I Ireamed about Ye last night The dream was light filled as if the sun trickled down from 1000 ft of earth to bathe the gold that lay heaped on his cavern floor With shimmering scales autumn moon eyes he chatted with me in his calm smoky voice He said all he wanted was to smoke o reminisce We talked awhile about nothing in particular fl saw in his eye my reflection My face was clean my hair was combed my gold capped tooth was now white I was happy at last he saw me this way not the eyesorel had been The dream was good until his eyes closed The moment they did I was wandering in the dark calling out his name Wandering in the place he called home Right here in God Bless America land of the free Underground where he d always been safe Out of trouble out of sight Intill showed up
Ana
CALL ME CALAMITY CAT That’s what the news media called me My name’s actually spelled with a K and Kat is for Katlin Calamity is for calamity An event causing great damage or distress If you look it up in the dictionary which is something I often do look up words you’ll notice it’s a noun I’ve made it a verb Kat’s calamiting again I suppose I was calamitous before I ever showed up in a little sky-high town in the Colorado Rockies but that’s when my calamiting reached world status Friday night in Cripple Creek is a two-step back in time with honky-tonk and colored lights and mobscenities as my brother Dillon puts it spilling into the streets It’s the Wild West all lit up That’s when we checked in The Empire Hotel had vacancies though you wouldn’t know it by the human logjam in the lobby We’d been on the road since glory knows what inglorious hour after slouching in the car as opposed to sleeping at a restless stop as opposed to rest right in the middle of truckers night out While Dillon and Dad were waiting in line I was crouched behind a couch in the lounge shaking a pair of dice They were my own dice and came in handy at times like these Handy as in small cash gain
C’mon c’mon c’mon I said I said it seriously enough for it to sound real as if the roll would be strictly chance Seven Seven c’mon I tossed the dice across the red and-gold carpet they hit the base trim of the wall One was a six I expected that The other Yes A one I grinned at the kid next to me who was down on his knees by my side And down on his luck So far I’d collected three dollars from him two ones two quarters four dimes and six pennies OK he was four cents short but I had let it slide I stuck out my hand palm up I only have a five he said I’m not giving you that You will It was his turn to roll But first he popped up to peer over the couch he’d been sitting on moments before fidgety and bored Not one to miss an opportunity I had approached him and grinned flashing my gold-capped tooth Got any money What’s it to you he’d said his eyes round as nickels I showed him my dice and explained the rules I call and roll if I call it right you pay me a dollar You call and roll if you call it wrong you pay me a dollar So whatever it is he said protruding his lower lip I pay you a dollar Let me finish If I call it wrong you keep your dollar If you call it right
