SOMETHING OF AN ENJOYMENT

I always enjoy seeing shitty old cars parked in front of shitty old houses. I like seeing the Christmas lights dangling in the middle of summer. The dead flowers in broken pots. The yard full of tall weeds and yellow grass. Endless piles of dog shit and all those faded toys strewn about. Maybe there's a crooked swing set all rusted with busted seats? The trash can overflowing. A tire, a tarp, a tipped over basketball goal without a net. A wheel-less lawnmower, a shovel, a rake, a broom that's hard to believe has ever been used. I don't know, there's just something about it. There's something about those rickety stairs that lead up to that narrow porch crowded with an old couch or a mismatch of plastic chairs. Empty beer bottles and cans upon a wobbly table. A heap of cigarette butts in an ashtray. It always takes you a minute before you realize you've been hearing a terrible sound, and then you look up and see that enormous old air conditioner, hastily stuck in a window, about to fall out and kill someone. I'm really not sure what it is. I guess I like thinking about the life that must go on there. The kids in particular. The things they must hear and see. What their dinners are like. What their bedtime is. Well, hopefully they're not yet aware of the sadness their lives entail. And hey, the way things are going, they probably have a better shot than my kids. Anyway, of course, none of this is anything to envy, but for whatever reason, it is always far more interesting to look at than the rest.