A few days ago Charles was in the park. There were two trees that stood on either side of a bench that he liked to sleep on. He pulled the newspaper under his head up to shield his eyes from the rising sun. Then he heard occasional footsteps begin to break the silence—the metallic clinks of dog leashes. Another day was beginning. Soon he'd have to leave his bench, and preferably before a cop or a park security guard came over and made him leave.
He pushed the newspaper above his head away from his eyes and he brushed his hair with his hands. The morning moisture on the bench tingled his skin, and the hard wood he slept on pressed against his back.
He stood and he stretched his legs. The newspaper fell to the grass below the bench.
When he bent to reach for it his eyes spotted the garbage can next to the tree on the right of the bench. It looked full that morning. He was certain there must have been something in it he could steal for breakfast. He paced over to the trash can and reached his hands through the debris; a plastic bag, a paper bag, a sticky ice cream wrapper, a beer can, and right below the can, there it was; a half empty bag of potato chips. He began to pull the bag up through the muck when he heard the sounds of laughter.
His eyes peeled and his head shot up to see a woman standing just feet away pointing at him, laughing at him. Was he funny? Was his predicament funny? Was he a joke?
He began to rush towards her. She started to back up.
Charles shouted, "You think I'm funny? Do you think being hungry is amusing?"
The woman stared frozen, and she said, "What are you talking about mister, I wasn't laughing at you."
But in Charles' ears all he heard was more laughter.
His steps picked up. She began to run. She ran into the woods behind the bench.
And Charles chased her.
All the while he could see her head turning to look back at him, and all the while he could hear her laughter increase.
The anger he felt consumed him. He felt embarrassed and he felt shame. He hated the woman for making him feel like the most pathetic being ever to walk the earth, and she wouldn't stop. She kept on laughing. She kept pointing at him, as she rushed through the trees.
Then, with hardly any breath left in her, she finally stopped and she cried, "Please, mister, leave me alone, you've got it all wrong. I haven't laughed at you not once, I swear."
But all Charles heard was more laughter. That's all he heard even as he wrapped his hands around her throat and strangled the last breath out of her lungs.
Her bag fell to the ground.
Charles carried and pulled her body deeper into the wood. He laid her next to a tree and then he raced through the brush and out of the park, never to return again.
