the back was still acting up
he took
umbragedenied body parts that tried to hamper him as not his
his would not fuck
with him
needed a hot early morning bath
the back remained unbending
eventually itd
bend
turnedup the tempthe hotwater endured
closed his eyes as the tub filled
when the water reached his throat he
terminated the tap
it was HOT
then opening his eyes seeing he croakedlaughed gloriously
he
needed that humour
on
the textured ceiling above him seeing
by the dawns early light a shimmying black spot
by candlelight the night before
it
wasnt there
dusty bunny on speed
he
didnt think so
he thought Lets see where this goes
it asif aware it was being watched probably was
moved deliberately
it was twoinches in diameter
a healthy spider
HELLlo
he whispered
it walked upsidedown on the
ceiling eighteyeballing him on invisible spunskeins
it
bobbed directly above him
he muttered This had better not be a suicide
he remembered appleseed
three
times she tried each time he plucked her up just before she would have gonedown the drain he left her to dry on facial tissues
she tookup spun a web in the corner
above the sink diagonally from where his head was when he took a bath
bobbingbouncing along the ceiling
it DROPPEDsuddenly
fell inches
bungeed rather had a sense of humour
he
didnt flinch
imaginedconceded this was the perfect time for
a spider to fuck with him
cunts back was out on strike without reason
at least without a specific reason one he was
able to identify
although he had been asleep
violated
he snapped to
MOTHERFUCKER
the back dared Goahead punk Move I
dareya
Ill fuck you
up three ways from Sunday
it had the upper hand
he submitted
as he said bungeed
it reeled back up to the invisible strings
bobbled its way towards the center of the ceiling
as he watched he saw a smaller
black mark spider angling towards it
however
cautiously
he grewup in a white suburb
there were no black children
when he was a high school freshman
a white family moved in that adopted a black boy
his name was George Washington he did not take his adoptive parents name
George was the only black kid he
knew until he went to city college
it seemed to him then that if another black kid moved to the
neighbourhood they and George would naturally gravitate to each other become friends
senior year albeit briefly another black fella came to high school
there was no attraction no coming
together
STUPID
how many white kids didnt he gravitate
towards
Georges picture is beside his in
the yearbook
curiously
he and George Washington were friends
they genuinely
liked each other
as genuinely as these two spiders did not
although he sensed the smaller was male and
perhaps feared being eaten by the larger female
he couldnt relate
they went their separate ways on the ceiling
they remained
spun webs in opposite
corners
his back paid them no mind
reserved its ire for him
0606, Thursday,
18 4. 24
0842, Reggaefriday,
19 4. 24
