The big, black SUV roared past me like a

Raging bull as I jogged in the early evening

Light.

 

It startled me especially after reading about

The drive-by shooting on the bleak streets

Of the South Valley —

 

Leaving two women dead.  It had been a

Drug related shooting but the women were

Just collateral damage.

 

The day before that some seventy-year-old

Paranoid guy went vengefully berserk at

A nice office building

 

Two blocks from my condo. Following an

Arbitration meeting that didn’t end to

The old guy’s satisfaction

 

He chased his two enemies, the sued

And the sued’s lawyer, out the doors

And shot them dead

 

At what had become a Bad Day at Black

Rock or High Noon or Shootout at

The O.K. Corral.

 

Take your pick in this Wild West town.

The victims looked like wild-eyed coyotes

Being chased by a big,

 

bad wolf foaming at the mouth.  I saw the

brake lights of the SUV.  They looked like

The fiery eyes of an

 

Angry bull.  The vehicle turned around

And headed back my way. The driver

Gunned the engine.

 

The bull snorted and scraped its front

Foot on the gravely street.  Approaching

Me in the growing darkness,

 

The vehicle slowed.  I couldn’t see through

The tinted windows.  It stopped.  I kept

Jogging. The passenger side

 

Window came down and a voice yelled

For me to stop. I froze in my tracks.

The voice emerged

 

From the darkness into the darkness.

I regretted having worn reflective

Clothing. “Could you please

 

Tell us where the Pointe Condos are?”

“Sure.  Right there.”  “Thanks.”

The voice vanished

 

Behind the closing window. The bull

Turned into the entry way, stopped

At the gate, punched

 

In the code.  The arm rose and the

Bull trotted into the

Night.