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Shawntel is a member of the community in the
shower. His friend Emilio is a can of shaving cream, he has two
other friends as well; Cornelius the conditioner, and Safe guard
the bar of soap.
They all belong to a secret cult filled with
craft, drugs, and sexual experimentation.
One day Shawntel, coming down off a frightening
coke buzz was surprised by me. Upon smothering my head with shampoo,
it lost its lather all too quickly. At that moment the shampoo and
me looked at each other, Shawntel started crying and we both knew
that he needed help.
After a week or two in the Betty ford clinic
Shawntel checked himself out to go back to his old habits. Taking
hits of crank off the back of filthy geisha whores and attending
his cult meetings. So not knowing what else to do, I kicked him
out of the shower.
Then I saw him sitting on the street one day.
He was covered with newspaper and beef jerky- he had tried to make
clothing for himself to keep warm.
I saw in his hand he had a spoon that had been
sharpened to make a shank. Like the kind you might find in prison.
So I said to him "Shawntel, let me help you."
Then he looked up at me nozzle open, and said
"You take another step and I'll shove this spoon in your goddamned
eye." After saying this Shawntel went into spasms and I took
him to the hospital. Once there I held his hand until he came to.
The morning after he woke up, and was scared,
he had no idea how he had got there, and couldn't remember much
of the last two weeks. I then explained to him what had happened
and that he could live in the shower again until he could get back
on his feet and find a job. I also told him that I would help keep
him from Emilio, Cornelius, and Safeguard the bar of soap so that
he wouldn't keep the cycle spinning.
He was released that day. So after he was released
I offered him a ride to the house, he obliged. On the home we lit
up a fatty bo batty blunt and cruised in my 1987 Chrysler Le Baron.
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