spacious skies - 26. dawes

by american joe

part 26 of 40

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joe and officer mudlark watched as officer toots knocked on the door of the gray house with red trim. the door opened immediately, quicker than it had when joe knocked earlier. the same surly individual opened the door. hello, toots said, i am with animal services, and i wonder if you know anything - about that dog? i don’t know nothing about that dog, or any other dog. i never seen it before, like i told the other guy. my name is officer toots. lou toots. what’s yours? my name is charles g dawes, not that it’s any of your goddamned business. what do you want to know my name for? i’m a citizen and i know my rights. no need to get upset, mr dawes, i just thought that maybe you might remember something and want to contact us. no way! well, in that case, i won’t trouble you further. have a nice day, sir. charles g dawes slammed the door in toots’s face. toots walked back to where joe and officer mudlark were standing. he doesn’t know anything, he told mudlark. she nodded. all right. can i go now? joe asked. mudlark raised her eyebrows. go? you want to go? don’t you want to see how this turns out? turns out? i thought someone would just come and take the poor dog away. or that you would. well, if you are in such a hurry to leave, we won’t keep you. but we might have some questions for you later. about what? joe thought. aloud, he said, do you want my address, phone number? don’t worry, mudlark said, we can find you. toots and mudlark watched joe walk away. you notice how he said, the poor dog? mudlark asked. like he’s this real sympathetic character? * charles g dawes watched toots and mudlark put the dog in their vehicle and drive away. sons of bitches, he thought, nosey interfering sons of bitches, treading on a man’s privacy. don’t tread on me! he said aloud. dawes talked to himself aloud a lot. he went back downstairs to his basement. to be continued

spacious skies - 25. public spirit

by american joe

part 25 of 40

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the vehicle pulled up. it was white, with “animal services “ in blue letters on its side. a short round woman and a a short thin man, both wearing what looked like a uniform of white shirt and navy pants, got out. they looked at the dog. is that your dog? the woman asked. no, joe said again, and i never saw it before. then you must be a pretty public spirited citizen, the woman said. i guess, joe answered. the man was bending down and looking at the dog. he took a phone out of his pocket and took some pictures of the dog with it. then he put the phone away and took out some gloves and put them on. the woman took a phone out of her pocket. she pushed a button on it. what’s your name, she asked joe. joe. joe biddle. got any i d? of course. joe took his wallet out and opened it to his i d handed the wallet to the woman. she glanced at it, photoed it , and gave it back to him. live around here, joe? not right around here. what’s not right around here? about three miles away. three miles? the woman looked around. i don’t see your car. i didn’t drive. i was just going for a walk. from three miles away? you must be a real walking man. i try to get my exercise. i guess, the woman said. the man who had been looking at the dog stood up. he looked across the road at the gray house with red trim. joe noticed that the man in the gray overcoat had disappeared. it occurred to joe that he had said he had seen “the whole thing”. including the dog getting killed? joe decided not to mention the man in the overcoat, unless he was asked about him. instead he said, i asked at that house if it was their dog, but they said it wasn’t. thank you, the woman said, but i think we will ask ourselves anyway. joe noticed for the first time that both animal rescue people were wearing name tags. the man’s said “toots” and the woman’s said “mudlark”. joe thought those were funny names, but there were a lot of people in the world, and some of them had funny names. the man started across the road in the direction of the gray house. the woman watched him cross, then turned back to joe, holding her phone toward him, obviously in order to record whatever they said. next

