she’s got this big

lizard

that I don’t

even know the name of

and walks

it around in a

baby stroller

“It needs the sun,” she

says. “And it

needs me as her mother.”

When she’s not at her

dish-washing job

at the two-star restaurant

she’s scouting

the local park,

looking for trees with bird nests

to steal the eggs

or even better,

the chicks

and feed them to the

big lizard

Not exactly the crime

to send one

behind the bars

but she did

get in

some trouble for it

“I never liked the scent

of peeling scales,”

she said, “until I

smelt it on her belly,

between her hind legs.

If you haven’t

seen angels

before,

you are invited to look

upon her

beauty. Please only

look, don’t touch.”

“Yeah,” I said, “she’s pretty

nice. What’s

her name?”

But instead of answering

she said,

they told him that the hospital's windows were barred not to prevent them from going out, but to prevent others from getting in He had to believe them. Had to believe everything he was told here and do as he was told and he was so far successful It was a peaceful life but as he kept living it he realized that, in itself, that was the problem There was another patient in the room with him who constantly woke up crying and begging for forgiveness he made the crying sounds of a dog in great pain and when the staff came to calm him and inject him with another dose of drugs he cowered into a corner and began whispering to himself about the days of youth when he hit a dog in the head with the edge of a shovel, just as it was feeding its puppies with…