I’m Waiting For The Man

The man’s dinner was over before it began. One bite and the body decided tonight was not the night for gumbo. The rest was thrown away. The man does not like throwing away good food but it was not the night. Feeling weak the man took off his pants. He knew there was a hole in the bottom and tore it open so he would not have to decided tomorrow if he should wear them again. The roar of his water rushed as the man lay down. The twitching of the feet slowed and the teeth began to grind as the realm between fact and fantasy waned. Running down the hill through tall grasses of heather the man didn’t notice he was only wearing his underwear. Then Nancy called out, “Good look there. Getting a bit cheeky”, but the man was now on the path down to the unknown. “Why had there been no reply?” The man pondered. “This is my high school”, thought the man. The giant grey gothic art deco giant stood as a fortress that had never been invaded by a gunman, but it did have it’s own army but no cavalry or cannon. Wendy’s automobile was running but was going nowhere, yet it made that sound of an engine sitting still. No one was inside. The man was carrying a large number of books with a young dark haired girl. “You don’t know any of my teachers for they are long gone”, the man told the inquisitive face. She looked up and said not a word but listened as if it were poetry. “They are building a house there”, she pointed to an empty plot of water. The couple walked out on a floating deck to a flat area with no walls.
“It is a work in progress”, said a voice behind them. A grey haired bearded man who looked more like a loggers than a sailor in his flannel shirt and weathered face showed his pride of a folding door on an empty closet. “My house will never flood but rise up.” The man took his mother to church. Before church it was time to eat with his brother and sister-in-law. There wasn’t enough time. The family went into the building called church and the man walked his mother up steep glassy steps full knowing it wouldn’t work and found a way out to the side. Instead of pews the room was filled with tables and chairs. The man finds an empty table and seats his mother in the polite fashion of etiquette. The brown wooden table was simple with a place-mate and a Bible and a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. It was time for the man to go home. One eye flickered open and the sky was pink and blue. Morning was here but not with you. Rising up the man was better in body but wanted to lie back down and go back. The man stood up and adjusted his body to movement. The man puts on new shoes and realizes why the old shoes were wore out, like the man. The man drank a smoothie without regurgitation for enough fuel to enter the world. The phone rings and no one answers. Predators await the monkeys but find no dinner here today.