Presents

            On Friday in the late morning I was out of fruit and so I rode down to Freshco. I bought three bags of dark grapes and four bags of the cheaper red ones. I got a carton of soymilk as well.

            I re-read all of my Romantic Literature lecture notes.

That evening I weighed 87.4 kilos. That’s less than I weighed when I was fasting.

I wrote a sonnet about finding things in a box on the street.

The sky is not interesting today

because so few clouds are its visiting guests

just a soiled ridge of cotton on the lake

and the pale ghosts of cobwebs in the west

But it’s far below on the city sidewalks

where are to be found all the real prizes

as near an alley is a cardboard box

filled up with a few discarded items

A set of dinner plates painted by hand;

the word “Serenity” on a wooden plaque

with the same word in the script of Japan;

and a 3D sculpture of the word “LAUGH”

I think of taking these things to give away

then think I’m still giving to let them stay

I sautéed the last of my lima beans with onion, garlic and cayenne and had them while watching the Rifleman.

This story begins with Lucas and Mark hunting a buck on the government property next to their ranch when they meet a man named MacDonald and his son Carey, who is the same age as Mark. MacDonald lets Lucas know that he’s just claimed the property under the Homestead Act and he doesn’t want anyone trespassing. Lucas tries to be neighbourly but MacDonald angrily rejects his friendship. When several days after moving into the area Carey has not yet attended school, Lucas, as a member of the school board goes to let MacDonald know there is a school in North Fork. MacDonald says he won’t be sending Carey to school. Next MacDonald begins to build a barbed wire fence between his ranch and Lucas’s. Lucas confronts MacDonald about how dangerous barbed wire is to livestock and while he is there Carey falls from his horse directly onto the barbed wire. He is badly hurt but MacDonald refuses to take him to the doctor. He blames doctors for the death of Carey’s mother. Knowing that Carey will die without treatment, Lucas knocks MacDonald out and takes the boy to Doc Burrage. MacDonald comes to town with a shotgun and demands the return of his son but Lucas finally manages to convince him that his son will die without medical care. MacDonald undergoes an unlikely change of heart and becomes a good neighbour.