four crows cawed cawcawed at him from their perch atop the crossbeam of an electrical pole

he had just lit a corncob pipe fingered with Black Jack tobacco

maybe they knew earlier that week his kid brother had been diagnosed with lung cancer

Baked in the pie he hollered at the black chorus(he favored pie to cake)

baked in he conceded not a damn thing anyone can do

senescence

folded in genetically

                (they licked the slick off their fingers of the batter that remained in the ceramic bowlabout the only time and way he liked cake  there was nothing to lick when the pie crust madesifted flour powdering the waxpaper)

he took the pen from behind his right ear

his hair was finally long enough to help hold it

he had a couple of weeks before his girlfriend would say Isnt it about time you got your hair cut

she preferred his hair short When its long it hides your handsome face

handsome 

an inducementa delicate coercion

flattering

he wasnt budged by flattery                      

he liked to please her though

it didnt matter to himnot really  he couldnt even call it a compromisea concession  

there was a reward  it piqued her sexuallyshe mauled him unmercifully

unmercifully he mauled her in return

he bound her  tugged her hard nipplesouch  had his wayevery way he wantedfor the price of a haircut

a worthwhile bargain

when he slipped the pen from behind his ear

right hand to right ear

                 the suddennessthen passing it into his left hand unnerved the murder and they cawcawed andatonce lifted into the blue sunlit air as if pulled up on invisible strings puppets snide puppetspuppets taunting his brothers cancer  troubling him that maybe his healthhis life would be threatened by pipe tobacco

yah  something was going to kill him

it wasnt going to be tobacco

a murder of birds didnt incline him to think otherwise

he was firstborn

he robbed the topshelf because he could

there wasnt a moment of pause or regret

if one went before him he would have expected slim pickings

there were no guarantees or assumptions anyone was going to follow behind him

he took whatever provisions he could carry that were necessary to provide for himself as he headed into an untread unknown way

who could fault him for his preparedness
                           only those who might later follow him later into the holdthe lard  the depleted stock

he had no guilt

he had empathy

No  you cant eat or survive on empathyits better to have than accept 

1449,  Saturday,  21  10. 17

senescence: the condition or process of deterioration with age       

Grahan Moncur III  Exploration  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7O5d3JokJw