a sleight of hand 

                      defined as manual dexterity or skillful deceit

while he was unpractised and not desirous he did train his eyebid his mind to recogniseto see it as so not to be duped

if things didnt add up he didnt shrug his shoulders accept being confounded  let it go  concede    NO 

AGAINplease

if his reckoning failed

AGAINplease

   if three times unconvinced he backed away  he was not entertained despite his frustration he had no animosity  

this afternoon he mentions sleight of hand as he believes it is the only comparison he could make to the thing

   The Thing

he had never rarely used never beheld such a sight 

couldnt have been a man

he believed perhaps a wraith 

                                not a man 

queerly they exhibited a sleight of body asif their motion positioning were augmentedviewed under a sharp strobe light amid broad daylight  where one usually didnt witness a wraith   insubstantial 

                                                                                           creeped him out 

he saw him from his car 

on the side of the road

thought him at first a hitchhiker

then they glitched

he kept going 

a remote country road shy of a crossroad

the figure under the limbs of deaddying trees

littered brushbramble weeds behind him at his heels

   he slowedhe accelerated 

 

he stopped at a roadside dinner outside of the first town he came to

looked a lot like the littered brushbramble he passed

they advertised on a blackboard sandwich board HOME COOKING smeared with erased chalk         

                                                                                                      maybe shabbymaybe tacky but those qualities spoke to him

the gal at the counter the man at the grill stove in the kitchen were ancient 

they did not glitch

had a huge slice of chicken potpie side of mustardcollard greens black coffee  took them at the counter off a stool 

with dessert a huge slice of apple pie more coffee a halffilled juice glass of hooch courtesy of the cook  Tell me whaya think, boy.  he chokedtongue inflamed  then the heat vanished and was replacedfinished with an oddmarl of grains  Goodness  Cant say Ive ever tasted anything quite like it though I like it   Thoughtya might, don’t offer it to everyone, but can seeyasaw.

Seesaw

Seeyasaw. 

            tipped his closecropped gray balding scalp side to side Along the road. 

Side of the road  Yes

Said seeyasaw saw it in your eyes. Was wondering when you were going to say.

Beat me to the punch I was going to ask

Our boy. He was runnedover. 

his wife chimed  Sorry if he frighted ya. He was taken suddenhad a life ahead of him . . seems his way of beingmeans no harm. 

           Sorry if he frighted you. Hes broke in pieces.

after 1400, Day-between-Two-Ts,  18  1. 23

1150,  Twosaday,  24  1. 23

David Crosby  Song With No Words  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNwFItmfAao