I worked at Walmart and I walked to work. It's a mighty big hassle to walk seeing as its about an hour away. Well, as much as it is a hassle walking is, it gave me a chance to think and generally brainstorm new ideas. I take the railroad tracks because as well as saving time they are a detour from busy streets. I mean those are the reasons I tell normal folk but, to be honest, the main reason is to meet the gang of crazies that use it as their highway to nowheres-ville. I've always, not only identified with the underdogs of society but, also sympathized with them. People can get a shit roll of the dice in this life. They could be born into poverty, violence, drug-addiction or some combination of all three with sprinklings of other abuses. So, I walk the tracks to work, we've established that and for the most part it was a pretty solemn walk especially during the day but, there is those exciting walks. I going to tell you about a chance meeting of a crackhead.
It was an ordinary night a month or so back, except tonight I got off work at 11 o'clock instead of 10. The tracks are surrounded by a piece of a greenbelt in between two main streets but, it seems as though they are a darker shade of night than any other place in town. This night was like any other I sped down the hill from Walmart and just kept that same pace straight onto the railroad tracks. I crossed the trestle with no hiccups because it wasn't icy this night. I just kept at my quick stride and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I got past the path that I've seen bears go down before and the same one that connects to the hobo-highway bridge across the creek. I kept walking and got to the point in the walk that your vision is the worst because you round the corner and are about a football field away from the street the street lights blind you. These lights are too bright for your night vision to work worth a damn and too dim for you to see a damn thing. I've seen two people lighting up a crack pipe in the trees to the right so maybe I'm a little on edge just from past experience. I just keep moving though, it's better to get through this point at a good speed. I think I see someone on their cellphone I just brush it off as the street light shining off the tracks. I just keep walking, I tell myself I'll be on the road soon and in bed too. I get within four feet of the light from the cellphone before I realize shit it is someone on their phone. They're hunched over on their cellphone facing the other direction; I'm so close that I have to say something, "Hey, how's it going". Obviously in my toughest scared voice I could muster up. He jumps up spins off of the tracks and mid-spin begins singing at the top of his lungs "Ccccaaannnncerrrrrrr" in the most cigarette dipped voice you've ever heard. I just keep my pace as his rasp fades into the distance I turn my head slightly and glance back to see him still spinning.
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