[00:03.56]William S. Burroughs
[00:06.23]Kurt Cobain
[00:52.95]"Fight tuberculosis, folks." “
[00:55.36]Christmas Eve, an old junkie selling Christmas seals on North Park Street
[01:01.89]The "Priest", they called him
[01:03.97]"Fight tuberculosis, folks."“
[01:11.82]People hurried by, gray shadows on a distant wall
[01:15.86]It was getting late and no money to score
[01:19.50]He turned into a side street and the lake wind hit him like a knife
[01:25.47]Cab stop just ahead under a streetlight
[01:30.13]Boy got out with a suitcase
[01:33.77]Thin kid in prep school clothes
[01:36.40]"Familiar face," the Priest told himself, watching from the doorway“
[01:43.27]"Reminds me of something a long time ago." “
[01:47.17]The boy, there, with his overcoat unbuttoned, reaching into his pants pocket for the cab fare
[01:55.57]The cab drove away and turned the corner
[01:58.45]The boy went inside a building
[02:01.95]
[02:04.88]The suitcase was there in the doorway
[02:08.47]The boy nowhere in sight
[02:10.70]"Gone to get the keys, most likely, have to move fast."“
[02:15.04]He picked up the suitcase and started for the corner
[02:18.37]Made it. Glanced down at the case
[02:21.88]It didn’t look like the case the boy had, or any boy would have
[02:27.05]The Priest couldn’t put his finger on what was so old about the case
[02:33.48]Old and dirty, poor quality leather, and heavy
[02:38.69]"Better see what’s inside."“
[02:41.17]He turned into Lincoln Park, found an empty place and opened the case
[02:48.91]Two severed human legs that belonged to a young man with dark skin
[02:55.48]Shiny black leg hairs glittered in the dim streetlight
[03:00.34]The legs had been forced into the case and he had to use his knee on the back of the case to shove them out
[03:07.97]"Legs, yet," he said, and walked quickly away with the case“
[03:13.49]Might bring a few dollars to score
[03:21.04]The buyer sniffed suspiciously
[03:23.72]"Kind of a funny smell about it."“
[03:26.40]"It’s just Mexican leather." He shrugged“
[03:31.05]Well, some joker didn’t cure it."
[03:34.05]The buyer looked at the case with cold disfavor
[03:38.09]"Not even right sure he killed it, whatever it is“
[03:42.04]Three is the best I can do and it hurts
[03:45.23]But since this is Christmas and you’re the Priest…"
[03:50.30]He slipped three bills under the table into the Priest’s dirty hand
[03:59.09]The Priest faded into the street shadows, seedy and furtive
[04:05.01]"Three cents didn’t buy a bag, nothing less than a nickel
[04:08.60]Say, remember that old Addie crooker told me not to come back unless I paid him the three cents I owe him
[04:16.70]Yeah, isn’t that a fruit for ya. Blow your stack about three lousy cents."
[04:25.44]The doctor was not pleased to see him
[04:28.28]"Now, what do you WANT? I TOLD you!"“
[04:31.66]The Priest laid three bills on the table
[04:35.08]The doctor put the money in his pocket and started to scream
[04:38.83]"I’ve had TROUBLES! PEOPLE have been around! I may lose my LICENSE!"“
[04:44.46]The Priest just sat there, eyes old and heavy with years of junk, on the doctor’s face
[04:53.87]"I can’t write you a prescription."“
[04:56.30]The doctor jerked open a drawer and slid an ampule across the table
[05:01.71]"That’s all I have in the OFFICE!" The doctor stood up“
[05:06.21]"Take it and GET OUT!" he screamed, hysterical“
[05:11.43]The Priest’s expression did not change
[05:14.36]The doctor added in quieter tones
[05:17.24]"After all, I’m a professional man, and I shouldn’t be bothered by people like you."“
[05:22.92]"Is that all you have for me? One lousy quarter G? Couldn’t you lend me a nickel or…?"“
[05:30.81]"GET OUT, GET OUT, I’ll call the police I tell you."“
[05:33.82]"All right, doctor, I’m going."
[05:40.90]Of course it was cold and far to walk, rooming house, a shabby street, room on the top floor
[05:48.04]"These stairs," coughed the Priest there, pulling himself up along the bannister“
[05:54.31]He went into the bathroom, yellow wall panels, toilet dripping
[05:59.31]and got his works from under the washbasin, wrapped in brown paper
[06:04.45]back to his room, get every drop in the dropper
[06:09.06]He rolled up his sleeve
[06:11.59]Then he heard a groan from next door, room eighteen
[06:16.32]The Mexican kid lived there
[06:18.95]The Priest had passed him on the stairs and saw the kid was hooked
[06:23.64]But he never spoke
[06:25.12]Because he didn’t want any juvenile connections
[06:28.35]Bad news in any language
[06:31.53]The Priest had had enough bad news in his life
[06:35.92]He heard the groan again, a groan he could feel, no mistaking that groan and what it meant
[06:43.97]"Maybe he had an accident or something“
[06:47.06]In any case, I can’t enjoy my priestly medications with that sound coming through the wall."
[06:53.98]Thin walls you understand
[06:56.81]The Priest put down his dropper
[06:59.44]cold hall
[07:00.81]and knocked on the door of room eighteen
[07:06.37]"Quien es?"
[07:07.73]"It’s the Preist, kid“
[07:09.25]I live next door.
[07:11.27]He could hear someone hobbling across the floor
[07:14.92]A bolt
[07:16.34]slid
[07:17.60]The boy stood there in his underwear shorts
[07:21.19]eyes black
[07:22.40]with pain
[07:24.12]He started to fall
[07:25.83]The Priest helped him over to the bed
[07:28.47]"What’s wrong, son?"
[07:30.41]"It’s my legs, señor，“
[07:32.23]cramps, and now I am without medicine."
[07:36.24]The Priest could see the cramps
[07:38.31]like knots of wood there in the young leaning legs
[07:42.76]Dark shiny black leg hairs
[07:46.96]"A few years ago I damaged myself in a bicycle race“
[07:50.55]It was then that the cramps started."
[07:54.06]And now he has the leg cramps back
[07:56.89]with compound junk interest
[08:00.98]The old Priest stood there
[08:02.96]feeling the boy groan
[08:06.65]He inclined his head as if in prayer
[08:09.54]Went back and got his dropper
[08:12.37]"It’s just a quarter G, kid."“
[08:14.90]"I do not require much, señor."“
[08:23.45]The boy was sleeping when the Priest left room eighteen
[08:28.05]He went back to his room and sat down on the bed
[08:32.80]Then it hit him like heavy silent snow
[08:38.01]All the gray junk yesterdays
[08:42.25]He sat there received the immaculate fix
[08:47.17]And since he was himself a priest
[08:50.87]There was no need to call one