BEING POOR SURE
BEATS BEING DRUNK
Story & Art by Mark Gonzales
I was remembering the time my mom made me stay over at her aunt's
house. She was a strange lady, she used to have a dog that was proba-
bly twice her age. Her apartment was small, and it smelt like an old lady
and her dog. She had about five mattresses stacked up, and at that time
her bed came up to about my eyes. She threw one of the mattresses on
the floor for me and took out a blanket from up high in her closet. As
she did that, she came across some dog food that looked like bones.
She threw one to the dog, and I watched the dog nudge it with his paw,
then sniff it and slowly start to chew on it. They say that dogs resemble
their masters, and I think that's true
because my mother's aunt was
definitely strange.
She was obsessed with
saving money. When she
did her laundry, she'd do it
by hand, and she'd take out
a small plastic baggy of pow
ered soap that she had gotten for
free from the rest room at the
gas station. The only thing I
ever saw her eat was some
cookies from a tin can. She
told me they were from
England, and she ate them
slow like her dog.
She reached into her apron
and handed me some change. I
asked, "What's this for?"
She said, "Go to the corner
store and get yourself a donut
and some milk."
When I went to the store,
my appetite was big. My
eyes did the usual, looked at
the twists, glanced at the
maple bars, and stared at the apple fritters. I had my heart set on a small
milk and an apple fritter, but when I set the change down, the man
behind the counter said that it wasn't enough. So I asked him, "What do
I have enough for?"
"Well, you have enough for any of these, but no milk, or you could get
the milk, and I'll let you have a day-old donut for a dime." So, I picked
the one that looked the freshest. It was an old-fashioned sugar sprinkle.
As I was sitting there eating my donut, I was thinking that the old lady
probably had the amount of change she gave me planned out so all 1
could get was a day-old donut and milk. And the bag of doggy bones
in the closet, she probably got them on sale five years ago and forgot
about them. I'm sure sometimes she forgets to feed herself and looks
at it as a way of saving money.
Oh, that was a long time past that I stayed overnight at her house
and sat in that donut shop. I can't really remember having any deep
conversations with her. I was only twelve, but I remember observing the
way she was a sturdy and staggered hag. As I sit and think about her,
she was abusing herself. She saw the importance of money, and her
main goal was to save to the point where she couldn't eat. It slowly
drove her insane.
I remember one time we picked her up on a Sunday for church. I was
happy because I got to wait in the car, but when she came out and got
in, I had to go to the backseat. She still had that smell, only now she had
a small amount of perfume on to alter it slightly. In case you don't know
what smell I'm talking about, it's kind of a dusty, doggish, vintage kind of
smell. When we were at church, I didn't spend too much time paying
attention to the services. I mostly watched people to see how they'd
cross themselves, how they'd kneel, and how they'd stand during the
part when you're supposed to greet your neighbor. I shook her hand
and patted her on the back, and she gave me the dirtiest look. It
meant, "Get your hand off of me," so I did. I also turned and held in a
huge laugh and shook some other people's hands. Then mass started
up again. Now my attention was on the main sculpture of Christ on
the cross. I thought it was funny that he was known as the king of
all kings, and that his crown was made of thorns,
THE
GUN
COAST
ΤΟ
COAST
Ryan
Hickey
THE FINEST IN WOOD SINCE 1992
2710 STEREO EAST
30