Metro

[Jonestown Bartender]

Pt one of five. Its early morning the sun is just starting to kiss the edge of the steel horizon. It's humid and the air has a thick sickly feeling to it like the breath of a hooker. I walk the pavement through the faceless endless crowds. I hear the buzz of humanity. A dozen conversations at once; angry people arguing on the phone, business deals, a mother scolding her young boys for touching a pigeon, they're full of parasites you know all kinds of nasty ones like blood worms. As I walk the side walks become cracked old concert and eventually new brick and then very old brick. Still bright red like fresh meat but very worn around the corners giving them a round look and the smooth feeling of walking on marble. Tiny weeds grow in among the bricks. I cross the street and I'm at my first destination, Benjamin Banneker Park. You know the one right? You always hear your parents talking about how nice the park used to be. It was cardigans and girls in miniskirts and kids would got there to play baseball and then they would go home and the kids would fight over the remote because the younger ones wanted to watch westerns but the older ones wanted to watch detective shows and then the mom would come in and be like "Screw you both I'm watching my afternoon soaps" ANYWAY Benjamin Banneker Park. Well do you know what it is now? Two over passes, bag ladies and cats. The place is infested with cats. So many cats that they spill over into the surrounding area. There are no birds in the park, no lizards. Just mountains of cats. I walk through the park and on to the metro station. It's early enough in the morning that bennies aren't getting on but late enough that all the commuters are at work so the metro is near empty. The floors are red and stained. The train comes to a scratching start and a loud buzz can be heard as the motors start to kick. The train shakes like a coffee grinder but it gets you from point a to point b, so theres not much to complain about. We stop at the first underground station and a businessman gets on. I watch him consumed in his blackberry, completely unaware that the hobo in the back of the train is quickly moving to sit next to him. The hobo sits really close to him and just stares until the businessman looks up. At this point theres only about six inches between their faces when the hobo yells "WANNA HEAR BOUT THE TIME I WEN' TO SPAIN!" the businessman looks scared and confused, hands him 20 dollars, and then moves to the door to get off at the next stop. The hobo looks disappointed and goes back to his original seat. I think he really did want to tell someone about the time he went to spain and wasn't just trying to scare a yuppie for some money. The look on his face is so sad and pure like the tears of a working girl, I really wished I could have heard his story but this is my stop and I have something which I can't be late for. I still feel guilty for the hobo who went to Spain