Just Buddies

They could've been huck finn and tom sawyer. the sight of the two caught my eye as i pulled into my driveway yesterday. "buds" just hangin' together, talkin' and yukkin' it up, on a sunny kinda-sorta-warm afternoon. they sat on the ledge that overlooked the tiny stream that runs between the back of our homes, that i "affectionately" refer to as the ditch. but there they were, feet dangling over the edge, legs swinging back and forth. passing the time, idling the day, shooting the breeze...both wearing an identical baseball cap, both in baggy white t-shirts and jeans.

so why did i have the urgency to call the police?

well, perhaps, just may-beeee, because these buddies were not so cute; they were old enough to drive and they were smoking what i hoped were cigarettes, and washing down their tobacco with a quart bottle each had of malt liquor! drinking in public. brazenly. broad daylight. just a tiny touch of guilt in the one, cause (as i watched from the upstairs window) he kept looking around, checking constantly over his shoulder, wondering if that lady who just pulled into her driveway and spotted us is gonna call the cops on us. the other one i knew as a neighbor a couple houses away, and he had been the terror of the neighborhood since he was old enough to walk out his front door; i doubted he would know guilt if it walked up and slapped him in the face.

it has, for years, struck me as ironic that the same people who think they are old enough to drink, are obviously not old enough to know that you don't litter other people's lawns with all your empties! devil-may-care-attitudes; just see how far you can throw it across the street. oh! missed! o well, the shattering of glass in the street made a neat sound. here, let's throw this one and see if we can hit that tree. ah, what the h---!