Trash 1

I was in a hurry to get on with my morning. It was a beautiful spring day; one of the first after a long winter. I was excited as I prepared food for the junkyard dogs and feral cats. I had already fed our cats and the two rescued kittens in our house and wanted to get outside. It was Saturday and I could hear that the guys were already out on the street with their loud salsa music and Budweiser’s in a bag.

I decided to bring my bike with me since I had a lot to do. Plus I needed the exercise, more than I needed to sit in my car. So I put the animal food in the basket and at the last minute grabbed a small bag of garbage that was next to the front door and left the house.
I put the garbage bag on top of the food and started climbing down the stairs with my over-loaded bike. You see my bike itself isn’t heavy, but the kryptonite chain and lock weigh a ton. And with the basket full, I felt as if I had zealously over done it, slightly. Always trying to do to many things at the same time, I could hear my mother ring in my head.

Carefully I made my way down from the third floor. I remember thinking how lucky I was that I didn’t live on the fifth any more. A guy with his laundry moved around me as I got to the 2nd landing. Just as I maneuvered my bike of burden around the last corner and could see the front lobby, I tipped the front end of the bike a little too much, and out bounced the garbage. The bag looked like an ominous, black, half-blown beach ball, bounce, bounce; until it exploded down the last few stairs and lay still in the main entrance of my building.

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Should I run, ran through my head as I began to gaze at the rubbish of the past day of my life. I realized I couldn’t leave it there. There was too much evidence that it was mine. So I leaned my bike on the wall and ran back up stairs to fetch a broom and another bag. I could still hear my neighbor trudging his laundry up the stairs.

I reopened the door to my apartment. I could hear my landlady opening hers and saying something loud in Spanish. I felt like the bionic man with heightened awareness. I ran back down with a broom in hand. She was already beginning to sweep up the mess. Everything was happening so fast and out of my control.

I apologized and started to help her. I told her I would clean it myself but she insisted on helping. She just said “noo dats okay.’’ Then as I really looked at my garbage, I got nervous. I picked up the syringe as quickly as possible. You see, I had given the kittens their distemper shots and had dewormed them, so I could adopt them out. Then I went for the baby food, hoping she had missed the syringe. To much to explain. The dog food is easier to understand, even if the lady knows I don’t have a dog or a baby. She didn’t look at me once as we finished cleaning my mess. But I noticed her glaring at me as if I was trash, as I exited the building and escaped into my day.