spacious skies - 24 - the dog

by american joe

part 24 of 40

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there was a guy named joe. he was just a guy. he tried to be a nice guy and to get along with everybody, but in today’s angry and resentment filled world, this often was not as easy as it might be. one afternoon joe was walking down the road and he saw a dead dog lying in the road. the poor dog, joe thought. and then he thought, i wonder who it belonged to. there was a house on the other side of the road, an ordinary looking house painted gray, with red trim, and it was the only house in sight. joe thought maybe the dog belonged to the people in the gray house, so he went over and knocked on the door. a man answered the door. he was an ordinary looking man but he looked mean and angry. yeah? there is a dead dog lying in the street, joe started to explain. i thought maybe - what the flip do i care, the man asked. i thought maybe it belonged to you… i don’t have a dog, i have never had a dog, i am never going to have a dog, get the flip out of my life, absalom, and if you come back here bothering me again i will kill you. and with that the angry man slammed the door in joe’s face. joe went back to the dead dog. he shook his head. he was not entirely unused to the level of anger the man had shown, but he was still always a little surprised by it, being such a nice guy himself. he proceeded to do what he realized he should have done to begin with - call the local emergency number. emergency, can i help you, a female voice answered. yes, i found a dead dog in the street, joe said. does the dog’s body provide a threat to anybody, or is it impeding traffic? um - i suppose it could, but there is no traffic that i can see. would you mind moving the dog out of the street so that is not impeding traffic? is it your dog, by the way? i suppose i could do that. joe said. and it is not my dog and i do not know whose it is. thank you, sir. the voice took a slightly friendlier tone, perhaps realizing from joe’s attitude that he was not going to argue about anything. please hold, sir, i will connect you to someone who can assist you. joe waited. the sight of the dog continued to fill him with sadness. another female voice interrupted his reverie. animal rescue, can i help you? yes, i found a dead dog in the street. is it your dog? no, and i never saw it before. is it lying in the middle of the street? yes, but i am going to move it on to the sidewalk like i told the other lady. very good. we will be there n a few minutes. i’m not sure what street this is - we know where you are,sir. just hang tight. the line went dead. joe looked around. i might as well move the dog he thought. the dog was heavier than he thought. it was not bloodied, but joe wished he had something to wash his hands off with. he was wiping his hands with a handkerchief when he heard a voice. it was the hoarse voice of an old man. joe looked up and saw a stoop shouldered man in a gray overcoat that looked too heavy for the weather. the man wore an old fashioned cloth cap but the man himself had an unlined face and looked more ageless than old. that was a fine thing you did, young fellow, the ageless man said. i saw and heard the whole thing. a fine thing, in the old-fashioned way. we need more people like you, people who will stand up and be counted and do the right thing, like the men who fought at valley forge and iwo jima. saw and heard the whole thing? joe thought. he had not noticed the man until he heard his voice. out loud he said, all i did was call about a dead dog. and i never fought at valley forge or iwo jima or anywhere else. be that as it may, the man said - but look here , here are the authorities. that was fast, joe thought, and he turned and saw what looked like a small ambulance coming up the road. next

spacious skies - 23. omar

by american joe

part 23 of 40

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omar khayyam never knew what hit him. one day he was on top of the world, with life spread out before him like a day at the beach in honolulu hawaii. everything was so great. i liked my friends, and they liked me. i had a great girl friend, and she liked me and i liked her - a lot. i really liked her a lot. really a lot. really a lot. omar paused in his recitation and stared into space. mr ingersoll waited for him to continue. as the richest and most powerful man in the world, he was used to telling people to “speak up” or to “get on with it” if they wasted his time by not getting to the point of whatever it was they were trying to communicate. mr ingersoll and omar khayyam were seated at a table in a pete and jenny’s in a shiny metropolis notorious for its large homeless population. omar was one of the homeless. mr ingersoll had offered to buy him a cup of coffee and either a donut or a sandwich, and omar had eagerly accepted the coffee and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. mr ingersoll had been introducing himself in this manner to people, mostly homeless people, for a couple of weeks. so far he had not found the results enlightening or interesting, but he had decided to persevere, at least until his next scheduled appointment with dr dee. like all the other persons who had accepted mr ingersoll’s offer, omar had not asked why he was making the offer, but had seemed to accept it as he might have accepted rain falling from the sky. so far mr ingersoll had followed dr dee’s advice about not “cross-examining” people, or trying to “draw them out”, but just to let them talk at their own pace. but now he decided to do things as he always had - his own way. tell me, he asked omar, with his best smile, why do you think i bought you the coffee and the sandwich? what? why do you think i bought you the coffee and the sandwich? why? do you want to buy me another one? i haven’t finished this one yet. no. i was just wondering. wondering what? why you thought i bought you the coffee and the sandwich. because you are a nice guy, i guess. why else would you buy me a sandwich? you are right, i am a nice guy. see, i told you. what did i tell you? i knew right away, you were a great guy. thank you. it’s kind of you to say so. you know, i have had some bad luck lately. maybe you could help me out. maybe. just how bad has your luck been? thus encouraged, omar told his tale.. next

