Waste
Stage 04: "Snow Meow"
I noticed there are a lot of stray cats hanging around lately. Personally, I'm not a big fan of 'em, or animals in general, but the rest of the guys love 'em. There are three regulars that we see in the parking lot: Camel: Kinda skittish, sandy-colored, missin' an eye, Guldo's; Slim Jim: Real nice cat, gray and white, still young judging by the coat, Recoom named it; Jefferson: Ugly and drooly and brindle—Those're really the only words to describes it, Berter's cat. There's this dog that comes around every so often, too. Um… Not very big, 'sgot real wirey hair, looks like that dog in Annie… Ginyu named it Bizzy Bone.
"'Cause he's always 'bizzy' looking for a bone! Ha!"
I never was much for plays on words... He was either drunk or high or both when he came up with it, I'm sure, not that I'd remember, of course. I was probably in the same condition(s). We're all sitting outside now in the lot, leaves rustling. Hope I don't get another tick on me…
"Winter's going to be harsh this year, I hear." Berter's over and lookin' at Jeff, sitting on the hood of a lowrider. That so? Too bad for the cats, huh..?
"And Bizzy Bone, too." 'Coom's on the curb trying to get Slim Jim over, 'bout three or four feet from 'im. "Shame we can't take them in."
"Don't have the money to take care of animals. They could have fleas or ticks, besides…"
"Yeah, never thought of that." Hey, good call, Ginyu. For anyone who doesn't know what it's like to have a tick in their hair or fleas in their beds, they are some lucky fucks, and that's all I've got to say about that.
It's almost time for 'winter procedure'. Y'see, strays are regarded as pests, sad to say. So, the city crew that's hired as the exterminators, y'might say, leave poisoned bits of food about for the animals to find. Like I said, I don't like the dirty things but that's no way to take care of business. Come December, there may not be a Jim or a Jeff or a Bizzy to say 'hi' to every now and again. I know I have it bad, but it's always worse for those strays. Hell, for all I know they could've been somebody's pets once. Nobody's got the cash to be taking care of cats and dogs much anymore. I'm glad we don't see so many dogs, though. Kinda dangerous, know what I mean? Remember Cujo? That's what I'm talkin' about. I'm not saying people need to worry about rabid St. Bernards or anything, but we do have a lot of wooded areas around…
The winters normally aren't too bad around here, pretty mild, usually don't get a lot o' snow. It's been kinda weird the last two years, though. It like everything decided to get so goddamned difficult all at once, yeah? We're on the third floor of this apartment building, and I'm gonna let you know right now: If someone tries to tell me that heat rises, they're getting' their teeth kicked in, swear to God. If heat's supposed to rise, then why have we been freezing our asses off for the past two winters when we should be the warmest damned fools in the building? To top it off, those bitch generators keep cuttin' off just when we need them the most..! Makes me wonder why I didn't pick up and move to California with the rest of my family. Snowstorms rather than earthquakes, I guess…
My kingdom for a space heater? Sold.