nope

         wasnt the three oclock in the morning telephone call that woke him

although it was shortly after three when he did

a dream badgering him

in a loop

spoken

          visualised  hand?written    named fonts

DEATH is the END

awake now

             laid in bed eyes closed

slowly the words sifted out of his eyes

                                           however remained branded on his brain

felt like he was being picked on

he eventually fell back to sleep

    DEATH is the END

                         Hey bub. Whardya go?

it leaned against a rough wood lamppost on an deserted city street corner lit in a cone of amber light

Ya ready?

toying with him

                  ready or not didnt matter

it began again

                written interspersed with audio   voices he did not recognise

it did not relent

leftie jumpedup on the bed as was her routine

rousing him he defied the austere hypnopompic throb

                                                       opened his eyes  pet her

swept it away

                except for the brand on his brain

he made his bed performed his toiletry fed cats insideanout washed their dishes made coffee dry multigrain toast picked up The Rigor of Angels a pen a clipboard went out onto the back porch to read muse

the brand continued interrupting

                                   he couldnt quit thinking about it

early that afternoon his brother-in-law called invited him over to bullshithave a beer shoot some pool

he thought maybe that would get his mind off it

living in a rural community he took the long waythe backroads the dirt an graveled roads running between wire fences woodposts barbwire hayfields pastures grazing cows sheep horses

                                                                          pastoral    quiet

he kept his speed down

The END

END

      

    An acronym

thought he heard someonesomething clear their throat

Why not  he said over that

                             and as quickly Eternal Night’s Dream

wondered if now it would cease  

desist

rapped on his brothers door

                               IT’S UNLOCKED. COME IN.

inside he found him in the kitchen prepping vegetables for beef stew

                                                                         Thought you might stay for dinner.

Thas a fine idea I might

Wanna hear something queer

Most things out of your mouth are queer.  nodded Sure.

he related the dream

                        its looping assault

Death? Really?

                  Ya couldn’t have shared a hot sex dream with me?

I don kiss an tell

                   humoured himself he laughed   he felt better

Look at you smilin’.

                      Needed to get it off your chest.  Think that’ll do it?

Well see

Care for an edible?

Don mind if I do

Sunday,  18  8. 24

1217,  Thursday,  22  8. 24

437.

Is it really fourthirtyseven sixteenthirtysevenhundredhours

                                                               Or are you fuckin with mefuckin again with time because its not tha but because the number the time nearby appeals more

You don’t believe me?

    Don play poker

                        No

Fourthirtyfour. Though I’m fond of thirtyseven.

Ignoring bookends

Bookends?

Foursplease When I ask don lietell me the real time

What’s a minut . .

. . Or two three  five

I wouldn’t go five minut . .

. . Yawoud  Please

                      I know you

Then maybe you ought to start carrying a cellphone aroun . .

. . Why Yours is an appendage port  accoutrement

You say that asif it’s a bad thing.

It is

     Youre a slave

Do wha it tells you to do

No that’s not it, some things are importan . .

. . Yes Agree  Some

                      Howbout this When I ask lets pretend youre my bagman carrying the nuclear code

Im president I woudnt be carrying the bagcarrying a phone woud I

   I woudnt

Validate me

You’re not president.

Pretending

             Pretending so I can pretend the damn thing aint an irritant

I can try.

All I can ask

               Now it is

What?

Fourthirtyseven

It is. Yes.

So you got two fourthirtysevens

I suppose I did.

Yadid

       Anit digitalised too

Digitalised?

    You need to keep up with me

                                    Your time is digitaliseddon have to read hands

I could I could, I could program my phone so it’d display time asif the face of an old time clock.

Old time

          You know all the clocks in my house have hands except for the clock on the stove

Yes.

     But when I visit I keep my phone at the ready.

Unnecessarily

                You want the time I can tell you

No thank you.

    Digitalise

What of it?

Diddle

Diddle?  What?

Finger

         Whawoudya think women woud make of diddle

I imagine finger woud occur to them

Not digitalise

What the hell are you talking about?

