When it happened.

I went out to the garden early one morning and harvested a bunch of tomatoes and peppers. I couldn’t carry them all so I put the tomatoes in my pockets. I opened the gate to the pond and saw a huge snake and my reflexes kicked in. I  jumped back and stepped in the dog’s water bowl, breaking it. I suddenly felt a thick liquid running down the front of my leg and thought I’d been bitten by the snake and I just hadn’t realized it and that it was blood. I looked down to see a reddish tomato juice running down my leg as I’d somehow smashed the tomatoes in my pocket. I ran inside and grabbed my snake gun, but the snake had vanished. I sat watching, waiting for it when it appeared again. I shot it dead and then tried to throw it over the back fence, but it fell short. I decided to just leave it there.

I was walking down my street and noticed L—. The little kid from next door. It was getting close to night time and I asked him what he was doing. He replied, “Looking at the street.” I said okay and kept walking. Further down I noticed a light on in a house that has been vacant for many months. I decided to walk up and introduce myself. Arriving at the door I heard someone playing White Zombie really loud. I could see through the window and noticed a guy in his late 20′s sitting in a chair, smoking a cigarette and rocking his head. He heard me knock and got up and answered the door. We exchanged hellos and I said, “White Zombie, huh?” And he said, “Fuck yeah.” The guy had hair past his chin and a scraggly beard. He was dressed in mostly black and reminded me of the main character in that movie Hescher. I told him I’d seen this  house empty for months, but walking by, saw a light on and thought I’d introduce myself. He said it was his dad’s house and since no one was living here he decided to move in. He said he didn’t have a job and that he spent most of his time skate boarding. He didn’t look like a skater really. Maybe a little heavy for a skater, but I told I’d see  him around.

In Mesquite I was playing double’s pool against these two older ladies w/ R—- at the VFW Legion. One lady was the bar maid and the other a meth looking woman who every time I missed a shot called me a nigger. The VFW Legion is a very surreal environment especially when you’re the only people in there. Gigantic mix drinks for $3 and the names of fallen service men painted on the fiberboard ceiling panels. I leaned against the Kool cigarette machine and played terribly all night. Sometimes you just aren’t on. Finally this other guy walked in and was a total pool shark. He cleaned up quickly and impressively. To make matters worse he went over to the juke box and played this song like 5 times in a row. I woke up the next morning with that song stuck in my head and thought to myself, “Fuck that guy.”

I go into Walgreen’s to get my prints. I try to print out photos every 6 months or so in order to have them tangible. The important ones you know. Anyhow, the lady hands me two envelopes and I flip through the first one and it looks good. I start flipping through the second and it’s tons of photos of some gangster Mexican woman in weird sexual poses. She’s mostly clothed, but in some she’s wearing just panties that say “Juicy” on the butt and she’s in the doggy style position on a dirty looking  bed. I kinda laugh and blurt out, “What the fuck? This shit isn’t mine! Gross…” and I throw the envelope back on the counter in disgust, not even really thinking. The lady looks through them and doesn’t say anything, just puts them back in a bin. I turn to leave and the girl in the photos is standing right behind me.