It’s not nice to stare Your mother should have told you so If you want to know what happened all you have to do is ask That would beat letting your piehole hang open like an imbecile Do you think this couldn’t be you? It wouldn’t take much A bus crash Tangle with jaguars Antagonistic rival on Dancing with the Stars Any snakebit day could mangle your familiar life & your denial wouldn’t have a stump to stand on But never mind Let’s talk turkey Once I was like you only prettier & so much better socialized Once I had my own little girl called Sunshine Bricktop a human creature but we were nearly twins & best of happy playmates She took me everywhere which means to Paris in France & London & once to Siam as that place was known Just kidding We stayed close to home in Cowlitz County Washington & played at being chic cosmopolites But the leg? Sit tight I’ll get there since you plainly think that’s the most fascinating thing about me War came The Great War President Wilson sent me to the Front far away from Sunshine Bricktop She was three years old I returned a peg-legged hero to a grand parade in the town of Kelso & marched in my own fashion But where was my Sunshine Bricktop? She was five years old now too big for the likes of me Boy howdy that stung So I up & joined the circus I toured all over In Spokane! In Twisp! In Ione! One day in Yacolt Tod Browning the film director watched me performing bareback on a silver hamster & he offered me on the spot a contract & cash but he was a drunk & my dreams all burned down to ash So I returned home to Kelso & looked everywhere for Sunshine Bricktop I found out she’d married a Kraut in another town I was told she had three daughters & I thought Aha! I shall search high & low for them & they’ll play with me So I searched but when I found them they had plushy toys I was stuffed in a cardboard box out in the garage I languished heart in smithereens spirit pulverized & peg leg consumed by weevils After many years sudden light from a naked bulb spilled down onto me in my box where I’d been humming softly to myself in the dark tunes like “Sweet Marie” “Goodbye Dolly Gray” “Jada” & “You Are My Sunshine” & a pair of hands lifted me I cried out Sunshine Bricktop! Is that you? But it was a grown-up daughter gathering trash for collection She mishandled me with indifference to my wartime sacrifice Even ran a thumb around the hollow which had been my leg & later my peg She tossed me in a Hefty bag sanitized her hands & uttered a mild expletive So here you find me old soldier among dented forks Depression-glass cups cracked plastic radios & stained sepia photos of random deceased notables Yet my suffering has not been completely in vain Honor has found me once again I am proud to say I hold the rank of Brigadier Salvation Army Sworn the 17th of August 2023
Oh, I love what you have done with my sad story of throwing (or giving?) this little kewpie away. I love the whole life story and how you have incorporated so many wonderful place names. My mother would be so happy to see her full childhood name in print in this way.
Really resonates for me. I’m loving this series you’re currently working on. A delight each time it trundles, rumbles, vaults or stumbles into my inbox. Thanks, XP!