Evident

          Playing a little game

Game?

Give women diddle an askem wha tha reminds them of

You have to be so crude?

You think women cant be

                            Just playing a game  Diddle woud present finger

Not digitalise

    Whod wannabe digitalised

day-between-2-Ts,  21  8. 24

0045,  Thursday,  22  8. 24

had a restless night

                     which was awfullyhard to believe because the laundry room was across the hall from the bedroom ran the washer its whitenoise usually eased his mind erased the day if it had been badit wasnt gently rockabye babied him

woke in the morning sleeping sideways on the bednearer the foot than the head

opening his eyes he saw the matteblack steel gun cabinet at his feet

humouring himself he bought boxes of magnetic coloured alphabets and numbers and scribbled nonsensically on the it except for occasional specific reminders 

HMMM

         he exhaled

on the side of the locker near the top was an E it was blue S yellow I red

                                                                           Whastha spell he thought

Spelled an alternative EASY

angled off the S and I was an n green

tailing off the n was a T purple

angling back into the fieldas it were was an upside down U blue

beside the U a backward C red

scratched his head

                     he placed the letters randomly after scattering the magnets across his bed then decorated the cabinet

          or 

had one of his female guests pranksters  played with them

                                                                 frankly

any one of his motley crew may have

                                        not that they were motley

marvelous more accurate

but who wants to say my marvelous crew to motley

                                                        and they loved the descriptive

in spite of the few unexpected times when twothree crewmembers gangedup gangbanged him

he had a habitexcelled at taking down inhibitions

                                                     had been a fouryear Varsity wrestler in high school

his specialty was takedowns

were the two related

                           like he cared

sittingup he spun on his tail set his feet on the woodfloor stood

                                                                      got out on the right side

had he not had the night he did there was no way knowing if he ever would have recognised the mystical arrangement among the other coloured letters numbers scattershot round them

late 7AMish,  day-between-2-Ts,  21  8. 24

1236,  day-between-2-Ts

Rock A Bye Baby  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N80knoosks

“There are some things that money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard.”

Mastercards Priceless advertising campaign unveiled in ‘97

that one stuck with him

                           but

he had to check his desk

the drawer where he kept his creditcards

                                              because

he didnt think he had a Mastercard

                                       usually if he had to think about something  he either didnt know ithad to find out  or didnt have it

had two VISAs through two banks

a Discover card

                   he did know however

Balances  Zero

as he admits Im a shitty consumerand just now Microsofts WORD programme changed “Im a” to “Ima”

                                                                                                       he didnt know what Ima washad to find out

had it been all capitals acronym would have meant Institute of Management Accountants

    Whell heres a beauty from Quora

Ima “the abbreviation is most often used online and in text speak to indicate that the sender is about to do something . . . a contraction of the slang phrase ‘I’m gonna,’ which means ‘I am going to.’”

used online

WORD isnt exactly online

                            therefore

writing in WORD is a pretty liberal usage of the term  online

he shouldnt be irritated as much as he was

                                              but he just came from his Hotmail account where he received an email from a friend  his friend wasnt particularly good with words friend obviously used ChatGPT to author the email ChatGPT was created by OpenAI and no surprise

                                           Microsoft

seems it has to have its fingers in peoples pies

if it kept it up

hed stick his fingers in its eyes Three Stooges-wise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScGPRsHSkaE

there are some things money cant buy

                                          feral      uninhibited

2100,  day-between-2-Ts,  14  8. 24

1120,  day-between-2-Ts,  21  8. 24

Oh  WORD

               Microsoft WORD

programme refuses to giveup on him

if it operated with AIhe believed it did

                                          it could piss off  

if its algorithms were synched with him

                                           they were retarded

anbecause it was

he was vigilant

                     he used to call himself thorough

now anal

a machine made him anal

                            he wrote

tobasco hot sauce chose not to capitalise it

                                               looked againcreepin suspicion he misspelled it

tabasco is the correct spellingcaught himself

                                                caught WORD

it changed the spelling to tobacco  which in context of the sentence wouldnt have made any sense

