High One Oclock  he thought it was High Noon   but why couldnt it be High One OclockWhy should Noon alone have High

High One Oclock it was Suggitt

he walked into the kitchen over to the coffeemaker on the Formica countertop and saw that he dripped onto it when he poured his last cup

collectively the drips made him smile  he dripped a clowny face  four drops BIG eyes BIG nose and a HUGE openmouth smile it humoured him
                         he couldnt have drawn a better face if he tried

Uhoh Ohshit its attitude changed  
                                    its eyes averted now they were looking directly at him squinting a bit like trying to focus the mouth closedgrew pensive

its expression changed from humoured to disconcerted

Whadafuck Awright Clowny  Whassup  Whaswid da puss

it scowled at him

he really didnt think itd respond to him  asif it heard him

it looked like it wanted to spit
                                he didnt think spitting would be outside its constitution or realm the dripped coffee apparently hadnt dried up
he stepped back

its eyes droppedangled it watched him

the mouth began to move  he heard a mumble a mumbling he couldnt make it outhe wasnt sure he wanted to make it out it hissed  clowns aint suppose to hiss
                                              the mumbling began to grow louder its enunciation improving he didnt wanna hear what it had to say it was grimacing and nothing good could come out of the mouth of a grimacing clown

Sorry booby Ive dabbled more than I can say and ya picked a bad time to communicate particularly wearing the face of a clown Youll have to pick up your game and get back to me

he stepped forwardleaned over its outraged face looking nothing like a clowns now  a demon and snatched a paper towel from its holder 

Bastard! it shrieked loud and clear
                                      he gagged itwiped its face from the Formica he could feel its breath suck up under his hand he balled the towel the face was gone from the counter another breath taken an unintelligible shoutcommand

he held the balled paper towel before his face Shaddup Should have stayed happy contented Not become malicious 

Well see each other againno doubt 

                                     Im looking forward to it
Next time keep a civil tongue

Buhbye
         he flipped the aluminum garbage container lid and ditched the paper towel all net 

he heard a muffled sound though weaker
                                             he figured as the moisture dissipated was absorbed  the voice would stop
taking no chances
                    he reopened the can and grabbed the brown paper bagcrumpling its gaping mouth as he did

he took it outside opened the concrete incinerator best thing about this old house he rented  he tossed the bag inside it flipped his metal Zippo lighter Adios muymuy chachu he could imagine his daughters grimacing That means nothing, Dad not that he cared  meaning nothing might have been the best sendoff he could have muttered

he lit it on fire 
          

High One Oclock,  Sunday,  12  4. 20

Jefferson Starship  Hijack  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUT1xvdrlDA   

there  there   there it was

 #3 

      the three of three he always anticipated

things come in threes

the first was in a Podunk town off the highwayAtascadero where he stopped to relieve himself it stood on a side street up a hill from the junior high   

the second mocked him in Los Alamos again off the highway up from the gas station off an intersection up a shabby road which lead to an old redbrick school building slovenly leaning in the failing light he couldnt help but wonder if it was still operational it reminded him of grade schools back east two-storied though smaller        

now this morning the yellow plasticmoulded turtle appeared yet again begging S  L  O  W almost hidden behind a squat circular padlocked metal box circular and box didnt jive but he couldnt help but loved it was the third of three jived to the sky he only needed to keep his eyeballs peeled 

                                                          Threes happen

he could make out the red beanie atop its head as he approached

curious he recognised that leaving a school zone might be more important than entering one

S  L  O  W    C  H  I  L  D  R  E  N  written inside a yellow cautionary street sign

                                                                                                    he didnt care for that message it reminded him of retarded childrenof his kid brother

he was grateful that leaving a school zone wasnt minimised

                                                                a child is less apt to be wild and woolly heading to school than turned loose afterwards  their time-served behind them

he could barely make out the red beanie just visibly over the top of the metal canister Ah solved the circular and box dilemma

crossing behind the canister he looked again

                                                he saw the yellow lettering  S  L  O  W

Ah this iteration had dropped the red pennant it held in its hands that he witnessed earlier the pennant replaced with a bouquet – bookay  as he saw written on a flower shop window leaving Atascadero – a bouquet of colourful plastic flowers  kellygreen stems and narrow leaves which prior the only places aside from craft stores and dimestores that hed seen them in were cemeteries left by mourners who attended graves perhaps visiting only rarely

                                                                                                           though to be fair he could imagine cemetery administrations probably now had hard fast rules about decorating graves rules meant to minimise them from having to maintain graves lazy muthafuckers he remembered as a boy planting fresh flowers spending afternoons having lunches from picnic baskets  visiting dead relatives  ahwell  class and style have long left other aspects of modern life so there was no sense that cemeteries maintain them either

he remembered someone sayhe couldnt remember who that headstones no longer could be erect rather laid lownestled in the earth so lawnmower blades could pass over them

S  L  O  W

                  go slow  maybe go slow because children today are too deficienttoo lacking commonsense that they wouldnt recognise a car could kill them or S  L  O  W because so few children walk to and fro school anymore  or perhaps drivers are negligent or too wrapped up in their heads to actually see a child that ran out into the road ahead of them 

      he had picked up many dead animals off of streets killed by vehicles

 3 of 3

         case closed

now onto the next selection that begged him to notice

a woman in a second storey window began to disrobe . . .  

        

0800-ish,  Monday,  14  10. 19

1245,  Sunday,  12  4. 20

Sinatra  Pocketful of Miracles  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbbtAMzr3dc