RODENT: A Character Study from "City on the Edge of Forever"
by 2takesfrakes
"'Weren't you king for a day? Say
Just remember that sunshine
Always follows the rain
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away...'
Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra came up with that one, as you may recall. 'Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams' is the name of it. I know it's a bit silly, but it always makes me feel kind of good, when I hear it someplace, especially unexpected. But anyway, yeah, this is me, again:
Rodent. Miss Goody Two Shoes suggested I keep a diary to give myself something to do, since I'm kind of anti-social, to begin with. But I didn't just come from the Mission, though, no. It's early morning and I just went dumpster diving and came up empty-handed. Funny, how you can come across the most tantalising set of dumpsters you can possibly imagine and not find one scrap in 'em worth eating, or holding onto. Doris, the bag lady, will hold onto a feller sure enough, if he's got a couple of cigarettes on offer, or a can of creamed corn, maybe. Or a can of beans.
Goody Two Shoes ain't a bad-looker, come to think of it. The only reason why I'm not at her Mission, now is because you have to work for her to get the good stuff: two thin pancakes and some weak sugar molasses and a glass of blue-John. Once, in a while, though, it's worth listening to her, she has some good ideas, sometimes. But I feel very awkward writing in this diary, when I have a whole day of doing nothing planned, every morning I wake up. I mean, yeah, there are the down-and-outers to pal around with, sure, but there's quite a few escaped convicts and fugitives from county jails and state penal farms, chain gangs, road gang work camps, and all that I gotta watch out for, too. Then you've got your jackrollers, dips, second-story men, Pete men and heisters and all kinds of hand-burglars just looking to stay on the lay-low until the heat is off. That's mostly why I keep to myself, like I said, before. Because when the rest are gone, mister, I mean to be the one who's still alive. You can kill a rat, but you can't kill a rodent. Mark my words on that, fellas."