he walked past a window that gaze inside the basement of the Community Church

he had come up on the church from the parking lot behind it and going around behind its back he descended the aged concrete steps onto a narrow walk hemmed by a retaining wall crowned with rosemary that ran along its side

it is the oldest church in the one hundred and ten year old city  

framed in the last window he walked past was strict ladderbacked wood armchair

it didnt look comfortable 

perhaps it was a penance chair

                                 a penance chair like the penance corners he stood in as a boy at homewhen crossed his parents or grandmother his uncle or aunt or any of the long parade of elder relatives who on occasion either lived there or visited his grandmothers twoflat  and the corners where he also stood in at school when he defiantly crossed his teachers

he had ideas of his own

                          they sent him to the cornersthe blinders to think hard about what he did wrong  he knew what they thought he did wrong before he was made to stand in them  the benefit the punishment provided him was the time to ruminate on why his particular idea had to be punished  why he was forced to wear a DUNCE cap 

their intention was to shame himdiminish his gall to dare to express his thoughts out loud

fortunately for him he was able to put down his confusion early    

despite what his family or teachers said or implied  that it was critical he challenged authority  he wasnt to challenge theirs

He can be a difficult child his teachers told his parents during school conferences

He can be a difficult child his relatives told his parents during telephone calls or when they visited 

it takes a village to raise a child

                                 and when he was made aware of that he believed the touted village meant to raise him would be people who didnt know him and rather made objective perceptions regarding him it wasnt meant to be a village of intimates  of subjective perceptions  by those who might be concerned that he would badly reflect on them  and they didnt want that therefore prejudiced they sought to wrangle him to perform what they wanted from himwhat the needed from him

and he thought  Its my life I do what I want  

were meant to live our lives for ourselves to become the best we can be for ourselves     

he wouldnt take a knee  no matter how many corners he was forced to stand in

he imagined  blinkered  it could be worsehe imagined devises and plots to break him to form him in their mould
to create his service for them

NO his life wasnt going to play out the way they wanted

                                                             thank gawd for interesting corners

the chair in the church window

he thought an electric chair would be more appealing

1518,  Twosday,  30  10. 18

1116, Day-between-Two-Ts,  31  10. 18  Happy Halloween!

The Animals  It’s My Life  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxJxcvS8gck