4am/four boys scrap and play on the block

A puppet on a string swinging in his new hat ignorance becomes existence

This time we can see the bottom of the pool and it's so scary

• We are not as strong as we used to be. I used to carry five gallon jugs of water from the well on my second finger back to the cottage. Talk to me of commitment /talk to me of sacrifice/forty years we have created a lifestyle which works for us. Now they want us to lay down and recreate another path. Our children are on their toes/they know how fortunate we are to have what we now know as truths. When we were building the foundation people carried on and let us struggle with a finger pointed at us.

The New Year comes roaring in and takes us off guard

• We're standing in line at the supermarket. Our order is quite large/we need to stock up for the storm. A big burly fellow with a tattered coat is standing in front of us. He puts his hands back and we deliver a few cans and some groceries/he put them on the counter/we hand him a quarter. This happens about eight times when we realize we're being duped/ I ask him for the money back and reach over to his coat and pull out a white business size envelope containing papers/keys. He looks at us with a cranky face and runs out of the store. A lighter falls out of the envelope on the floor,we hesitate as to whether we should go after him but stay right where we are and finish the transaction.