wrote that he was making a Bloody Mary

                                              watched him freestyle tabasco

whod freestyle tobacco into a Bloody Mary

he could he would give AI an F

                                  obviously  would not promote it to the next grade

for such a dismal performance

0904,  Sunday,  18  8. 24

1454,  2sday,  20  8. 24

house chores were done

he was going to take an afternoon walk

on his way out he stopped with each cat told them hed see em in a bit

they lazed think lions of the Serengeti

                                      their routine

went out through the back door

                                  knew he frustrated people who came knocking at the metalscreened security door  could see into the house  car in the carport  theyd knock he didnt answer

he was walking

                  but

often he also chose not to answer the door

                                             wasnt law he had to stop what he was doing to accommodate them

impeccable timing usually OnethirtyTwo  his outdoor ferals waylaid him for a treat

                                                                                          which was their routine

which as it was becoming evident he nurtured

two been hanging out ten years

                                  their feral routine

those he could pet

two others would rip his arm off if he tried

                                            he understood FERAL

friends and family described him in kind

                                              or caveman

he countered  Luddite

they descended on him

                         two on the tarmacked driveway  two on the front porch

he went wide around on the drive to get to the car where he kept the treats

fetched

           he came back around shaking the Temptations  MixUps

wee was beside the metal security door

                                          Hello babehere ya go

placed morsels on her plate

walked over towards bigfoot bigfoot walked towards him out of style  sat on his haunches

                                                                                                 Wha the hell old man

over his head onto the scruff of his neck hanging below his chin a veil of black widow cobwebs broken dried leaves

Really farouk

               veils reminded him of the Middle East eunuchs  harems

he helped

           to his amazement it lifted complete off his head like a baseball cap

muttering Thawas something

                                treated bigfoot

he treated the velociraptors Robert a testicledTom   grimley

                                                                grimley a she could easily have been Roberts offspring  orangecream tabbys

returning Temptations to the car he headed down the hill  over his shoulder he thanked them

                                                                                                  called them Watchcats  My Library Lions

    not Hemingways Key West six-toed cats                                                                                              

but  theyd  do

   

1326,  Monday,  19  8. 24

1350,  2sday,  20  8. 24

https://www.hemingwayhome.com/our-cats

They . .

. . Who

    You got to do that?

I have to

Sorry. I’ll be no helpglimpsed them on the tube, the shot cutaway to a supporting video. I turned it off but the word hung in my ear.

Youre sure you heard them correctly

I did. Virality.

               Virality of the campaign.

Not virility

    No certainly not.

Did you just sneer

Did I? She’s running, a woman wouldn’t be described as virile.

Why not

Virility is descriptive of men.

But not necessarily

                     Woudnt it also describe an energetic vigorous robust masterful  forceful  woman

You think so.

I do

Yes, but you’re also the same person who describes, has described, beautiful men.

Yes

They’re not.

Perhaps not in your experience

                                 But you woud be reticent given your homophobic tendenciesnot tha theres anything wrong with tha

he chuckled

Was there a joke?

There was Seinfeld

                      no lights went on   Virality   Meaning

What?

Describe it to me

Viral.

Internet  Social media

Yes.

Circulated rapidly  Lie goes hafway round the world before the truth can get it shoes on

I would suppose so.

Metrics  Marketeers

                      Id think a campaign ought to be more granular

No.

     That’s up to voters.

Like reading a menu Tha sounds good Order it Tastes like shit

                                                                        Ya keep eatin it

You ordered it.

I can taste in the first bite it tastes like shit  I return it

You have to pay for it.

You have to pay for it  I woudnt 

                                      Im determined to get my moneys worth

Determined.

              That’s an understatement.

Actually hur hurhur its virility

                                A mans a womans

If I were a woman an someone had the audacity to describe me describe my muliebrity  Id punchem in the throat

You made that up. Mule. Stubborn.

An ass

Yeahsure.

