he sat there wigglin’ his teeth in his mouth…takin’ his pointer finger and givin’ his back molars a real goin’ over…loose as can be…they’d fall out anytime if he kept it up…

wanted ’em all gone…just have nothin’ in his mouth but gums and a tongue…was tired of brushin’ everyday…never flossed…they were all yellow from years of smokin’ cigarettes til four in the mornin’ chased with shots of whiskey…his was not a picture of health…

didn’t enjoy chewin’ food anymore…all he wanted to do was drink…used to enjoy steaks when he was younger…vegetables too…and crisp apples that fell in the Fall…not anymore…those days were gone…

so he’d sit there and wiggle his teeth all day long atop a barstool…watchin’ FOX NEWS…not sayin’ a word…keepin’ his thoughts to himself as every once in awhile he’d spit up some blood and cough into his dirty handkerchief….mumbled…, excuse me…

that’s what his life had become…a lonely old man who never stuck with marriage…or jobs…or anything other than the bars and taverns ’round town…that’s all he wanted…that’s all he wanted…just keep the shots comin’…keep ’em comin’…

they took the pain away…