Sweet Reward

he was freshly shorn and the moon was weak and an empty street
stretched out before him, he was 39 on December 10th w/ a birthday
two weeks away, the train went clickety-clickety beneath his feet and
his clothes didn’t fit so good any more. he could see his breath as he
rode between the coach and the dining car. .home seemed so far away but
he got there in less than a half a day. .the world had kept spinning all the
time he was gone but he couldn’t say how it had changed.
she talked to him quietly and looked him in the eye and said, «You can
stay as long as you like.» He smiled a little smile when she opened the
window and let a little breeze inside. he split two cords of wood and he
painted the fence. and he ate good food every day. she got him a job fix-
ing cars for her uncle. he liked getting dirty and then getting clean.
and when he laid down at night and held to her hand, he thought, «this
is my sweet reward. this is my sweet relief. this is what I waited for. this
what I been praying for.'