bellowedGet out of the streetbroke into a run

                                                   didnt yell at children like that

was a runt squirrel sporting a dismal tail

                                           not the usual bushytail he was familiar withGet out of the streethis streetshoes slapping the rotting asphalt roadWoudya get out of the street looked like a cattail reed beginning to split seed uneven  incongruent

                                                          awfully long compared to its scrawnythin body

                                                                              Gawddammit

closing on the squirrel they scrambled through a burgeoning white Agapanthus flower bedleapt onto a live oak trunkscrambled into the treetops

                                       Good Stay the fuck out of the road

People in cars are assholes

the squirrel perched in the crook of a branch looking down at him

                                                                        he was waiting for them to scold him

neither would understanding what the other said

 

    never did scold

 

before walking again You be careful kiddo

                                                      they reminded him of grimley  a runt kittencouldnt fatten her up

    she died  what was   monthanahaf back

turnedwalking backwardsStay the fuck out of the road

                                                                           that earlier in the week

 

walkingreading  same road

                                lookedupglimpsed over the top of the bookcatch the lay of the landSTOPPED

DEAD

         in the road  appeared a tuft of fur

    tears  couldnt swallow

                                Sonofabitch

crushedbody of the runt

                                    only way he knew

   cattail reed tail

1120,  Saturday – D-Day,  6  6. 26