“Pushing the River,” excerpt: New, Brief, Fun for Friday

            Honor!  Cripes almighty,  YOU’RE A DOOR!

            “YOU’RE   A    BOILER!”

            —

            I ain’t never used this word in all my born days…but…you’re a whore!  You’re a whore of a door!  A door whore!  You’ll let anybody in!!”

            “Oh! Oh!  As if you are so very discriminating!  As if you are particular about whose air you warm up and whose you don’t!”

            “I got no choice!”

            “None of us has a choice.  Not any of us, my old friend.  We are all in the same boat, in the identical situation, in the like predicament, in the same fix, on a par, on even terms, on the same footing, alike, equal, together, cut from the same cloth, brothers and sisters.”

            “Pretty speech.  Not sure if it means nothing.  But it was pretty.”

            “In short, my equally ancient brother, we are dying.  We stand right at the threshold of death’s door.”