sacks filled to bursting
Community
his wife died
his niece who celebrated with her boyfriend their anniversary on Halloween her boyfriend spited her destroyed their relationship
his father-in-law died on Halloween night
his daughter a Halloween zealot who enthusiastically took up the torch his wife held her relationship too went bellyup her boyfriend cheated on her and blamed her for his infidelity that knocked the wind out of her sails she couldnt bring herself to devise one her signatureelaborate costumes instead she went to Colorado to be with true friends
it wasnt inflicting a death of a thousand cuts on him
seemed it trussed him and dragged him with ropes to wade in a Chinese water torture
he needed to get his head turned around
ahgreat costume
a man cautiously walking forward watching his back
a man cautiously walking forward watching his back
1215, Sunday,
29 10. 17
1216, Halloween, 31 10. 17
1216, Halloween, 31 10. 17
