I was glad I figured it out. A lot of times I thought I had figured things out only to realize that I hadn't. When I was a kid in school my answers often made the other kids laugh and laugh. I didn't understand why. Later I learned to pretend that I was just being funny. I still knew who the joke was on - It just made it easier to play off. The problem was going to be finding a trowel. Then figuring out where to dig. I would just have to look for signs. Sometimes when I was in the woods I thought I saw things out of the corner of my eye. Maybe they were connected? It was possible.
I thought this over as I walked. No money was going to be a problem. Where could I get a free trowel? "Dummy!" I felt like smacking myself. I was walking down a street filled with houses. At least a third of them were empty. Empty houses often had good stuff left over from the people before. I just needed to find one with those little midgit metal houses in the back. I searched my brain. I knew there was a name for them I just couldn't remember it. I hated this. So many things slipped away when I needed them. I often thought of my thoughts as fish. Big thoughts like this were big fish. Hard to hold on to and with a life of their own. They would dodge my hands as I tried to pull them in, hug them, and squeeze out what I needed. I never hurt them and always let them go. They never understood this and fought with me every single time. Stupid fish. All I could come up with was midget house, hot, and grass smelling place. I shrugged and forgot about it.
It was still early enough that no one was really up yet. Sometimes in developments like this where there was still a lot of people I would get yelled at by neighbors or they would tell me they were going to call the cops. I quit worrying about it awhile back when I realized that the cops never came and the people never left their yards. In fact, it had been awhile since anyone had yelled anything. I guess they were afraid. There were a lot of crazy people running around now.
I started looking for the tell tale signs. Empty houses may have their lawn cut and curtains still in the windows but I always knew when was empty. I could feel it. It felt like home. It felt like me. I turned off and began walking up the driveway of the first one I spotted. This one didn't have any windows to see into the garage. I figured the garage might be a good place to look too. I was pleased with myself. My brain was working pretty good today. That me smile. It was a happy feeling. I went around back. Nothing except a broken bird bath. I tried the faucet. The way things were happening today I hoped I might get lucky and get some water. None. Oh well. It didn't suprise me. I was enough of a realist not to expect to many good things in one day.
I lost count of the houses I had checked after the third one. I did get some water. An old guy was in his back yard watering his garden next door to one of the houses I checked. I asked him if I could drink from his hose. He was undecided at first, I saw his hand go down and check that the gun he was carrying was still there in its holster. That reassured him enough that he came over to the chain link fence that I was on the other side of and tossed the hose over. I turned the little sprayer thing back on and drank as much as I could, maybe a little bit more. I was hungry too and eating water was filling. I told him "Thanks!" but he didn't want to talk. When I tossed the hose back over the fence I thought he might say something. He looked like he wanted to but he didn't. The next house I checked was where I found it. I knew then I was destined for something good. I am never usually this lucky so many times in one day.
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