Something Blasphemous In The Middle

Sweezus has woken up.

Terence is wailing.

Sweezus doesn't know what to do. He hates confrontations. He calls Arthur.

Arthur, says Sweezus, Terence is wailing.

So? says Arthur. Read him A Dog Has Died. He likes that one.

Ray's beating up on him, whispers Sweezus. They're in the bedroom.

Time to burst in then, says Arthur. Got to go. I'm at the Bakehouse with Pablo.

Sure man, says Sweezus. Thanks for the heads up.

Sweezus scrolls through his phone to find A Dog Has Died. He finds it.

Time to burst in now.

He bursts in. Ray looks guilty.

Okay Terence? says Sweezus.

Uh-uh, says Terence. Ray hit me.

I didn't....begins Ray.

But Ray's knuckles are bleeding. Sweezus frowns.

Okay sorry, says Ray. I was just trying out an idea. If I teach Terence the Commandments, you won't be.... err... ethically challenged.

Fuck man, says Sweezus. I'm not ethically challenged. And Terence, go out to the kitchen for a minute. Play on my iphone.

Can't, says Terence.

GO! little dude, says Sweezus. Terence goes.

Terence is Spanish, says Sweezus. I don't know if you've noticed.

So? says Ray.

I'm not Spanish, says Sweezus.

I know that, says Ray.

How's he grow up to be me? says Sweezus. If he's SPANISH?

Ray feels like a proper idiot.

Terence come in with the phone.

Is this a poem? asks Terence.

Yes, says Sweezus. Will you stop crying if I read it?

I stopped already, says Terence.

Sit up here then, says Sweezus.

Sweezus reads A Dog Has Died, like a lullaby.

My dog has died.
I buried him in the garden
next to an old rusted machine.
Some day I'll join him right there
but now he's gone with his shaggy coat
his bad manners and his cold nose
and I the materialist who never believed
in any promised home in the sky
for any human being
I believe in a heaven I'll never enter.
Yes I believe in a heaven for dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.
Ai......


There's something blasphemous in the middle of that, says Ray.

Nevertheless, a revealing snot drops from the end of his nose to his knuckles.

Terence has fallen asleep.

Sweezus rolls him onto a cushion.

Something jingles in Terence's pocket.

Sweezus takes a quick squiz at the money jar.

Empty.