she damnnear knocked him off his
pins
he cleared his throat while trying
to put down the riot careening inside his skull bottlerockets ricochetingexploding a caustic riot buying him a sliver of timeenough
time to size up her remarksize it up in reference to boys sixth grade boys punks the kind of punks that when he was a kid would have been brokengot their punkness beat out of the them adults would threaten them but theyd get beat by schoolkids older boys he granted his optics werent commiserate with the time he grew up in a different time a
different city in a different social climate
when he could finally speak he barkedhis voice brokeYou said irredeemable
I did They are irredeemable
Theyre sixthgraders
Yes Irredeemable sixthgraders Make no mistake Weve contended with them for years and cant seem to impress them or even separate them
Their parents
Their parents are moving targetstheres a parent . .
. . Their mothers
Yes Mothers
And what about their fatherstheir biological fathers
Long gone if ever present
I hear you say that with some heaviness
Between you and I Ive known of more spermdonors than have actually met Or fathers You shouldnt shake your head you really have to understand that you come to this while having been a fatheryour children having two parents committed parents You have to be able to throw that away when regarding these boys Those circumstances have never existed for them Not these boys
Its harsh But they are irredeemable
he heard her though was still distractedremained in his head trying to tie a knot around irredeemable trying to slap down its sidelong Im-too-busy glimpse as she spoke a glimpse now all-too-commondistraction all-too-commonpeople unable to keep their attention far too-common
it seemed the country was languishing insipid growing more callous
yet hed still argue all life was
pricelessargue vociferously against those who called it cheap(their lives
werent cheap others lives were)
he argued that technology was helping assuage their beliefs like a cheap fix
he was offensive on purpose
he readily brandishing a fix mainlining skin-popping werent people staring only into screens they wanted to see SCREAMINGscreens that upheld supported their views But who who was SCREAMING?
he watched the awful light play on their faces patterned recirculating regurgitated
he watched a lot of people stumblescuff their toesscrap their soles on the streets coarse uneven concrete
Aw comon he wanted to warn them Pick up your feet while you walk
but he would
he was liberal
he wasnt hurt when others tried to use it as a cudgel against him warning him Thats not the hill to die on
No he replied If not it then what hill
he had to live with himself
he knew right from wrongwhat was true he couldnt help but do what was right he couldnt subvert it
he conceded people had their reasons that they wouldnt concede a damn thing was one of them
Hear ye! Hear ye! irredeemable Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Moms and Dads! Step right up! Step right this way!he was a carnival barker wearing a garish red-an-white striped suit Step on up! Step right this way! he had a long black cane that he used when irredeemable pushers greedy to be first in line tried to get ahead of the resthe stuck it in the middle of their chests and shoved them back hardNotsofast! Not so fast! You have to wait your turn Allingoodtime Wait your turn an all in good time boys! and when shoving them back didnt belay them he cracked them on the sides of their thick bony skulls irredeemable sounded like empty gourd Stepbackboys Step back! You have to wait your turn an ifn you cantifn you wont Ill take this cane here and smash yer skulls till theres eggyolk everywhere Hear ye! Hear ye! Step right up! Step right up!
All in good time boys!
All in good time!
he hoped he wasnt becoming immune
2300, Sunday,
8 10. 17
1521, Twosday,
10 10. 17
Emerson Lake and Palmer Welcome Back My Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VsifANR96s
