a lad and his dog

1            there's Barry in his raggy walking shorts
2            he's on Thorazine
3            is 25
4            looks 39
5            lives with his mother in the same
6            apartment building
7            and they fight like married folk.
8            he wears dirty white t-shirts
9            and every time he gets a new dog
10          he names him "Brownie."
11          he's like an old woman trully.
12          he'll see me getting into my Volks.
13          "hey, ya goin' tas work?"
14          "oh, no Barry, I don't work. I'm going to
15          the racetrack."
16          "yeah?"
17          he walks over to the car window.
18          "ya heard them last night?"
19          "who?"
20          "them! they were playin' that shit all night!
21          I couldn't sleep! they played until one-thirty!
22          didn't cha hear 'em?"
23          "no, but I'm in the back, Barry, you're up
24          front."
25          we live in east Hollywood amid the massage parlors,
26          adult bookstores and the sex film theatres.
27          "yeah," says Barry. "I don't know what this neigh-
28          borhood is comin' to! ya know those other people in
29                the front
30          unit?"
31          "yes."
32          "well, I saw through their curtains! and ya know what
33          they were doin'?"

34          "no, Barry."
35          "this!" he says and then takes his right forefinger and
36          pokes it against a vein in his left arm.
37          "really?"
38          "yeah! and if it ain't that, now we got all these
39          drunks in the neighborhood!"
40          "look, Barry, I've got to get to the racetrack."
41          "aw' right. but ya know what happened?"
42          "no, Barry."
43          "a cop stopped me on my Moped. and guess why?"
44          "speeding?"
45          "no! he claimed I had to have a license to drive a Moped!
46          that's stupid! he gave me a ticket! I almost smashed him
47          in the face!"
48          "oh yeah?"
49          "yeah! I almost smashed him!"
50          "Barry, I've got to make the first race."
51          "how much does it cost you to get in?"
52          "four dollars and twenty-five cents."
53          "I got into the Pomona County Fair for a dollar."
54          "all right, Barry."
55          the motor has been running. I put it into first and pull
56          out. in the rearview mirror I see him walk
57          back across the lawn.
58          Brownie is waiting for him,
59          wagging his tail.
60          his mother is inside waiting.
61          maybe Barry will slam her against the refrigerator
62          thinking about that cop.
63          or maybe they'll play checkers.
64          I find the Hollywood freeway
65          then the Pasadena freeway.
66          life has been tough on Barry:
67          he's 25
68          looks 39
69          but it all evens out finally:
70          he's aged a good many other bastards
71          too.