Have you ever hurt your finger?

Question

The blood of her youth on restaurant napkins, 
litter on a cracked tile floor. 
Her dolls hiding cockroach eggs and innocence. Her face thin 
and unnerved. The outline 
of his split guts still faint on the living room carpet. 
She left him there on her way to school 
and found him there when she came home. 
She made dinner and talked to his dead body 
before she called a friend. 
"Daddy's dead and I need money for lunch tickets." 
The police came and she sat in their car, 
doing her homework and listening to the rain. 

The landlord wanted money but there was none. 
Cause of death was implosion of the liver. 
And madness. 

We smoked on the sidewalk and waited 
for the dumpster to arrive. 
The landlord was getting louder about his money. 
I was seventeen and didn't give a damn. 
I remember not being angry. I walked over to the cruiser 
and looked in the window. 
There was nothing in her face. Her eyes took pictures 
and then forgot them. "We'll get you new stuff." 
She asked about the lunch tickets again. 
My father told the police he didn't care about the house 
and the landlord laughed. 
I let her out of the car and we walked over to our truck. 
The cop said he was leaving 
and he would send a copy of the report in a few days. 
I waited until my father went back inside 
and then I walked over to the landlord. 
I asked him when he was leaving. He said he wasn't. 
The dump box driver was backing into the alley. 
We watched in silence as he unhitched and then drove off. 
I told the landlord he could go now. 
He said no. 
I broke his lower jaw and knocked out two teeth. 
My index finger dislocated and I popped it back. 
An old black man walked over from across the street. 
He asked for a smoke. 
The landlord had a giant car phone 
with a long antenna. He was screaming into it. 
The black man lit up. "That motherf*cker ain't sh*t. Now, she's a good girl. 
You oughta get her 
outta here." 
I told him we were going to do that. 
She opened the truck window and said hello to the neighbor. 
He waved and I went back into the house.
I told my father we had to go. He said he knew.

We went.

? · Accepted Answer

...another mind blower! Can you come over for linguine and clamsauce some day?

? · Answer

interesting...a lot of imagery.  True or fictional?  I've come up with some crazy stuff like this, but I like the way it's written.  

On another note, I hurt my finger really bad years ago playing basketball and it has haunted me ever since.  The same finger constantly hurts everyday when I try to move it, and sometimes it locks in place.  I tried seeing a lame doctor to see if they could help me and they made matters worse by giving me medication that caused an ulcer.

wavryder ® · Answer

so a dead guy, and all the landlord wants is a kick them out, clean up the joint a bit and to get paid before sending 'em out in the cold? I have met many a 'landlord' that fit that description

? · Answer

The blood of her youth on restaurant napkins..That one sentence unnerved me..Poor child!!...She had shut down every emotion except  survival..
She opened the truck window and said hello..I think that means hope..I wish I knew how this ends..Powerful write..

. · Answer

Now, neph, you held me captive all the way through. And it weren't at all too deep. Not at all. Poor girl, lousy landlord. objective cop..but you and that old black man knew, didn't you? Those damn lunch tickets? Those were her metaphor for all her questions: "How am I goiing to eat? Who will take care of me?" Yea, Sweets, I got it - and it got me! luvs...

doe · Answer

I'll bet your finger aches when it rains or gets too cold. This is very well done. I saw a moment from what feels like a real past, gone but never forgotten.

♪♫NancyLiz ® ♫♪ ™ · Answer

yup, burnt it good this very morning
I am not great with praise, I do however when I read something you write that hits all the right  nerves and I feel so much,
have to tell you, this is why I get upset if you block me, I need to read this 
I need to feel, 
and this is why I keep coming back to read your poems because every so often, I feel one much more than the rest.
have a blessed day!

? · Answer

I wait for these.  Stories from you have the power to captivate a full house, sold out audience 
...No word of a lie

Anonymous · Answer

I very much enjoyed all the imagery this recalled for me, but also reminded me of a very bad joke I can only paraphrase.

A young woman went to a Doctor.
Ushered into a room to be examined she complained 
of pain all over her body.
Touching points she cried out, "It hurts here, it hurts there."
after a thorough diagnosis the Doctor said
"You have a broken finger"

Socrates · Answer

Actually, I burned my finger recently and my
stupid doctor, whom I really like, told me to
put some stuff on it which made it actually
get worse and pissed me off SO much that
it has preyed on my mind constantly and
made me prone to write run-on sentences
...and stuff.

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Have you ever hurt your finger?

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