In the Ghetto...

[pen_grunt]

When I was younger, we were relatively poor. Not dirt poor, not middle-class, but pretty-much-scraping-by but-not-so-bad-the-kids-realize-it poor. We didn't get "new" things very often--and we didn't need to, we made our own toys. Cardboard boxes became forts, dad's old gutted army jeep became a real-live play car. The tornado-wrecked silo & cow barn (and lately, junkyard) became our own personal obstacle course, "house", and treasure trove.

However, we did NOT have to resort to playing with dead squirrels.

That's right. Playing with dead squirrels. Derrick, my sister and I were taking a nice drive around our neighborhood (kinda ghetto) on Saturday when we saw a group of children (aged 9-12 maybe? I'm bad at guessing ages) throwing something at each other. I turned to Derrick: Is that a dead squirrel? Oh my god, that's a dead squirrel. *I start giggling* They're playing dodge-the-dead-squirrel in the median of the parkway.

Obviously ignoring the cardinal rule of playing with dead animals: If you don't see HOW it died, don't TOUCH it.

I thought that llythefaerye would appreciate this, considering her ongoing battle to, "Keep the fucking squirrels off her balcony." (Which would be much more entertaining if they didn't seem to be winning.) Come to think of it, this dead squirrel was probably one of her squirrels. It died of small internal explosions following the ingestion of large quantities of pepper spray/pellets that it wasn't really supposed to like to eat... but apparently thinks is gourmet.

Edit: Additionally, upon re-describing the absolute ghettoness of the situation to Derrick, I kept saying, "I can't believe we saw dead children playing with squirrels." (Instead of children [live] playing with dead squirrels...which got me thinking about writing a story of some such...but then I started reading A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, which promptly featured a whole race of squirrel people who dressed in 18th century costumes and stole things--and I decided that there are already far too many squirrel-related things in the world.) *deep breath*

Comments

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

erm - prolly? It promptly got buried after you lent it to me . . . I ripped it onto my computer at work, but I can't really *listen* to new music while I'm working . . .

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I'll just assume that you liked it then...because really, who DOESN'T like Tom Waits in some form or another? Hmm? No one, that's who.

[liquid-siftings.livejournal.com]

Jockey Full of Bourbon is one of my fave songs of all time.

The story reminds me of a roadsign I saw in Scotland, which read:

DEAD
SLOW
CHILDREN

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Oh, that makes me giggle...it also reminds me of two stacked signs that used to be around my neighborhood:

Blind Child
Speed Bump Ahead

It's good to find another who actually knows who Tom Waits is (surprising since he's darn prolific...).

[irishinmn.livejournal.com]

Speaking of speed bumps .....

Maybe the Oxnard (California) police should pay more attention:

Police SUV runs over, kills sunbather on beach

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

Precisely . . .

[pyreflycat.livejournal.com]

Clap Hands, Gun Street Girl, and the one about the house where nobody lives anymore are my favorites. Tom Waits is a demigod of music. He also has a cameo in "The Fisher King" w/ Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Choosing a favorite Tom Waits song is like choosing a favorite child. I've always been fond of "Old '55" for nostalgic reasons. I like "Cold Water" because I never tire of singing along to it. I like "Hold On" because it has a killer line. The list really does go on...Jersey Girl, Georgia Lee, I Don't Wanna Grow Up....there's very little of his material that I DON'T like.

Oooh, he also made a semi-cameo in Shrek 2--he was the Captain Hook-type piano player at the bar (and sang "A Little Drop of Poison"), he was the guy that answered the door (Buck?) in The Outsiders, a mental patient in Dracula....he's been in a lot of stuff.

//stopping with the Tom Waits love-fest now