can i use your bathroom?

there's someone

banging

at the door at seven a.m.

the dog

barks.

i look out the window

from the top

floor.

it's someone i don't

know

holding a cord of wood

in his arms.

he's wearing

a plaid black and red hat.

he looks like

Holden Caufield.

i don't have a chimney,

i yell out.

so you don't need any

wood?

no,

well, do you know anyone

that does?

maybe someone

who has a chimney,

i tell him.

can i use your bathroom,

he asks.

no.

why not?

because i don't want you

to, that's why.

but i really have to go.

sorry.

can i pee behind your

bushes?

sure.

thanks, he says, putting

the wood down

and leaning against the

barren rose bushes.

thanks, he says,

as he zips back up

and gathers his cord of wood.

he goes to the next

house and bangs on their door.