#4

BONGOS:

I think I finally understand Luis' $200 sneakers.

Why would prey wear their worth on a placard? Who paints a target gold and fastens it to their chest? Loud neon thumbs pointing down at the root of lowered expectations.

I tell her my order and make sure that I pronounce every syllable correctly. I shudder at the improper use of salad forks while melting gray faces make ambiguous eyes. I'm the only one wearing a tie. I'm the only one whose skin is crawling across the table and into the corner. I start to move again when my father recognizes the hole I've dug and decides to throw money into it.

The men sitting next to me are crumbling into dust while I crack crab, yet they stare at the horns I'm starting to sweat from my forehead. There's no more money to be thrown, so I start feverishly gnashing on the shells and inherit an exoskeleton.


BRASS: