maybe it was at the angle he was
looking fromhis state of mind
musing but from the sidewalk beside
the main street looking up the cutaway hill above the massive concreteblock retaining
walleasily twentytwentyfive feet high
growing out of the hill at the northwest corner of the towns ignominious
porn shophe could call it by its business name but he rather enjoyed watching
the townspeople flinch when he said porn shop
they had tried real hard to stop it from being located there heaping unprecedented
amounts of cash press inversed advertisement
which benefited and enriched the porn shop owner who brilliantly blindsided the
town it hadnt a municipal statute to
restrain its opening
one more time porn shop
growing out of the hill at its
northwest corner was an enormous digger pine
from below it he marveled not
only at its towering presence but alsohe
wasnt wronghe wasnt seeing it wrong its bemused
countenance the light turning in its
crown the wind pushing its limbs
an intelligence stirring
they made eyecontact
he could have sworn it winked at
him
there was a brief nod to its left
he looked to his right
an old man walking with a cane
a young boyperhaps his
grandson leading him
he looked back to the tree
it smiled maliciously
a branch laden with pine cones swayed sizing up a toss
he looked again at the obliviously
pair the boys lead growing the old man calling to him Stop this is a
parking lot theres cars that might not see you STOP
he looked back to the tree
another wink
the branch swished backthen
forth
a pine cone separated
it arched out then down towards the
parking lot
he had an acute perception of
depth and trajectory
No shit he saidhis breath escaping
him
the sizable pine cone caught the
kid on the his right collarbone chest
he went over like he was
shot only for the shock of being struck
he hadnt started bawling yet
and now the tearsthe cryingthe screaming
the old man had stopped on the
asphalt
then still unmoved he yelled over the boys sobs I told you to stay with me
I told you to walk beside me his voice trailed
off Youd have been
safe beside me
Goodness
he
muttered
he looked back up at the digger
pine
it winked at him again
then it seemed to regard the old
man still standing there
a moving target is harder to hit
it seemed to be contemplating a twofer
he didnt stick around
1224, Twosday,
5 12. 17
1106, Day-between-Two-Ts, 6 12.
17
