Israel Rose, Al

Diposit Digital de Documents de la UAB

IN A COUPLE OF HOURSHe has a sign taped to a treeoutside the apartment house: EVERYTHING GOES.I go in. I talk to him. "Florida," he says, "I am moving to Florida. Does it rain in Florida?I mean —  does it rain like here?" "Not like here,"I tell him, "and, when it does rain, it is a warm rain." "Yeah," he says, "Florida, here I come."Then I notice this nude animal in a bird cage. "How about him? Is he for sale —  too?" "Sure he is. And he is cheap. Real CHEAP!" I tell him: "I never saw a bird without any feathers ...." "He pulled them all out,” the man tells me, "he's lonely. Some birds do that —  you know." I look at the bird. It is 90 outside. The bird is violently shivering. And the cage is in direct sunlight. "Why is he shaking like that?" The man either did not hear me or he pretends not to have heard me. He keeps repeating the word FLORIDA as though it is some sort of religious chant. Then he tells me: he is leaving —  in a couple of hours.SHOOT EM UP BANG BANGWhen I was a boy they gave me a toy —  atoy gun. And they told me: go and shoot em up,BANG BANG!When I got to the age of Grammar School my mother gave me a Bee-Bee gun. She said: go and shoot em up, BANG BANG (and my best friend lost an eye).When I got to the age of High School my father gave me his rifle that had a high power scope on it. We killed animals who didn't even know we were shooting at them. And my father laughed and my father told me: go and shoot emup, BANG BANG.When I got to the age of College I went into the Army and they gave me a machine gun and they told me: men/women/children/babies ... goand shoot em up, BANG BANG. And I did. And everyone laughed.When I got home from the war, I was homeless, so I got a gun. And I shot the first person who happened to get close to me. Then —  I shot them all up, BANG BANG. And no one laughed.—  Al Israel Rose Portland OR

In a Couple of Hours

https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/wormwood/wormwood_a1988v28n4i112/wormwood_a1988v28n4i112p126.pdf

In a Couple of Hours

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Diposit Digital de Documents de la UAB