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The sky leant herself grey today. Steel blue copy. 18th century end of the world grey. Ominous Dickens. Gorgeous cashmere (sweater) Audrey Hepburn. I walk the aisles of Tiffany’s. Filled universal awe. Walked with Slim. “Holy fuck” “What’s going on?”
Look across back of yard between the units. The paramedics & tons of cops (guards, white shirts). “Wait here” he suggests. We wait & watch. Finally – “Yeah, see, he’s dead”. Sure enough, stretcher & body bag. My lungs fill. One another watches. Waiting. My heart goes south. My eyes wiped out. Sigh & Weep. It doesn’t matter if I knew him or not. For the past few months we’ve shared the same sky. Rain. Meals. Imprisonment. A brother. Dead.

Early I delivered to Slim a stack of animation copies. Outlines of Care Bears, The Peanuts Gang, Lion King. Watching him go thru them is like any other birthday. Celebration.
He traces them. Makes cards. I sent a Tweedy bird card to Noah. They’re kickass. Slim is ecstatic. Kelly is a saint.

We part. Go to lunch. Count. Back on the yard. Slim& I sitting. I’m helping with his shoe order. Luis sits down. “Hey”. Slim replies “I got a picture of Charlie Brown in that pumpkin patch with that bitch”. Luis starts laughing, “Never heard Peanuts characters described as such”. Slim – “There’s two bitches, right?”. Prison. Too many men. Lost. Lord of the Flies. On acid. Some crazy ass summer camp of loonies. The sky seems to disappear.

Our perspectives change as fast as the wind. My grandchild will be hopping forth ending September. It’s hard even in here not to feel blessed. Purposeful. Noah is a terrific man. Can’t say the last time I met someone with such depth. Character. Humor. Perspective. He’s a good guy. I send him odd things from prison. Tourist objects. Souvenirs from the trip of madness. So it goes. So it lies. So it sings. So we dance. So we weep. So we jump. So we joy. So we love. So we sleep. Wake up & do it again. So it’s…

Later.