The empty tuna can sat on the floor next to the cat’s dish.
He had meant to throw it in the trash but, he’d get around to it. It was cold
in the room he liked best in the old house. The one with the fireplace that he dares
not light because he thought he heard something crawling around up there. He’d
been meaning to shine a light up into it but, he hadn’t gotten around to that
yet. He had wondered if he did light a fire maybe whatever it was would scurry
down and he could throw a bucket over it. He’d have to think on that. So instead,
he covered himself up with a couple quilts his mom had made a long time ago.
They were what she would have called thread bear, but aside from some toes
sticking through, they did the trick. He couldn’t sew so no sense thinking
about mending them. The cable tv wasn’t working, he’d been meaning to call them
but hasn’t gotten around to that either. His dad used to say he was about last
in the line when brains were handed out. Dad was full of witty sayings, but
most were mean. He liked to read especially books with big print because his
glasses got smashed to bits when they fell on the floor, and he stepped on
them. He’d been meaning to get some new ones, but he hadn’t gotten around to
doing that. He didn’t have any clocks in the house that worked so he never
really knew what time it was. He just figured it was day when it was light
outside and night when the blackness surrounded him. He figured he didn’t need
to think about fixing the clocks. He sure missed his moms cooking but she couldn’t
go in the kitchen anymore and dad was in the basement. It was daytime when
there was a loud knocking on the front door. He knew that because it was light
outside. He slowly peeked through the small window on the door and saw some policemen
standing there. He wanted to be a policeman, but he never got around to doing it.
He opened the door, and one policeman covered his face, and another threw up
right on the porch. He’d get around to cleaning that. They took him to a nice
place where the clocks worked, and the room was warm. They asked him why he hadn’t
called anybody about his moms and dads’ deaths, and he told them he hadn’t
gotten around to it yet, and who would feed his cat?
Mike 2021
