irked him

           he didnt like being irked

stupid things irked him

                         he didnt like stupid things

take for instance a large metal-caged grocery cart flipped off a bridge and down into the narrow remaining watercourse channel of a creek

crossing the bridge he often stopped to look down onto a crumbled concrete footing of the bridge that preceded the one he was on or a biscuit a diameter of a tree trunk a metre tall depending on the waters depth a couplethreefour turtles might be sunning themselves on either

he crossed the bridge threefour times a week the library was within a halfblock and the grocery store a quarter mile

the cart belonged to the grocery store

they didnt knowprobably wouldnt care

                                           but who would care  would be the culprit who took something that wasnt his and disgraced it

there were many homeless people living in the area the homeless shelter a couple of blocks west across the main thoroughfare moved them out by six every morning so the facility could cleaned and the place prepared to be inhabited that evening

some of the homeless were disgruntled that they were put out so early

he had no sympathies

 

but who would care and he kept his eyeball peeled would be the culprit admiring their handiwork the classic return to the scene of the crime pissing on a tree carving their initials in it marking their imagined territory

he watched making it a point of walking every day at different times of the day

the guy casually walked over the bridge and stopped

                                                         he was walking on the other side

the guy leaned on his elbows and looked down a big grin stole across his face

he wasnt admiring the artificial reef he created for fries or tadpoles safe from predators in their perfect geometric confines

       NO hed seen that grin too many times as a kid growing up the selfsatisfaction the selfconfirmation which had nothing to do with the self  except the theft

he recognised the guy he laid in the grass at the driveway where it entered traffic where cars leaving the complex that housed the grocery store drugstore smaller venues eateries and Starbucks

                                                                               he had a cardboard sign stood up so he didnt have to a small sandwich board  DISABLED HOMELESS VET   GOD BLESS!

he had yet to figure out his disability 

                                        if someone had money he popped up like an organ-grinders monkey with his mitt extended

to test the waters he once drove over to the store and leaving offered him some food

he kindly differed

                    Got a couple bucksfive dollars?

The groceries Im offering cost more than that

No, thank you. God Bless.

he didnt say to him God helps those who help themselves

 

he discovered homeless' routine

on his way from the shopping complex to the homeless shelter he crossed the bridge and viewed his accomplishment

two and a half weeks into homeless' selfadulation he crossed the bridge and came up behind him

Hey 

homeless didnt have sense enough to startle

they stood side by side 

                          You flip that cart into the creek

had homeless tried to lie it would have been written all over his face

                                                                         to his credit he wasnt a liar though sometimes being boastful supersedes brains or a poker face

I did.

       I did most assuredly. might have been a new word he learned he delivered it with aplomb

Why did you do that

 

Well, because I could.

                        in the next moment homeless was wheeling tin can over ass through the air down into the creek beside his reef

 

when he found his feet in the muck and mud and could standwas glaring up at him an unasked Why                                                                                                                               he shouted down to him Because I could

 

1611,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  16  9. 20