not comfortingNo  not at all 

                             not that he was looking for comfort it rolledup on him abruptly 

thats what reading and walking flung at his feet 

                                                    not that hed tripfall over it was agile like a cat

the paragraph concluded 

                           “Every step traverses death.” 

OHthank you Cormac McCarthy 

his book The Passenger 

                         “Every step . . .” isnt a thing to read while walking 

he knew

plenty of miles have passed underfoot with scarcely a stumble catching his toe

incredulous How do you do that?!

short answer Practise

long story only literature was allowed in his parents home not comicbooksHardy Boys ducked a bullet only literature 

James Baldwins Another Country did not prove to be literature anif a black writer wasnt at home in his parents house 

fuckNO science fiction 

                       so he kept paperbacks in the garage that his dad wouldnt keep his car in because he thought itd fall any day

              an rather than riding his bicycle to a friends he grabbed a canvas bag – as he uses today – tossed books in it to read going an returning

practise makes perfect

he wasnt perfect

but every book he learned was banned he sought a copy and read 

                                                                       they have formed who he is 

an he is untroubled offending anyone because few have the depth an breadth of his unbridledfreed reading experience

   obscenities have made him the man he is today

1510,  Sunday,  28  5. 23

2023,  Sunday

En Vogue  Free Your Mind  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7iQbBbMAFE

he climbed back into bed as gently as he could so he wouldnt wake her  he woke her

sonofabitch 

            her mind once kickstarted went millionmiles an hourthings coursedflung through it through her big beautiful questing braintoo sharp for her own good  was tough to curbto quiet its inertia

Huhwha . what?   Ssssh sorry baby go back to sleep   What . . what’sah . ahwrong?   Nothinbaby   Whaatswrong . you okay?   Yes close your eyes go back to sleep Ill rub your fanny until ya do   Sumptin’s wrong.   Got the night trots thasall   Nitrous?   he chuckled Wheres tha from No love night trots   Nitrous. Oxide. Tha’s funnyyou okay?   I am he suppressed laughing she was killing him   Why nitrous oxide?   Not tha night trots shouldnt have had the hot Italian sausage but I know you like them 

he started rubbing her backher fanny Ssssh go back to sleep Ill tell you in the morning

Morning.

Yes in the morning baby

In the morning.

   Yes 

her breathing became deeprhythmic

 

                                            Motherfuck  another nitrous

AM,  Saturday,  27  5. 23

                                                               1137,  Sunday,  28  5. 23

wetter the better went off the rails

Is tha a thing 

              then in his head he heard his daughter mock him Whenever you wonder if something’s a thing Papa . . it’s a thing. 

Jesus 

       looked it up  Yah

though he knew it by another name embalmed specimen  his high school biology teachercant remember his name offhand   aahMr. Demarestknew itd kick in kept specimens in an humongous glass an oak display case he taught at the same Chicago school in the same classroom for better than forty yearsrumoured since the school was built in 1915 students taking horse and wagons to get there  

   wet preservation 

like a gleefully little girl Preetty!  patting her hands together in excitement 

its different when the earthling curled inside the glass or an organ isnt a scientific specimen but a pet

Roy Rogers had his golden palomino Silver stuffed his german shepherd Bullet too  his wife Dale Evans survived him likely compelledincentivised by the fact he might have her stuffed

   No

         he didnt want that for indie

particularly since hed be dry ashes in an urn

0954,  Sunday,  28  5. 23

https://www.mickeyalicekwapis.com/blog/2015/9/10/wet-specimens-a-general-guide

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3642