he found a young boy hiding in the feral space behind a leaningrotting garage under the overhang of purple lilac bushes and a stick bough of a disfigured pear tree rooting in the cool black Midwestern dirt with a flatware tablespoon he ostensibly had taken from the silverware drawer in the familys cupboard

the boys back was to him

he was a small boy  peering over his shoulder was not difficult

above the rut the boy gouged was a scroll of toilet paper and on the toilet paper a bloodied tooth

occasionally the boy spat

where the spittle coiled he could see it was laced with thin lines of blood

the tooth  the boys

he worked solemnly

he made no noise

the boy set the tablespoon aside and leaned back on his small haunches

then leaning forward he took up the tooth and holding it between his thumb and index finger he put it in his mouth  seeming to try to replace it from where it came

the tooth fell out of his mouth

he picked it up brushed it against his tshirt and laid it back on the toilet paper

then he laid the toilet paper and tooth on the soft pile of dirt he had unearthed and cried

his shoulders shook softly

noiselessly

 

***

 

with the back of his dirty hands the boy wiped his eyes

he picked up the toilet paper and tooth and taking the tooth again between his thumb and index finger he held it for a long moment  then deliberately wrapped it in the toilet paper 

he held it up to his mouth and said something into the wrap he couldnt hear

the boy kissed the wrapped tooth and laid it in the rut he dug

he laid the tablespoon atop it and pulledpushed the loose black dirt over the sacrament with cupped hands

as the little boy rose into a kneel he backed quietly out of the feral sanctuary behind the garage and strode to a tall elm and hid behind its trunk to watch 

 

***

soon the young boy emerged

filthy  distracted  glum

he brushed his hands together brushed the loose dirt from the knees and thighs of his corduroys and briefly shook like a dog

he stomped his feet unfurled the cuffs in his pants and emptied them then recuffed them

he pulled his tshirt up to where his head disappeared into it under its crewed collar and sullenly wiped his face and eyes

when his head emerged he looked down on the tshirt slapped and pinched it to shake the excess dirt free with a grunt acknowledged its filth

the boy looked over his shoulder from where he came

a longing look

he sighed

then with shining eyes he shuffled away

   he did not look back 

 

1541,  Sunday,  23  12. 12