he said his name was Elmer
he misunderstood Alvin
too much loud rocknroll
patiently
No. Elmer.
who names their kid Elmer
Elmer
Excuse me Im Joe
they ran into each other on the
street pedestrians few and faaaar between
he was walkinanreadin
What are you reading?
stuck his finger between the pages bookmarker closed it turned it so he could read the cover The Body Keeps the Score
Oh.
I thought you were reading the Bible.
I thought if you were you could pray for me.
Elmer had a homelessness look frizzyunkept hair crossbreed
they ran into each other a couplethree
more times over several weeks
Elmer forgot Joe
every time would ask him what he was
reading
he showed him the different covers
Oh. I thought you were reading the
Bible.
I asked if you would pray
for me.
Im not a praying man Elmer I can think
good thoughts though
he woke
someone broke a window at the front of
the house
he got upsat on the edge of the bed heldhung from his right a hammer a roofing
axe
whoever picked their way down the hall
his bedroom was the last room on the
right
the directedoverhead nightlight threw
their shadow on the ceiling frizzyheaded
they enteredstopped at the
threshold
Gotcha. You pray?
Me No
You
I’ve asked you to pray for me . . .
Joe
Yesyadid Elmer Had good thoughts for you then
I asked you to pray for me.
You saw the books werent the Bible
unsheathing a knife That’s
too bad for you.
Pray now?
No
You pray
Elmer stepped closer
Not for you.
Too bad.
God gives suicides a hard time
Suicides?
What do you think this is
suddenlyflipped
the axe to his leftslammed it into Elmers cheststood
brought the ballpeen hammerturned sideway down on his skull forehead collapsed watchtower went down into his
eyes bridge of his nose halted its
momentum
assisted suicide
he saw Elmer coming before Elmer did
the knife thumped on the carpeted floor
Elmer dropped to his knees
he didnt think Elmer was praying
2205, Tuesday,
3 6. 25
1212, Sunday,
8 6. 25
