Me and Cal

Jeffery Hill and his sniveling horde practiced wrestling moves on me
Again, by the school willow trees
where no one could hear me scream.
I will always remember the taste of the grass and dust
They tore off in their Mustangs with streaks of rust
and I stumbled to catch the bus
Me and Cal went down by the water that night after school again
We played “shoot up the hooligans”.
Cal was my only friend.

My old man is probably company CEO by now.
It’s like he lives in another town.
Even when he’s around.
My mom said she doesn’t want me and Cal hanging out anymore.
But she’s already out the door—
drives the Porsche to the liquor store.
So on the couch me and Cal watch the cop shows up on my knees
As they rush in to punish the enemies.
No one ever did that for me.

One day me and Cal came to school to show Jeff and his boys I could
be the boss of this neighborhood.
The pit of my stomach like burning wood.
As we crouched in the brush watched the school crowds buzz like a cyclone.
Then Jeffery Hill sauntered by alone.
Caught in surprise like he’d turned to stone.
Jeffery’s eyes were as wide as the river that flowed down his dripping legs.
His voice like a broken egg.
For the first time I heard him beg.

For a second I fingered Cal’s trigger then saw it was me I’d kill.
Cal’s steel was a mirror filled
with my fear just like Jeffery Hill’s.
So I lowered Cal into my bag and threw Jeffery my clean gym clothes.
Then in silence I turned to go.
I just hoped no one else would know.
Now Cal sits alone in a box in a closet with bullets gone.
I watch the river move on and on.
With no victories only another dawn…

Copyright Tracy S. Feldman, All rights reserved