The coldest day of the
year – and the whole City
complained. White
graupel falling from the
sky like infinite rat
shit – yes, it
felt like Hell outside
because truth be told –
HELL WOULD BE COLD
had they written the Bible
in Russia – and HELL IS
COLD, IF YOU’VE EVER
BEEN.
I was miserable, you were
miserable, the whole city was
miserable. We had been planning
a house party that night – and
graupel wasn’t on the guest list.
Now we had to invite
FIRE too – so I raced home to
grab scrap wood.
And there – at the last street corner –
I saw a bum – broken bow legs
stumbling towards me –
sheepish grin frozen to his red face.
So I passed him the KARMA
FIVE that had appeared in
my garden the prior evening –
FREE MONEY! – and
he was much obliged –
and the whole thing pretty
much standard – and he went back ‘
to his rags – and again towards the cars –
sheepish grin even more sheepish –
frozen face even more frozen.
And I realized this
bum bow legged broken ankled man –
was the only man in the entire City
grateful for the cold.
And we smiled at each other – because we
both knew that he could make more money
in HELL than here on Earth