October 17, 2009

• Trash

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  I was sitting in statistics class. Taught by a teacher who is freaked out there are 100 of us. She knows she is outnumbered. And she teaches easy. So I bring a book. I am always reading. Above the edge of the book I see trash. Seven pieces of candy wrappers. It bothers me. I sigh. Who’s the pig who doesn’t know to use the trashcan? Stop, I say to myself…You be the change you want to see. You make the world that you want to live in.  man. Quit being the person who complains about become the person who does. So I did. i stood up, picked up the wrappers, and put them in the trash. “Parabens!” I hear as I take my seat, “You deserve a congratulations” said my classmate, who then looked condemningly at the perpetrator until she looked convincingly guilty. I felt pink. I hadn’t expected to be noticed.

   

  I took out the trash. Trashbags are the size of a McDonald’s value meal here. So I take them in a wheelbarrel and wheel them down to the corner. I left the gate open and when I returned the turtle was almost down the street. I swear that little guy waits until I open the door and makes a dash to freedom. Good thing his dashes are slow. At the corner, I dump the bags. Our little trash corner. Normally visited by the stray dogs. But today it was horses. At the dump corner. I slowed down with the wheel barrel. Three horses and a foal. They eyed me warily. One stomped the cobblestones. Horses are nice. Sweet. I collected horses on my shelf for years. Loved the things. Today I was just scared. They are big. But I had to dump the trash. I went around to the side, where one horse was munching on old corn meal from a neighbor’s breakfast. Slowly, I tipped the trash out into the pile. I couldn’t look them in the eye. They would smell the fear if I did. and then I walked back to the house. You never know what will happen to you when you take out the trash.

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