crack - 13. how bill met william

by nick nelson

part 13 of ?

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friday took out her phone and set it to record. why don’t you tell me how you met william wilson and formed this curious relationship with him? there is not much to tell. good, then this will not take long. i had a long day at the office. one client in particular had tried my patience and i had barely kept my temper and refrained from summoning security to remove them. so when the day was over i decided to go for a walk in the street to wind down, something i often do. how late in the day was this? was it night, or still daylight? it was night. it was very dark. was it raining? or windy? it was not raining. i do not recall that it was particularly windy. probably not many people in the treet. no, there usually are not. were you stopped and questioned by the police? two policepersons who i knew from my frequent walks stopped and said hello, and we talked about the coming social upheavals. do you want their names? probably not. go on. as i started home i heard - or felt - someone coming up behind me. i heard someone say, excuse me, mister, and i turned around and there was william. whom you did not know and never seen before? i did not “know” him. so far as i knew i had never seen him before. he was - and is - very ordinary looking. yes, he is. go on. he said, excuse me, mister, do you know where i can rent a room around here? did you think that was kind of odd? i thought it was a little odd. tio ask a stranger in the street like that. i asked him, a room for what? i thought he meant a room to run some sort of little business.. but he said, just a room to live in. so i asked him, why don’t you go to the housing department like everybody else? he said, i have my reasons. and i thought, why not? i have an extra room and i could use a few extra dollars if he does not make any trouble and he looks like he will not. you did not press him about not going to the housing department? no. i know from dealing with all kinds of people in my job that it is more common that people think. as a police officer, you must know that too. people fall through the cracks. they sleep on friends floors or couches , whatever. or on the parks or in alleys.. exactly. so you had an extra room? j yes, it was my room before my grandmother died. then i took her room because it has a nice view of the skyline and forgot about the one i had. interesting. friday made a note on her phone. to be continued

haiku 4

by horace p sternwall

twenty-seven cents a quarter and two pennies on the polished floor

in the woods

by rhoda penmrq

arthur c rode down highway 3 blip blop he came to a stop he leaned his bike against a tree because he wanted all creatures to be free he entered the woods because he had the goods he sat on a hollow log because he wished he were a dog he heard a leaf fall from above because he had never known love it started to rain he thought, here i am again i have been here before in ancient song and lore he looked up and saw a bear carrying an easy chair after the initial shock arthur and the bear had a serous talk

the road from the sky

by henry johnson

my name is henry johnson i fell out of the sky i landed in a tree high and dry i climbed down from the branches as the day grew cold and met a tiger on the highway with eyes of burning gold the tiger passed me by as if i did not exist i had not been eaten but also had not been kissed i turned and watched the tiger watched the tiger go it had seen better days but went on with the show next i met a prophet with a long beard and a book but he did not honor me with so much as a look i met tyrannosaurus rex playing a video game i tried to engage him in conversation he called me a vile name i met gilgamesh and hercules buddha and joan of arc the road went on forever and it started to get dark i finally came to my kingdom and sat upon my throne i made myself comfortable and turned to stone maidens danced before me and warriors shook their spears the stars looked down upon me for a billion years some day a bird will come along and carry me off in its claws i will be one day old again according to nature’s laws

fragment, part 2

by dog e relaford

part 2 of 2

click here to read part 1

where he had pitched hay as a lad and life had not been so bad but an inchoate longing had driven his carcass to the metropolis he wanted to wear a suit and tie and work in a building touching the sky and never again set foot in a barn thought barns had never done him any harm oblivious to mr frank’s panic peg, with a smile so sweet and satanic began, it gives me great joy to inform you i am leaving your employ i am in love with a boy named hal who would sweep off her feet any gal we will be married in two weeks and move to where our fortune he seeks almost too stunned to reply mr frank avoided peg’s eye and replied, as casually as he could so, are you traveling to hollywood? peg laughed to beat the band and waved her shapely hand what made you say such a thing? such strange thoughts up you bring no sooner had she uttered these words than a rumbling in the earth was heard peg’s dreams, and jonathon’s, and mr frank’s suddenly drew a blank - who was hal. anyway? he had ruined mr frank's day and jonathon’s too but what else could a poor boy do? end of part 2

fragment, part 1

by dog e relaford

part 1 of 2

jonathon jones was a regular guy with a song in his heart and a twinkle in his eye he had a wart on his foot and a tattoo on his arm and he didn’t mean no one no harm jonathon woke up at dawn and put his go to town clothes on on the first day of the rest of his life to ask peg brown to be his wife peg brown worked at the bank under the watchful eye of mr frank mr frank had a smiling face but in his brain strange currents raced deep in his dreams when he was alone he had marked peg brown for his own but he knew that peg would look askance at anything like a direct advance mr frank enjoyed his comfortable existence and yet with unrelenting persistence thoughts of murder and carnal obsession of his fevered brain took possession seeing peg brown on her cashier’s chair so young, so beautiful, so fair, mysterious as an odalisque put his uneventful life at risk may i speak to you for a moment, mr frank? peg asked one morning with an expression blank mr frank was seized with alarm and wished he was back on the farm part 2

everything

by nick nelson

william james (1842 - 1910) was walking down broadway on a sunny day in 1893 when he saw a man with a large head who looked like cornelius vanderbilt ii (1843 - 1899) but was not really corneliius vanderbilt ii standing on the corner talking to a man who looked like theodore herzl (1860 - 1904) but was not really theodore herzl the man who looked like corrnelius vanderbilt ii was weeping and saying over and over again i lost everything i lost everything william james had the distinct impression that the man who looked like cornelius vanderbilt ii was referring to losing everything in a fire in a boarding house although he did not actually refer either to a fire or to a boarding house through the years william james often suddenly recalled this encounter and found himself wondering what was the “everything” that the man who looked like cornelius vanderbillt ii had lost?