he plucked wild grass and weeds out from around the apricot seedlings that grew under a mature tree where they fell randomly or were buried by squirrels

stored for the fall

squirrels are an industrious lot

the original Johnny Appleseed

buryers of acorns and walnuts

enthusiastic chiders second-to-none if you happened to find yourself under a tree where they are feeding or deftly gathering

he tended a petite grove of sixteen called them his Sweet Sixteen

he hoped the gophers underground would give him a pass this year

last year they gnawed the roots of every one but three

those three he called his Stalwart

their fortune or survival odds he considered as not-necessarily-survival-of-the-fittest perhaps survivors-of-the-fattest-gopher-who-prematurely-called-his-dinner-quits

his daughter questioned his extensive use of the hyphenated subjects  called them caffeinated hyphens

which he drolly corrected  No  Thats caffiend hyphens

Yes  I often forget your need to create new words to serve your peculiar tastes your very peculiar taste in everything odd

Odd?  Pray tell

Stop  Odd  Where shall I begin  Calf brains You ate my science project . . .

. . . with eggs I thought you and your mother were being sweet to me It was near my birthday

Yeah

Sweet                                                                                                                                   

Calf brains beef tongue oxtail kidneys heart liver

What are you Chinese
Eat anything on the planet that walks flies swims or burrows

What wont you eat?

How do you know youre not going to like something if you dont try . . .

. . . I do
I was unnerved when you told Grandma youd eat human flesh if it was a matter of survival  Talk then was members of the rugby team who survived the plane crash in the Andes

And she said shed rather die than eat human flesh

And you said Great! That means theres more for me to eat

Squirrel porcupine snake

You ate rattlesnake

You made it look so damn delicious  Smacking your lips  Nibbling it fresh off the barbecue

It was wasnt it

It was  Yes  You fed me pork rinds

I hate that I love pork rinds

Jesus dad

Theres nothing you wouldnt eat

Thats not true  Actually there is

What

Me . . . Id be dead so I couldnt eat me

See

Then theres your impossible awkward green thumb

Things that by all means shouldnt grow but you take it upon yourself to tend them and they grow defying what common sense would dictate

Not if you love it  Not if you care for it  Let it know its wanted

If it had a brain

No  It need only be animate  All living things know care  Provided for cared for they flourish

Handfeeding wild pigs feral cats A mangy one-eyed three-legged cat

They have my undying respect

Anything disadvantaged is worth advantaging

They have to work harder

They dont know entitlement

Theyre my kind of earthlings

Earthlings dad  Earthlings

Earthlings

It comes back to ya  it comes back to ya babe  

No doubt dad   I can see that 

1415,  Saturday,  4  6. 16

she called out to him twice this morning

he was moving a bit slow 

joints stove up

he was slow coming out his desk chair on stiff knees

the second time she did he happened to be rising to take his supplements anyways so he wasnt inconvenienced

she rarely inconvenienced him

both times she called Babe and both times he answered Yes  Give me just a moment  Im still wretched

both times rising going down the hall walking stiffly staggering side to side to the bedroom like a Frankenstein monster at its threshold he saw she was fast asleep

he thought Christ Im slow I didnt think I was that slow

quietly as he could he went into the bedroom

she was fast deeply asleep

he didnt think she called the first time either

the roommates were starting to irritate him

beckoning him in her voice

mynah birds defrocked of any corporeal attributes or distinctions

rummaging his aching body

him like a dog to fetch and when wouldnt a dog go to fetch if its playmate cried Fetch

faking him with an overhead cast

Fetch! sounding like Babe!

mynahs shaved or scalped flensed or skinned gutted deboned useless needless apparel accessories or accoutrements for blue stubborn spirits either unwilling or unable to depart

his girlfriend recently mentioned the male roommate

he inhabited the hall

she said he seemed agitated

moving up and down the halls narrow confines quickly

only but a couple of evenings earlier

then early the next morning she saw him through the screened bathroom window pacing back and forth at the fence line parallel to the house and hall

his head turned to the house

a black shadow

he had no face

all the times he had revealed himself to him he suffered silently  furtive  cowering

the women were the chippies

affectionate

and had no qualms pursuing them entering their bedroom where they clung in the corners or hung suspended full-bodied over theirs their faces within arms reach taunting

the youngest tempting

though he assumed she hadnt earned her succubus stripe yet

                                                    Thank Gawd
it was bad enough they mimicked her voice

0808,  Saturday,  4 6. 16

whisky neat in the sun

it was supposed to have been on the rocks but the rocks werent ready

somebody else might have been miffed but there was plenty precious else of consequence to mind rather than warm whisky

he saw its upside  worried that Luke and other named Bible-inhabiters whose words(so it is said  but saying so and it being true are two different matters) continue to hold substantial sway in a time when he would have thought freethinkers eminent 

freethinkers thinking not following not led around on collars and chains here and there  led  because it was safer for them to be acknowledged occasionally and take doled sustenance rather than assaulting the larder and refrigerator and taking what they needed

before heading outofdoors he paused briefly and turned on the only television station he had access to  hoping for news it revealed a military flyover of an athletic stadium

he turned it Off

military overflew enclosed venues too and inside those stadiums the flyovers were projected in full colour on Jumbotrons to the rapt attention of those seething within

he wondered why anyone attending a live event would bother to watch it on Jumbotrons

but they seemed to preferred it to witnessing the drama unfold in real time

Matthew inevitable shows up 

then Mark too

            flashed inside America on Jumbotrons he was having a hard time determining if God remained God or the military was becoming God

the militarys offertory basket was always full-to-bursting

year in year out to prove unchallengeable patriotism Congressional representatives voted more and more unmanaged money to enlarge and sustain the Beast(kmeeling before our Security)   

the Godfearing and Warmongerers go hand-in-hand 

they believe America is a Christian Nation

ah  before he turned the television Off he saw the long lines to the Kool-Aid stands

warm whisky finds and oils his brain creases quicker

wasnt there something else worth consideration on Americas stages other than its relentless Bread and Circuses

he thought that Lesson was learned(remember the Roman Empire)

he thought it was

he knew he wasnt alone

he knew he wasnt exceptional or indispensable

neither did he carry a Live-feed around on his person or prefer relish it as some
a tamed maudlin teat

he didnt consider drivel pledges or satiated experts who touted what they secretly had interests in had coin to gain and wouldnt confess to either even if discovered(that makes one a whore not an expert)

an expert isnt an expert isnt an expert

no matter their deep-throated harangue or uncritical acceptance-gained

a snakeoil salesman is a snakeoil salesman is a snakeoil salesman

                                                                                                                               Hmm

     the warm whisky worked quickly  

its vapours percolated emanated and rose straight up into his head swaddled his greasy creasy brain

1230,  Sunday,  5  6. 16 (one day before D-Days 1944s anniversary or 72 years)

0802,  Monday, 6(D-Day)  6. 16

Dark Drone Suicidium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZQDWsr5rD0