There are no waffles in the world today for me.

Talus's life was a mess. As usual, he was late to catch the train. As usual, there were things which seem to impede his every move. First, he saw the line outside the waffle shop snake around the corner. He hated lines, and people in general. Secondly, he hated not knowing why things are so strange around this block, and thirdly, he was thwarted in his attempt at a detour. A bus, a raving woman decking the bus driver and the ensuing crowd, again, made Talus uneasy. He just stopped twenty feet from the stalled bus and the raving woman. The bus driver trying to pick himself up off the pavement and the lunatic standing over him as if she was standing in the middle of a boxing ring, daring him to stand after the TKO.
"Enough" thought Talus. "Enough." He turned to look for Teddy. Nowhere to be seen. Waffles probably beckoned him to some higher cause.

Talus looked around and saw others more interested in the rumble in the jungle than they were in breaking-up the fight. Each face hoping for the battle to continue.

He looked down at his shoe. Again, yet again, poop stuck to the toe of his shoe.

He turned and walked slowly back to his apartment. Before he entered the building, he stopped, removed his shoe and threw it into the street. As he turned, a bus drove past, flattening his shoe and turned it on it's side. Talus never looked back.

The Blind can hear

His name is Teddy. Talus walked by him almost everyday and turned his head to look at the blind man. On many days, Talus stopped to listen to the odd mix of music that Teddy played from his CD player. Although the music seemed not to emanate from a disc spinning madly in the player; rather, the music seemed come from the box itself. Teddy often sat in that spot to hoping that the sun would clean his clothes and comfort his aches. Talus merely stood and watched the player. Others would walk by, a few dropping random coins into the box. Talus wondered if those passers-by thought Talus and Teddy were a pair. One looking nowhere and one looking at nothing. Once when Talus linger a bit too long, Teddy sputtered a passage that sounded familiar to Talus. When he didn't move on, Teddy stated, "If you are just going to stand there, ask me a question." Startled, Talus jumped a little and asked, "What is your name?" "Teddy." "Is it short for anything?" "Yes." "What." "Don't remember." "Do you have enough money to buy batteries?" "Nope." Talus stopped talking when a Bach for cello piece came out of the speakers. Talus couldn't quite figure out how he knew that there was no CD playing, but he knew. No hum of a spinning disk, no way the local radio station played this music-- at least not this time of day. Teddy stirred and Talus could feel that Teddy was growing agitated with Talus's lingering. As he turned to leave, Teddy muttered, ""I have already. The truth with all its power lies inside me," as if Talus and Teddy were in the midst of a conversation. Strangely,Talus felt as if he were. With Teddy and the CD player. As he sat in his room Talus couldn't stop thinking about the CD player. He sat absently rubbing his fingers up and down the bow of his violin. Talus watched the boxes of fading sun angle across the velvetine couch. Dust floating like notes around the light. After some time, Talus rested the violin on his shoulder, tilted his head to rest his chin and closed his eyes. In the sound and darkness he heard the CD player playing his notes.