Hard And Tenderly

They called me "Mr. X, Indeed", the special ones that saw so deep inside

the souls of those who were so lonely. I was down beneath the bottom, when

my vacant staring caught them gaily parading up and down the

street-followed by some stinking masses, freeing fumes and giving gasses

to the brown and nearly worn out air. But they had that certain presence

like the ether or the essence of the cleansing upper atmosphere. Laughing,

loving, and without a doubt, they simply strode about the streets that

other creatures left alone. I ran across, myself compulsive, with the

feeling of a pulsing drum that pounded underneath my skin. A tingling in

my tangled brain was screaming that this was insane, but it also told me,

"Touch it," too.

"Stand aside," I told the masses, and with that I made my passage frome

lonely to the only side. Openly they smiled to greet me, like they always

knew they'd meet me somewhere walking up and down the road. I knew I must

appear as someone far beyond the common come-on, so I could not say my nae

was Ed. So I said, "I'm Mr. X who wants to come and who expects to help

and guide your efforts to succeed." They laughed a little bit at me, and

then said, "Mr. X-Indeed," and hugged me somehow hard and tenderly.