bob and bill and brad

by horace p sternwall

a guy named bob and a guy named bill lived in a shack on top of a hill they were watched by a guy named brad whose binoculars were all he had brad kept an eye on bill and bob because it was his job he watched their actions ebb and surge and a certain pattern emerged bill had the upper hand and abused bob to beat the band bob did all the work and bill claimed all the perks this went on for about a year and brad began to fear there was nothing more to see in this here territory brad was ready to move on and then awoke at dawn at the shack he took one last glance and what should he see by chance but bob pounding on bill! suddenly the air grew still brad looked on with surprisement as bob gave bill his chastisement from then on bob was king and bill was the underling bob cut bill no slack and watched the sunset with his feet on bill’s back brad made out his report and tried to keep it short had everything changed? or were they still the same? brad looked out at the sky white clouds drifted by somewhere a child scraped its knee and a bird sang in a tree