Awright he thought as he tapped a fivegallon white plastic bucket with his foot Whodthought Id see this again yet alone within a hafhour of the first

                              also A third time wont be a charm No luck involved AT ALL

the first was a discarded box haphazardly tossed into a leggy bush

whoever threw it didnt intend to hide it

the box was just off and up from the intersection of the city sidewalk and the entry/exit of a grocery market parking lot

homeless commingled there

                             couldnt begin toYes  yes he could hed have to guess  four    maybe five times twothree squads fourfive cops rousting one two three homeless men

he walked through themthey had taken up the whole of the sidewalk from curb to dirt and crabgrass

                                                                                                           Excuse me gentlemen he said prior to entering their knot taking the book down from his face that he read as he walked

he zigzagged

               the cops the apparently about-to-be arrested were agog he walked through them he wore tandem expressions Aint-none-of-my-business  Im-walkin-here

he emerged unscathed

it was the discarded boxs colourful almostJapanese-label that caught his attentionhis attention always ridden by his curiosity I wanna see Whastha Wannabet

he crossed the smutty weedy crapgrass   yardfor lack of an alternate description to the bush and the box and tipped it with the toe of his boot

                         inside were crushed beer cans empty beer bottles emptied clearliquor pints paper fastfood wrappers AND a hefty fan of scratched Lottery tickets  had to be two dozen or more  made him think if spiralbound would have made a decent stenopad or cops ticketpad

                                                          who knew that booze and lottery tickets went together kindalike bums on baloney sandwiches  peanut butter and jelly   Ariane and Sephora

the plastic bucket looked like a castoff painters bucket but was clean-as-a-whistle inside

it stood on end in the middle of a disusedcorrupting parking lot in front of a derelict storefront a chaineddown padlocked Commercial Real Estate sandwichboard stood on the shallow porch

the continuity couldnt be more disparate Wonderwhy

                                                       he did

stepped over a chain bellied between two rusting posts guarding either side of the drive  a paintedflaking metal licenseplatesized sign NO TRESPASSING was bolted to the chain

evidently trespassing was allowed

the bucket wasnt Star Trek teleported

he looked inside it GUESSWHA

                                    more empty beer cans liquor bottles scratched Lottery tickets

did the state know thawas a thing

he sure as fuck didnt

Does a bums luck ever change

1430,  day-between-2-Ts,  15  11. 23

1045,  Reggaefriday,  24  11. 23