they were fine eucalyptus a scant three years earlier when they moved to the north end of town after a fire snacked at all of their worldly possessions

they tried very hard to appreciate everyone telling them that what they lost were only things and how fortunate they were they escaped with their lives

thats what really mattered

many were lame senseless words(forgetting that two of their three cats perished despite him rushing into the burning house) which one might ought to expect from out of the mouths of gadflies who descended on calamities or tragedies to then be able to turn around and tell others they understood firsthand because survivors had confided in them

GodBless

she managed to get around all sides of him at once HOW? tied him up tightly reasoning him out of going to their houses and burning them out so they could qualify their braying with actual suffering

Dont you think we have enough troubles

                                    if he didnt know any better hed almost think

she was the sane one 

 

the evening they met he entered a fray belated between her and three cholos she jumped as they were pounding on a fourth

afterwards                                         

          why they were beating him she hadnt a clue
she didnt care
what mattered was that it wasnt a fair fight
and if someone didnt get into the mix the boy down on the sidewalk being stomped was going to be hurt badly
 

they held their own until a police cruiser pulled up

the cholos fled

the police didnt convene in a foot chase figuring between the two of them and the beaten kid they could catch them later

they were no help

he told them Frankly at night a Mexican looks like a Mexican yaknow like whitey looks like whitey

humourless

the kid had nothing to say

he acted knocked out

acting class didnt go long 

 

he gave away righteously in the ER to IV-administered painkillers

the police said theyd get his statement later

Ya speak Spanish

We have people

later they heard their people didnt get a word  NADA

the kid skipped between hospital shifts

he told her he knew they shouldnt have left him on the first floor like putting birds next to feed and thinking they wont eat

as he thought 

            if he didnt know any better hed almost think she was the sane one

 

the eucalyptus were immense

they assumed them nearly one hundred years old basing their age on the citys founding

behind them on the side of the street where they stood nothing tasted sunlight

walking up on them it looked as though they were feral shaggy lions guarding either side of a fantastic black cavern you didnt dared enter

kids balls rolled up in between them and beyond and the kids either found others balls to play with or went home

if kids were smart enough not to penetrate its atmosphere

why would they 

over their heads in twisted branches some thirty thirtyfive metres off the ground among their opposite sessile leaves roosted scores and scores of black sinister-looking turkey vultures whose excrement spattered white on the broken asphalt road below

however sometime in the last year one began to struggle  failing

tossing her branches down haphazard
forcing people not to park their cars straddling the soil and the edge of the road under her(he had no reason to suspect she was a she as if trees had sexes but she was more aromatic  moved nicer danced luxuriously when the winds came up) and (as if the vultures bowels hadnt convinced them earlier  --  imagine tie-dyed randomness)

he  the eucalyptus beside her  tried to give her his health

he managed to keep the sickle-shaped leaves nearest him blue  those limbs supple  while away from him on her north she turned her head hid herself masked and quieted her tears from him

he imagined at night he could hear him tell her to be brave  he was there he was there (despite their mallee  their shallow roots)he wasnt going to leave her alone he wasnt going anywhere

then some weeks ago construction horses went up before them lining the edge of the road cheap paper signs taped to them written motley  No Parking

he could only to assume they were placed for the benefit of Idiots

then roadblocks were made at either ends of the street providing  Local Traffic Only

then a huge diesel truck mounted by a hydraulic rig an extending bucket rolled slowly into place

the trees were cut down into a pair of stick monoliths fifteen metres tall

then a week later a smaller truck a smaller hydraulic rig and bucket appeared and wasted them to the ground with screaming chainsaws 

 

FREE WOOD black marker on yellow paper was tacked to their stumps still three feet up out of the earth almost two metres oblong

and as this slaughter took place

the newspaper hadnt any information

City Hall had No Comment when he asked specifically why they were both cut down

in the meantime the local television Five O’Clock News busied itself with the broadcast of a murder suicide in the neighborhood   a shooting

the information splashed as Real News Real Stories  pomp and circumstance  while Police Authorities declined to say anything more than it was a murder/suicide

he told her flatly
              This aint a murder suicide
No matter what the sensationalism or fear theyre tryin to stoke
Comon  The last murder in this community was committed three years back by a fuckin werewolf commanded by the Voice of God to kill his next door neighbor because she was a vampire I suppose it didnt help matters that his parents he was living with kept an unlocked gun cabinet in their house  No  The last murder prior to it is more than twenty years off a man beat his wife to death with a hammer Suffered a psychotic slip his attorney said  No  Police reports revealed hed been beating on her for years Guess he tired of hurting his hands Hell serve his sentence till hes dead Aint ever walking on that murder  No

Youre in rare form arent you
 

Im upset
Id say and Im sorry to say This is a love story An elderly couple She was suffering and they or he decided she shouldnt have to suffer any longer A mercy killing Then he followed her immediately Too bad physician-assisted suicide isnt at play Better yet fuck physicians Keep em out of it Pharmacies ought to have pills on hand to ease death for those who want it Its my life I do what I want The Animals

Sorrowfully reminds me of the eucalyptus

Youre so sure

You know me I rarely ever have gut feelings  My bellys groanin my hearts wounded

afternoon,  Twosday,  16  2. 16
0234,  Saturday,  20  2. 16

The Animals  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3GNKUE-d9c

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article60710836.html

music  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d6qtfjg_10&ebc=ANyPxKpsdQ89XMPXPSXyKTac6CD3lMB5iNySs9GiM-u8e4qOHyTdNh_x7_5q7WAcSDP_bOUmMnKNl5_XuK9Q2W2zKVLLOs7ndw







 

it wasnt that she was unsociable  she explained                               

                                         she was sociable
if she wished
on her own time
 

her manager sitting cross from her in his office trying to rub the crease from his brow with his thumb gave her a pained confused look

Howbout we try this on for size she said

I gave you my pitch

You hired me

For a specific job

I do the workto a level    exceeding your expectations

but my coworkers

feel

Im not sociable

Okay

I confess I have little concern for punching a clock performing for others who have functions Ill assume to provide for our employer who  though absent as they maybe  are happy and arent complaining about my efforts

he nodded though the pained look continued in his eyes as if he were a longing puppy waiting for her to flip him the ribbone she gnawed at at a barbecue in someones greenlawned backyard

not that she would give a dog a bone

or attend a barbecue other than she and her boyfriend had made together to share

he worked she worked

both they often worked late

but neither tolerated office politics to the detriment of their relationship

there was nothing untoward about them

unless perhaps someone dared to accuse them of being selfish of their time together

she pushed her rollered chair back exacting a sharp metre

Then

If there is nothing more Sir

I have work accruing on my desk that others prefer I do because it might tax them

Not that they cant

Just that it taxes them

Thats as much office politics as I play

she was to her feet straightened her skirt extended her hand to shake his without him rising while thanking him for his valuable time

and gone

he wondered how that went

when he had called their meeting

evening,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  17  2. 16

 2257,  Friday,  19  2. 16

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble  Sirocco  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDCXr_-1a8s