spacious skies - 22. ingersoll

by american joe

part 22 of 40

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i am the saddest, most unhappy man in the world, doctor. doctor dee smiled. but you are the richest, most famous person in the world, mr ingersoll, he said. is that what i am paying you for, doctor? if i told any person passing by in the street that i was sad and unhappy they would give me the same answer. but you do not pass people by in the street, mr ingersoll. you are surrounded by bodyguards and beset by paparazzi wherever you go. yes, of course. it was just a manner of speaking. i understand. but you have given me an idea. why not go out in the street, anonymously, and mingle a little bit with so-called ordinary people? i am not saying it would be a magical cure-all, but it might give you a different perspective on your troubles, at the very least. but i would be recognized. bah. a man of your wealth can surely hire an expert on disguise to provide you with something not only effective but comfortable. and if you choose to dispense with bodyguards or security, who is to deny you? no government , no doctor, no insurance company can tell you what to do. mr ingersoll considered this. i suppose i could give it a try. i could have security, but at a discreet distance, the biggest problem would be a leak from someone in my security service, who are a worthless bunch of slackers always looking for a quick buck from the unprincipled and intrusive media. well, that is all up to you, but why not give it a try? tell me, if i do try it, do you think i could i just walk up to ordinary people in the street, and start conversations with them? just yesterday, my political analysis team presented me with a detailed report on what they termed the atomization and alienation of the mob - of the public. you have a point. i would not just walk up to people and try to talk to them. it just isn’t done, and has not been for a long time. not in the so-called developed world, anyway. a bazaar in turlkestan or mongolia maybe. but you might try riding buses or trains, or hanging around bars or cafes. that is still a possibility. or fast food places. or donut shops, you can often find people to talk to in them. homeless people, the doctor added, but only to himself. he picked a small notebook up off his desk. aloud, he said - about those dreams you recounted on your last visit… * a few days later. mr robert ingersoll, the richest and most famous, and most powerful man in the world, was seated by himself in a pete and jenny’s in a large midwestern united states city. pete and jenny’s was a new fast food franchise specializing in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but also offering a “large selection” of “nutritionally balanced and healthful” foodstuffs. mr ingersoll owned a controlling interest in it. following doctor dee’s advice, mr ingersoll had been made up by the world’s greatest and most expensive disguise expert and was hopefully unrecognizable. two members of his private security force were lurking outside, and two more would enter the restaurant at discreet intervals. at this point mr ingersoll’s story becomes problematic. a number of different strands of the narrative later developed. none of them went unchallenged. but perhaps all or most of them might receive some consideration. next

spacious skies - 21. the millingtons

by american joe

part 21 of 40

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judge roy brown and georgia were well pleased with georgia’s preliminary conquest of roger millington iv at the prom. georgia had arranged with roger to visit him at his home the following afternoon at three o’clock. she arrived at exactly five minutes past three, in the new ford truck the judge had given her for graduation. she could have had any vehicle she wanted, but she liked manly things. there was one person even more thrilled by the turn of events than georgia and judge roy, and that was roger’s mother. the afternoon passed pleasantly. georgia charmed roger’s mother, who was named dawn. after fifteen minutes they were “georgia” and “dawn”, and not “miss brown” or “mrs millington”. what about roger himself? he kept quiet as the two females conversed so happily, and a strange feeling of foreboding crept over him as the sun descended slowly in the blue sky. roger found his mind wandering to the two creatures he had felt closest to in his brief life. the first was his toy soldier sergeant burdock, whom he had received as a present for his sixth birthday, and who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances when roger was fifteen years old, but who continued to visit roger in his dreams. the second was his dog randolph, whom he had received as a present for his seventh birthday, and who had been hit by a truck and killed when roger was twelve years old, breaking his heart beyond repair. randloph also continued to visit roger in his dreams. randolph had been known as “buck" when he was alive, the name being insisted upon by roger’s father, roger iii, who did not think “randolph" a properly doggy name for a young boy’s dog, especially a young boy such as roger, whose natural manliness seemed a weak sprout that needed nourishment. next

spacious skies - 20. the three friends

by american joe

part 20 of 40

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red jones, blackie smith, and whitey green were the best of friends. they went everywhere together, and had big plans. they all wanted to fight for freedom after they graduated from middlewood high school. red planned to join the army, blackie the space corps, and whitey the elite commando group epsilon force. but they planned to keep in touch. they were all in love with sweet georgia brown, the prettiest girl in town. georgia was not only the prettiest girl in town, but the richest. her father was judge roy brown. the browns had pretty much owned the town since anyone could remember. judge roy brown was disappointed that he did not have a son to succeed him in owning the town of middlewood, but he was determined that georgia should marry the richest and most powerful and most ambitious man that she, or he, could find. the judge was fond of red, blackie, and whitey, thought they were fine young fellows and wished them the best of luck in their careers fighting for freedom, but did not want any of them marrying his daughter. he need not have worried. the apple did not fall far from the tree, and georgia, even without being coached or instructed, had very much the same views on marriage as her daddy. on the night of the high school senior prom, georgia danced first not with red, blackie, or whitey, but with roger millington iv, the richest boy in town though rather a retiring and scholarly type. georgia had never paid roger much mind through the twelve years of their school days, but when the dance was over, she had him well and truly hooked. next