the man moved sidewisecrablike he was bristled long stiff hairs fourfive inches like boars
hair stuck up out of the neck of his polo shirt a polo pulled taut that he should never have opted to wear in publicit
did not reach the waist of his pants it contained him like a sausage casing
the man was not attractivewas never an
attractive man a cute boy hed lay money
on it
in each of his hamfists he held a
bottle of Gordons gin one-point-seventyfive litres
carefully setting the bottles on the worked
linoleum countertop the man said Christ
I hate the homelessDont you hate the homeless?
Thats a no-nonsense bull-in-a-chinashop
kind of question out the gate eh Lemme first
wish you a Happy Sunday so I can catch a breath to consider your scurrilous question
Scurrilous?
Making a scandalous claim with
the intention of harming anothers reputation
Christ. They’re homeless. What
reputation? They’re bums and slobs, they’re filthy, uncouth. Goddammit.
no sense interrupting a rant
I lived in Santa Cruz for
thirtyfive years before they forced me out. Fortunately I got a good price for
my house. They’re vermin. They’ve overrun the whole of the downtown. You
can’t cross the street to avoid them.
I remember the clowns They were pretty thick ten years ago But you could cross the street to avoid them
the man glared at him his bristles ticked anxiously like insect antennae
No humourhuh
You miss I lost my house to them?
Your sole reason for movingyoure
living here now I'll guess was because of the homeless
in Santa Cruz
I am living here, yah. If it
weren’t for those buggers I’d still be living in Santa Cruz.
Sounds to me like you had an
opportunity to stand up to thembe confrontational
I’m not confrontational. And at
my age I can’t be. Hell, I doubt if I’ve never been. Likely as a young man I
wouldn’t have confronted them either.
So you cut an ran
indignant
I didn’t.
What do you call it
I call it making the best of a
bad situation. I
hate em. almost docilely his antennae
picked up his slack and began to sway the
big man didnt seem conscious of their motion their eyeless ends roved as if unplugged
wires seeking outlets or upset snakes hoping to flee rather than buckle down and strike
I was happy in Santa Cruz for a
long time.
I yahI cut my losses.
But you admitted you turned a good
price for your home Therefore its not something to tally in your loss column I dont
need to tell you everything changes
The animals shit on graves in the
cemetery.
Every single homeless person didhuh
You might admit there are bad actorsbad
apples
Can you imagine shitting on
someones grave? Desecrating it?
No I cant Though apparentlyan I havent thought of it before
now thats yet another good argument to be cremated as I hope Death wishes sometimes are adjusted by the livingthe survivors placating their comfort Not much one can do when theyre dead
Well. Yah. Dead. the fat man growled Fuckin heroin overdoses will cleanse the gene pool.
Because every homeless person is
a heroin addict and procreatinghuh Take
your gin man Youre dreamin Which we may suppose is better for you than
confronting the problem
Homeless people dont fall from the
sky or spring up out of the pavement fullyformed
1852, Sunday,
15 7. 18
1045, Thursday,
19 7. 18
