The Dahmer Syndrome & A Thing of Beauty

Steven The Milwaukee weather is ever changing The coldest temperature was recorded on a Sunday His grandmother referred to the day as Cold Sunday She didn’t go to church that day Neither did he They sat next to each other on the one couch their legs resting on the other watching the frozen apples on the apple tree The tree has almost keeled over she said and those apples have hung there since last year The Dahmer Syndrome

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I’ll chop it down he said and went to light a cigarette No smoking in the house she said No smoking in the house So he did his smoking outside It was snowy It was white A dog barked An owl howled When he was a boy his mother would sometimes say owls are a very bad omen The owls will take you away one day

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Curtis He asked the boy Are you hot You thirsty You want some water maybe Some juice or lemonade The boy didn’t answer so he gave him a rum and coke When he was a boy he would sometimes sit on the one chair rest his legs on the other

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Sometimes his mother would bring him a glass filled to the brim with fresh lemonade and a straw Sometimes his mother stayed in bed until late Sometimes he would just stand in the doorway watching her He kissed touched and comforted the boy undressed him talked to him as though he was his friend

The Dahmer Syndrome

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A thing of softness the human skin nude furless unfeathered skin He lay with his head on his chest listened to the heart beats his intestinal music He looked into the beautiful creature’s eyes and remembered he once saw a Sheepshead fish in a store It would come right up to the front of the glass Its teeth looked exactly like a person’s

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real cute Then there was a call from upstairs Is that you It is me grandma The next day he told her he wanted to make a move Yeah told his grandma he would make a move get his own place in the country or a room in the city maybe with a yard There were just too many faces you see Too many faces no room to breathe The Dahmer Syndrome

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