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When we were kids there was a strange house
all the shades were always drawn
and we never heard voices in there
and the yard was full of bamboo and we liked to play in the bamboo
pretend we were Tarzan ( although there was no Jane)
and there was a fish pond
a large one full of the fattest goldfish you ever saw
and they were tame.
They came to the surface of the water
and took pieces of bread from our hands.
Our parents had told us: " never go near that house"
so, of course, we went.
We wondered if anybody lived there.
Weeks went by and we never saw anybody.
Then one day we heard a voice
from the house " YOU GOD DAMNED ***!"
It was a mans voice.
Then the screen door of the house was
flung open and the man walked out.
He was holding a fifth of whiskey in his right hand.
He was about 30.
He had a cigar in his mouth,
needed a shave.
His hair was wild and uncombed
and he was barefoot. In undershirt and pants
but his eyes were bright they BLAZED
with brightness and he said,
"hey, little gentleman, having a good time, I hope?"
Then he gave a little laugh and walked back into the house.
We left, went back to my parents yard
and thought about it.
Our parents, we decided had wanted us
to stay away from there because they
never wanted us to see a man like that,
a strong natural man with beautiful eyes.
Our parents were ashamed that they were
not like that man,
thats why they wanted us to stay away.
But we went back to that house
and the bamboo and the tame goldfish.
We went back many times for many weeks
but we never saw or heard the man again.
The shades were down as always and it was quiet.
Then one day as we came back from school we saw the house.
It had burned down, there was nothing left,
just a smoldering twisted black foundation
and we went to the fish pond and there was
no water in it and the fat
orange goldfish were dead there, drying out.
We went back to my parents yard and talked about it
and decided that our parents had burned their
house down, had killed them
had killed the goldfish because it was all too
beautiful, even the bamboo forest had burned.
They had been afraid of the man with the beautiful eyes.
And we were afraid than
that all throughout our lives things like that
would happen, that nobody wanted
anybody to be strong and
beautiful like that, that others would never
allow it, and that many people would have to die.