bad tooth at night

                          a bad tooth gets one thinking of other things to ignore the ache

he took a hot bath sat a shotglass of whisky he sipped from on the edge of the tub  washed the liquor backanforth over the tooth to help anesthetise rolled it round for fiveseven minutes swallowed sipped again

the light from a candle he lit flickered

there was a draft

the strobing reminded him of police cruiser lights

responding to a call

pulling someone over for a traffic violation

                                              an alleged violation

he had won two of three in court

a fourth he didnt fight

                        he was speeding

he didnt feel one should fight when they knew they were wrong

                                                                     antithetical to being honest

and he was that

                   brutally honest

it humoured him to think he was being pulled over in the bathtub by a cop

hopefully by being naked the cop wouldnt frisk him

                                                       though might ask him to pull his cheeks apart

You got anything in there?

Loose change

You tryin to be a smart ass

And

     The Columbia Encyclopedia In One Volume  1946

two of his cats came into the bathroom and started circling one another parrying  dancing

                                                                                               the walls looked like a discoball dappled them

he wondered what the song was they heard

                                                then

a third blundered in  he was big oafish

startled they fled into the hall

the two left towards the bedroom

oaf right

   in the upper corners at his feet he recognised iridescent spiderwebs candlelight trembling on them

the left was a remnant web right inhabitedspider tucked deep into the corner it wasnt biting on the lightmotion in its web

     Hello friend he said  Appleseed was mighty pleased with that corner too

he sippedswished the whisky backanforth

                                             he thoughtwondered if the spider might be a descendant of appleseed  he imagined she was a she

                           how does one sex a spider

these days some boys were pretty enough to be girls an girls butch enough to be boys  which didnt bother him at all

he wasnt looking to get into anyone pants

he had pants

swallowed

took another sipswished

wondered where the draft was coming from steady  meting a steady flickering almost keeping time for the heat as it escaped the water

maybe

          fifteen minutes lefttwothree sips  tepid

pull the plug and out

or pull it empty half refill with more hot water

                                                 maybe the mirrorball ceases or maybe the light would finally entice the spider

tooth wasnt that achy anymore

                                  might be able to fall asleep

the feline dancers were probably in bed fast asleep

                                                         Wha do cats dream of

For tha matter  spiders

1238 or 0038hrs,  Monday,  8  1. 24

1137,  2sday,  9  1. 24