Honorable Discharge

He was lying on his back his legs twisted in a “V” position
Staring up directly into the hot, noonday sun, no sunglasses
Didn’t matter, dude was dead. His next to final resting place
Was a litter strewn patch of pissed on asphalt between two dumpsters
His dog, a mixed breed, much like his owner, sat patiently waiting
Two cops, with buffed arms and buzzed heads, approached the scene
The dog, defensive of his master, challenged the interlopers with teeth bared
Man’s best friend was rewarded with a 357 Magnum slug that entered just above his left ear
The world’s most recent canine casualty did a ¾ flip and landed, paws extended, across his ex-owners waist
“Peace” officer number one commented that things were probably better this way
“Peace” officer number two, using his foot, kicked the dog off the dead body
Grabbing the corpse by the sleeve of his ragged and ruined old army jacket he essentially pulled a “bag of skin” housing some bones away from the dumpsters
The dead man’s “mobile home” was located directly in back of where he’d been lying
It was a sharp, four wheeled model with thoughtfully provided storage space on the lower level
And, adding to its allure, it bore the distinctive logo of a company of, well, distinction. Wal-Mart
The dude’s “residence” contained an old, dirty sleeping bag, a garbage sack with a couple of plastic bottles, and another cloth bag housing the deceased’s “treasure’s”
Sergeant “Dog Shooter” opened up the smelly, woven bag gingerly with two well manicured fingers
And there, under the hot noonday sun, a man’s world was unceremoniously dumped
Between two dumpsters as two sets of dead eyes looked on
A dog eared copy of Huxley’s “Brave New World” was first to hit the piss soaked blacktop
Followed by a rib bone wrapped in plastic and a manila folder that had “Portfolio” written on it
Two of the departments finest smiled as they inquisitively opened the folder
It contained an “Honorable Discharge” from the U.S. Army, a decoration of valor of some sort,
An old photograph of a smiling couple with a freckled faced kid in between them, a newspaper copy of the Republican party’s “Pledge with America” and a neatly
folded napkin. The Napkin looked like it had never been used.