   Wha an ass

                 On her 

Look it up

Maybe lat . .

. . O E D Oxford English Dictionary  Characteristics qualities of a woman  womanhood  womanliness

                                                                                                               Get this

As opposed to virility

See?

Yes  I can see tha yanever had sex with a virile woman

                                                            Your loss        

1317,  Sunday,  11  8. 24

1201, 2sday,  20  8. 24

https://latin.stackexchange.com/questions/19476/both-f%C4%93mina-and-mulier-mean-woman-whats-the-difference

Seinfeld  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pPPkkT7GI

he wanted to go outsideout from under the cueball lightbulb livingroom fixtureout under the sun into the slight saltbreeze off the ocean

               Comon lets go outside  Bring your drink

It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?

Put on a layer

she looked puzzled

A sweater sweatshirt another tshirt

Ah. Gotcha.

Great

        Ill meet you outsidewell sit with the sun on our backs

Sun sounds good.

Yes

     as she began down the hall he called after her Takin your drink with me

opened the door

sun flashed him

                 Wha No raincoat  in his head he heard Hur hurhur   the sun

who cajoled who was beyond him

Mel chose a poncho

                     he asked as a Zappaishly as he could Is tha a real poncho I mean  Is tha a real Mexican poncho or is a tha a Sears poncho

gently shook her head side to side

                                     What are you talking about?

continued Zappa  Hmmm  No foolin

    What are you talking about?

she had no clue

he handed her her drink

                             Sun feels good huh

Yes.  What were you talking about?

Zappa

        Lines from the Book of Zappa Bibles got nothing on him anhe was probably as voluminous however one can legitimately say theyre His actual Words

Bible really gives you a hard on.

    You give me a hard on

                             Speaking of which  witch

sipping her Dark and Stormy loved she dug dark rum sputteredalmost choked

                                                                                          catching her breath  Don’t do that?

played innocent  which made no sense

                                      Wha

Which witch.

A Dark an Stormy creature

                              Which witch white or other   wise

    Other. Wise. Or otherwise? Never can tell with you.

Keep you on your toes

You do.

I tell people youre a witch

And they believe you.

Its howya tell it if they do or don

An you’re convincing.

Because its me tellin it

Because you.

Yabetcha

                I was thinkin

Ohmy, you have to do that?

he laughed hardily took a good pull on his straight Myers

                                                               I have to

Otherwise I hurt myself not

she sighed

             Will this be a pearl of wisdom

Pearl

       Istha wha I do

   It’s something, whatever you call it.

Mel  Youre so kind to me 

                             So . .

. . Stop.

          You’ll get infatuated . . . intensely . . draw me into . . .    Later?  she asked she laughed

her laugh like a wind chime

                           You tickle me

You tickle me.

                 What were you thinking?

You know how I dislike football commentators

Dislike with extreme prejudice, yes. You’re the first guyHell only guy Ive ever met who mutes them plays music instead.

Awwsweet I was your first

                              Makes me feel like a virgin

had her drink to her lipsdidnt sip  eyed it eyed him

                                                        Really?

Lets pretend

sipped

          swallowed   We’ll pretend. What about the commentators?

I got a spin a take on comments

                                    Possibly Id listen

    What could possibly make you listen?

I was thinking

                   he paused in case she had something more to say  I was thinking I coud tolerate them   if

What?

          If what?

    If  not football   but porn commentators  commenting on the validity of the seduction varied positions agility flexibility  array of     Wha

                                Yaoughta see your expression

I can feel it.

Didn’t see it cummin

Wasn’t a pearl she chuckled   Rather a pearl necklace.

   Yathink

You?

        Oh I know. 

Good idea

    An idea.

1811,  Reggaefriday,  9  8. 24

1205,  Monday,  19  8. 24

Zappa  Camarillo Brillo  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkppN14ugMo  

https://themagickalpath.com/2022/08/07/19-types-of-witchcraft-which-witch-are-you/

Madonna  Feel Like A Virgin  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s__rX_WL100