floor the Limerick Leader they were wrapped in, wiping his mouth and
hands with the blanket. He looks at me,That face is all swole. Did you
fall on that face?
I tell him I did because theres no use telling him anything else. He
wouldnt understand. He says,You can stay in me mothers bed tonight.
You cant walk the streets with that face and them two red eyes in your
head.
He says theres no food in the house, not a scrap of bread, and when
he falls asleep I take the greasy newspaper from the floor. I lick the front
page, which is all advertisements for films and dances in the city. I lick
the headlines. I lick the great attacks of Patton and Montgomery in
France and Germany. I lick the war in the Pacific. I lick the obituaries
and the sad memorial poems, the sports pages, the market prices of eggs
butter and bacon. I suck the paper till there isnt a smidgen of grease.
I wonder what Ill do tomorrow.
296