Crack Pots

Smokin' crack with your friends.

            There were pots lined up against the window sill and in each pot, amid leaf and lettuce, twelve caterpillars lay dead.

            “What’s that?” I asked Frank.

            “Those are processionary caterpillars,” He said. “When they see food they release pheromones that tell other caterpillars to follow them. When you line them up on the rim of a pot full of their food, they follow each other around the rim for a week and then get too weak to keep going. They die and fall in.”

            “That sounds a lot like a concentration camp,” I said.

            “Well they don’t have to stay. They just follow the example in front of them.”

            “Hell is other caterpillars,” I said.

            “Do you want a drink?” Frank asked.

            “Sure,” I said, accepting a beer.

            “That reminds me. I got us some rock, if you want a honk.”

            “Well if you’re having some,” he said, reaching for the crack pipe on his counter.

            I exhaled some yellow and watched the work shake back to radiant life. The sun was stealing through the window and blessing me, along with all things, for which I was grateful. This went on for half an hour, and then we needed more crack

Author's Note

I've been gone for a long time. This semester's wrapping up rough. Sorry. Also, I don't actually smoke crack, generally.

Reviews

[tyson]

I have read a few of your pieces now man, and each one is better than the last. People have this tendency to become really pretentious when they write, not you. It's respectable and gives your work a perspective that stands out from the others. I'm glad you submitted a piece into, 'Ooh, baby, I like it raw', otherwise I would've never stumbled across these bad boys!

[Mockingbird]

great analogy of people to the caterpillars...i would say sheep...they just follow the rest even if they can make their own decisions they just go with everyone else. i guess even crackheads reason things out, too.
excellent job.

[Epipsychologist]

Thanks Mockingbird.

This one's weird enough I'd call it Absurdist (lol), but I think the metaphor does work for people in general. I included drugs to suggest that the chemicals that people put into their brains can also have a cyclic effect.

[Marie]

This is a great analogy (I assume that's what you meant).

I check your work every day to see what you've posted; I was certainly glad to see this.

[Epipsychologist]

Thanks Marie,
Sorry I've been AFK, I fell bad for neglecting my WC friends, I've just got term papers in the works.

[Epipsychologist]

*feel