Doc walked around the house as he had usually done he noted the condition of the lawn mower and the way it was ploughed into a grove of overgrown daisies and primrose. The quaint wild flowers overran Hep's yard like wildfire obliterating grass and some times even threatening the marigolds he planted around the door. These were not particularly nice daisies.
The laundry swinging from a cord had the damp cheery chemical odor of detergent, so Doc figured that his freind was up and around. Tomatoes wilted in potting containers under the sea grapes, and Doc couldn't resist an impulse to run the hose for a minute or so. The peppers looked dry too. Doc spooked a pair of ring necked doves before he closed the faucet down.
The glass in the weathered door rattled when he knocked, so Doc pulled a piece of corroded duct tape and wadded it into a corner to replace the eroded glazing.
When he knocked again the glass didn't shake. When no one answered, Doc opened the door and called "hello?"
Not expecting an answer, he pried the door open and carefully pushed it back into place.



The kitchen sparkled anew. Remodeled over a year ago the black formica and the imitation stone tiles seemed too good, out of place. The dried tuber on the counter, a small potato, looked right in place though. "Change is good," he thought about expensive picture frames, "now it looks like art instead of rot." The potato said nothing in reply, eyes blind and pale twisting toward the light of the new double window.

A television droned in the nextroom as though it had been on all night. Doc could hear a woman making financial pronouncements in a cheery voice.

There was an unusual air of disaray but this was very normal. The dishes were neatly ordered, but crumbs still decorated the counter. The inside of the kitchen sparkled, but the door was a shambles. These contradictions echoed throughout Hep's abode.

Doc called out again but there was only the TV. He decided to look in the workshop.


I have seen pages Jeweled like ocean waves
in raked sunlight with the names of good friends.