photo - late night

N i g h t s t a n d

W  a  t  e  r

THE POODLE ON THE ROOF

You know, Louis, it's not easy to sound profound.

Perhaps if you didn't try so hard...?

What?

I mean, well, what's the sense of it?

But that's the very point! What IS the sense of it? It's absurd! Tragic!

What is?

Life! Chaotic...tragic....illogical...no Matter how logical we claim to be as a species, we' re doomed by our own stupidity!

Oh, I doubt that.

Exactly. You, being an excellent 'Case-in-point'. You doubt that life is absurdly mad?

Reality is its own reality!

What?  Did you just say say that?  Pretty damn Profound yourself, Mister!

Shit happens...

Cliche. But true. Poodle on the roof....

‘Poodle on the roof...’?

I told you about that! Just last week...? No?

....I think I would remember.

I was riding in on the bus...

The bus? And the poodle was where?

Petrol and parking are killing me! You walk …stroll…just a few blocks to work each day, you have no idea of a commute, do you? The cost...the traffic...

Oh, I know, I know...and its a pretty penny I pay for the privilege to live in town. At least when you get home you can breath!…and see some greenery. You have deer!  Here? It can get damn bleak surrounded by all this concrete…the racket, the fumes....which brings us back to the bus… what's this to do with the poodle?

Lunacy! Absolute lunacy!

What is?

We're riding along, just coming into the city. Of course, we hit the gridlock, it's morning rush. Expected and despised on a daily basis. Everyone is bleary, some drink their coffee...tea...some trying to squeeze in another wink, I know I couldn't do it, but some can...I guess.

Sleep on the bus?

Exactly.

I could never...so, the poodle?

So we're riding along...trudging along and the next thing you know a lady at the back lets out a blood curdling scream.

Oh!

You can imagine what passengers are thinking! Everyone, startled! ...Coffee, spills, people howling from that, and the steaming hot tea!…they're screaming, total panic. The "slumbers" end abruptly, as, there it came, passing on the left, a car, rolling up alongside us, with a poodle on the roof!

No!

Yes! Little white thing just clinging to the roof for dear life!"

How could it possibly hold on? Oh, my god, poor thing!

Can you imagine? We...all of us on board...we rushed the windows, but they're all sealed, and we're pounding and screaming, people actually threw themselves against it! Helpless! Even the driver was honking his horn and swerving over a bit to get her attention, but as luck would have it, the next lane over opened up and the poodle went with it, and still the driver of the car...a woman, well dressed... had some coin...wore the bling...it I was a Rolls...she scoots over and just cruised on, absolutely clueless! 

With all that going on?

From above her sightline, it was hard to get her attention. The bus driver honked the horn repeatedly but she was oblivious. I don't know if she had her music cranked up or was in a heated conversation, but, regardless...oblivious!

How is that possible? To be so self involved....forgetting your dog on top of your car! Ignoring a busload of people! Ignoring a BUS!

Car horns blaring!

Car horns!! How is that even possible!? Oh, no. Tell me you didn't all see it d...demise !?

Like I said, She just drove on, she was gone. We never knew.... Some people looked for it as we rolled slowly along watching the road below, which I found touching, by some..and macabre, by others…,but, most, I think felt defeated, and justifiably… they did not want to know. A few sensitive ones, they cried and soothed one another. One lady needed comforting more than most. She was quite shaken…near hysteria. She had owned a similar dog, from what I gathered.

"Poor Pablo! Poor Pablo! Poor Pablo!"

"Pablo" was her poodle….?

I presume.

That's just shocking...

But do you see my point? We are helpless. You ride along, you observe the absurdity, the tragedy, the stupidity and are helpless to change it. Just a witness to the passing parade. A poodle on a Rolls. The homeless, the helpless, no where to go, huddled in doorways and benches, feeling the cold, and we're just riding along in the bus observing...

Bet the woman in the Rolls never notices…

Wealth has it's privileges.

Ignorance is the ability to ignore .

There you go!

What's that...?

You almost sounded profound. Congratulations.

No, thanks. Not at the expense of the dog…

Agreed. To the Poodle.

To Pablo.