he walked into a narrow gangway formed
between a concrete block retaining wall and the side of a church basement
the gangway lead to an array of steep
uneven pouredconcrete steps that would lead him up to ground level – the oldest
church in the community – before churches opened in available storefronts on strip
malls or tents pitched on property belonging to absentee landlords
Gawd giveth and He taketh away
the gangway was sliced into an
atmosphere of suspended gloom and brilliant exuberance by sunlight at his left painting
the church wall cast through old tall trees
he paused at the head of the
gangway
at his feet an iridescent
shimmering snail trail was revealed it ran in delicious
eclipticsround and roundpassing over itself and revealing its escape path into a
stand of ivy
he couldnt help but wonder how
long it took the snail lay its track
and as he wondered in the fallen brittle live oak leaves a thin brown
lizard broke into a noisy run ahead of him in the gutter at the foot of the retaining
wall it scampered just ahead of him he
walked hot on its heels all four to where the lizard had to pullup arrested by an abrupt concrete step
turning to face him it assumed Godzillas
fighting pose mouth openmenacing
sides heaving sucking breath
Its awright buddyboy he told it Life aint no different for me Relax Ill not hurt you
1431, Thursday,
13 6. 19
1139, Day-between-Two-Ts, 3 7.
19
