he was trying to stay focused

she wasnt helping 

her bra was too sheer for her formfitting white blouse

she wasnt deliberately trying to sway his attention

he was naturally very observant  naturally a raging heterosexual male shot-through-and-through-and-through with testossedterone  a can of kerosene

and she was a lit match

she reminded him of a job he held  he coordinated security for college student-housing

he was required to sign corporate paperwork

he signed Under Duressin fact Under Duress writ larger than he signed his name

What are you doing his manager asked

What are you doing this is horseshit  A sustained glance  What the hell is a sustained glance

You know what a sustained glance is

I dont  Whos the arbiter of that

It aint staring I know staring

Where did this come out ofWait  Dont tell me  Lemme guess Maintenance  So management has a problem perhaps received a citation and rather than address it detail it to an individual or individuals it gloms on the paint and whitewashes everyone

It refuses to point an appropriate finger                                                                                       

Under Duress is legit                                                                                                                            

It aint getting any better than that

I cant accept this

Youll have to  I signed it as you asked  If it seems Im prevaricating then no more than corporate  Some bigwig can travel down here from Sacramento and demonstrate for everyone a sustained glance 

Now  if everyone agrees  his or her sustained glance is sustained   Id assume they also signed the same paperwork they demand we sign and if our company assembled agrees that they demonstrated a sustained glance  well then     from the text we signed its grounds for firing

If I were you Id shuffle it in with everyone elses and let corporate catch it or notId bet not  But then you can equivocate He did sign it and if a bugs that far up their ass they can dispatch some underling to address me

Legally I can sign anything Under Duress if I legitimately feel under duress  And I do

she shook her head Always the hard nose youre always the hard nose  You have to be the fly in the ointment

Thats tried and tired Be more original

I havent time for originality

And you havent time to saySomebody has to say  Im disappointed more dont

she looked down cast her eyes on his paperwork  Last warning  Ill submit it

he didnt hear her

he turned and was already out of her office

he was a sloppy can of kerosene and she was a lit match

it wasnt her fault how she was built she could try to hide it many women did

but she embraced her statuesque build

he was a fan

she skirted the edge of the gathering and like metal drawn to a magnet she approached him

Hello she said

Hi  How are you

Lost  Apparently

Great  I love the blind leading the blind  Can you read braille

she laughed she didnt cover her mouth

her stock vaulted in his estimation

she wasnt helping matters

Youre not heading this up

I get that  I get that often  Im not

I dare say Im like you a want-to-be-activist looking to be shoved in the right direction by someone whos been around and can turn us in that direction utilise our passion

You passionate

he didnt cross his fingers

I am passionate  I approached you because  well er    because you seemed most impervious

Impervious

I cant read braille

You have other attributesImpervious  Ive been called a lot of things in my life but never impervious

Take it as a compliment    she smiled  Can I stand with you

Of course  There are some things Im not impervious to  he smiled   Apparently youre one

Thank you  That makes me happy

they explored much happiness together

1256,  Saturday,  19  11. 16

Ben E King  Stand By Me  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZNL7QVJjE

as she walked up the sidewalk towards him from a scarcely disguised warren in a thicket she tucked in above a broken aqueduct she pushed her stringy disheveled hair out of her face and said Hey man Are you hungry 

in her arms she carried a smudged worked cardboard box  inside of it at a glance he saw a plastic bag a sliced loaf of bread inside it a green twined bag of tangerines tops of dented cans

a big black dog limped at her hip struggling to keep up with her

a homeless woman needs a dog 

a homeless dog needs a woman

but neither could fend for the other if they were attacked and by three dead bodies found either near or in the creek

homeless people were targets 

targets of either each other or others 

the police werent going to solve those murders any time soon 

those murders put word out on the streets that the police would rather amplify than quiet or solve

need only understand that homeless people didnt pay police for protection

though he mused  who did the police actually serve and protect

Are you hungry

No thank you  Im not hungry

If youre hungry dont be shy

Never been accused of being shy since I was a stuttering little boy  No thank you  I do appreciate your asking however

Suit yourself  she turned made kissing noises with her lips over her shoulder  Comon Mike  Lets go boy  they walked off her laboring under the box she had deaths grip on and Mike under his bad hips

he watched their backs until they went around the corner

how many times do you hear Are you hungry in a lifetime   

too many times to count 

Are you hungry is asked of you when you wander into a picnic among family or friends at the end of a long road trip invariably greeting everyone at the front door the throng the knot then through the hall working your way back into the kitchen to crowd around or sit at the dinner table a communal table to break bread crack jokes get caught up get left behind   attending all sorts of occasions different venues camaraderie clutches societies food and drink binding the whole   that you might not recognise until youre eating alone    or youre eating alone out of a cardboard box  pleasure not attending you  no table cloths TV trays  no one absently saying Yeah I could eat to the offer of food

he had to be hungry to eat

he didnt eat to satisfy community

there were few communities he wanted to associate with

he relished Groucho Marxs maxim  I dont care to belong to any club that will have me as a member

maybe she wasnt interested in sharing food with him maybe she was offering to sell him some    maybe

he couldnt say 

he just wasnt that curious this morning he was preoccupied shuttles of thought stuttering across his mind and eyes like a badly-cut newsreel grainy and black-and-white

the only colors that penetrated him were her shocking red hair and the brilliant green woolen pajama bottoms she wore under her soiled black jeans

she looked like a cacophony sounded

0744,  Monday,  21  11. 16

1204,  Twosday,  22  President Kennedy assassinated 53 years ago,  11. 16

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/violence-at-dakota-pipeline-protest-814898755848