a sleight of hand
defined as manual dexterity or skillful deceit
while he was unpractised and not
desirous he did train his eyebid his mind to recogniseto see it as so not to be duped
if things didnt add up he didnt shrug his
shoulders accept being confounded let it
go concede NO
AGAINplease
if his reckoning failed
AGAINplease
if three times unconvinced he backed away he was not entertained despite his frustration he had no
animosity
this afternoon he mentions sleight of hand as he believes it is the only comparison he could make to the thing
The Thing
he had never rarely used never beheld such a sight
couldnt have been a man
he believed perhaps a wraith
not a man
queerly they exhibited a sleight
of body asif their motion positioning were
augmentedviewed under a sharp strobe light amid broad daylight where
one usually didnt witness a wraith insubstantial
creeped him out
he saw him from his car
on the side of the road
thought him at first a hitchhiker
then they glitched
he kept going
a remote country road shy of a
crossroad
the figure under the limbs of deaddying
trees
littered brushbramble weeds
behind him at his heels
he slowedhe accelerated
he stopped at a roadside dinner outside
of the first town he came to
looked a lot like the littered
brushbramble he passed
they advertised on a blackboard sandwich
board HOME COOKING smeared with erased chalk
maybe shabbymaybe tacky but those qualities spoke to him
the gal at the counter the man at
the grill stove in the kitchen were ancient
they
did not glitch
had a huge slice of chicken
potpie side of mustardcollard greens black coffee
took them at the counter off a stool
with dessert
a huge slice of apple pie more coffee a halffilled juice glass of hooch
courtesy of the cook Tell me whaya
think, boy. he chokedtongue
inflamed then the heat vanished and was
replacedfinished with an oddmarl of grains
Goodness Cant say Ive ever tasted anything quite like it though I like it Thoughtya might, don’t offer it to everyone,
but can seeyasaw.
Seesaw
Seeyasaw.
tipped his closecropped gray
balding scalp side to side Along the
road.
Side of the road Yes
Said seeyasaw saw it in your
eyes. Was wondering when you were going to say.
Beat me to the punch I was going to ask
Our boy. He was runnedover.
his wife chimed Sorry if he frighted ya. He was taken suddenhad
a life ahead of him . . seems his way of beingmeans no harm.
Sorry if he frighted
you. Hes broke in pieces.
after 1400,
Day-between-Two-Ts, 18 1. 23
1150, Twosaday,
24 1. 23
