leaning over to pick it up off the gravel poorly maintained road he thought someone was going to be really upset  probably put their iPhone on the roof of the car and drove off forgetting they had

it was straitjacketed tucked inside a safety case

it was still on locked

                      hed finish walking to the market and on the way home drop it at the police station he assumed they had the technologythey had a sophisticated ex-military armored riot vehicle to get into it before the battery ran cold 

it was fully charged

standing upright he tossed it into a Trader Joes canvasbag that hung over his shoulder

before he went back to the book he was reading as he walked he slipped out a halffolded piece of paper he carried inside it to make notes to write the addresses east west sides of the street two apartment complexes he wasnt that good a Samaritan to rap on door  so happens in this red town fearful town an unexpected rap coud get one shot 

Why do you keep living there, Dad? his girls asked  You have nothing in common with the majority of them.

I do I do  They irritate me so I irritate them

   noted he put the paper back in the book but before he began reading he caught out the corner of his eye the next house south  east side 

                         a twostorey flatfaced dull brown house no invitation there not even to Trick or Treat if that were a thing anymore it squat on the foremost lefthand corner immediately after the dirt drive that ran there was no garage up along the side of the house and behind it a sixfoot vertical plank fence began it looked like a line of cemetery wood gravemarkers over the top of it he saw rusted corrugated outbuildings beyond  it was easy a square acre lot easy 

searching his memory he couldnt say hed seen as foreboding a house outside a ghost town 

                                                                                                 ghosts would be receptive

his were

          made it their business to remind him he was only renting their house 

My spooks likely he thought wouldnt want any part of this joint 

   bringing the book up to his face he began readingwalking again had no sense of being watched 

                                                                                                          ghostless

 

1235,  Monday,  10  4. 23

1407,  Thursday,  4  5. 23

Man  theres something you don see every day 

                                                  he was leaning over the bridge railing looking down into the creek  it was subsiding  not two weeks earlier it had breached its hard droughtdried edges gobbled earth cut concave banks altered its waterway created new benches bars fell old trees

What are you looking at?Jesus . . . look at all the crap.

Yah Were slobs

Is that a mattress?

wedged under two fallen trees opposite banks crisscrossed

Yup

Look at all that shit the creek aint big.

No

      The proverbial everything and  and  the kitchen sink 

The homeless flednot a hope in hell of gathering their things  I understand ya can see water was up eightnine feet from wha were lookin at

                       Ma Natures fury

   It looks like a panicked washerwomans line  disorderly   crap flung over it helter-skelter

Nobody died.

I don know havent heard though asya know it was broadcasted an atmospheric river  Paints a helluva picture 

Id also assume city county shelters woudave laid the law down apprised people It was an imminent threat

You looking for anything particular?

Puttycoloured things spoiling

Putty people.

Mebbe bleu cheese 

OhChrist. 

Beyond His help

  Jesus.

              And that said I’m sorry, you said something you don’t see every day?

This oak left tha downswept branch

Yes.

Follow it  Yasee it

  O man.

Not every day

Ohhell no.

eight feet above the quick water a black bra swayed from a tip of a smaller branch

1405,  Thursday,  13  4. 23

1044,  Thursday,  4  5. 23

https://www.noaa.gov/stories/what-are-atmospheric-rivers 

Missouris abysmal mistake 

                              HEY, I’ve got an idea! We can ban books, defund libraries, it’s our way or the highway.

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173274834/book-bans-library-funding-missouri-texas-ashcroft?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hub%20Daily:%20May%204%2C%202023&utm_term=lithub_master_list

   and thats the way it works 

                                Republicans have held the gerrymandered-reins of state for 20 years  supermajority of the houses                                           

it don make them Supermen Superwomen 

                                                Superarbiters

from where he stoodway he grewup  deybe WRONG 

                                                        taught to read by his parents very young no book ever taken off the menu dinner table conversation every night evenif his father dismissed him without dinner for his adamant stance against Vietnam his parents had no intentions of raising lopsided ignorant children whoif they chose also wouldnt raise slouches

       

1004,  Thursday,  4  5. 23

https://www.newstribune.com/news/2022/nov/10/republicans-maintain-supermajority-in-missouri/ 

Amendment 3  https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/gerrymandering-away-missouris-future