-^-for posterity-^-

i was riding to my friends house on my bicycle when my pedal fell off. not the part you put your foot on either. the whole left side fell off in mid-stroke. i almost toppled off my bike as it clanked and skidded on the road. everyone stopped and laughed. i don’t know how many times that happens to someone in their lifetime. hopefully only once.

outside my house there is a manila colored wall with shards of glass embedded in the top. on the other side of the wall there is a small swamp. lately a man has put himself to work digging up the earth from the swamp and clumping it on the shore.

he wades out in the middle of the murky water with a cylindrical piece of metal. about as wide as his head and about as long as his calf. he wears only peach colored shorts dirtied by the water. his skin is a dark shade of chocolate. he’s been toasted by the sun. the man bends down and places the metal cylinder in the waist-deep water. he stands on it and jumps up and down.

after sufficient jumping he pulls the cylinder out of the water and heaves it to shore. it is full of mud and dirt. he dumps it out in neat rows along side his house. all day long he went about pulling mud up from the swamp and placing it around his house. all day long i read and watched him.

why is he working all day in the scorching sun to pile dirt around his house? i have no idea but i’m sure it’s a good reason. watching him toil in the afternoon heat makes me thankful that i’ve had such a wonderful life. i won the lottery of birth. it also makes me frustrated. this frustration has no direction and leads to cynicism. initially i want to hide from his strain. i could shut my curtains and read inside but i’d rather be fascinated by it all. i want to watch him long enough so that his bent brown body is forever scarred in my memory.