he’s 17 .
mother, he said, how do I crack an
egg?
all right, she said to me, you don’t have to
sit there looking like that.
oh, mother, he said, you broke the yolk.
can’t eat a broken yolk.
all right, she said to me, you’re so tough,
you’ve been in the slaughter houses, factories,
the jails, you’re so goddamned tough,
but all people don’t have to be like you,
that doesn’t make everybody else wrong and you
right.
mother, he said, can you bring me some cokes
when you come home from work?
look, Raleigh, she said, can’t you get the cokes
on your bike, I’m tired after
work.
but, mama, there’s a hill.
what hill, Raleigh?
there’s a hill,
it’s there and I have to pedal over
it.
all right, she said to me, you think you’re so
goddamned tough. you worked on a railroad track
gang, I hear about it every time you get drunk:
worked on a railroad track gang.”
well, I said, I did.
mean, what difference does it make?
everybody has to work somewhere.
mama, said the kid, will you bring me those
cokes?
really like the kid. I think he’s very
gentle. and once he learns how to crack an
egg he may do some
unusual things. meanwhile
sleep with his mother
and try to stay out of
arguments.
Other works by Charles Bukowski...
