The Man in the ditch

The man in the ditch loved his ditch. He spent his whole life there.

How did he end up in the ditch? Nobody really knows.

He just loved it with all his heart.

Don't talk to my about my ditch.

he would say when people would linger around his ditch. Asking, Daryl, maybe you'd like to come out of there?

They handed him water and bits of bread and cheese.

Daryl, maybe you'd like to have a bath? They would say after smelling his rotten rags and clothes mildewed by many nights spent in the harsh rains.

Daryl put up his nose at their their suggestions. No, he would say. I don't want to come out of my ditch. He would light a kerosene lamp and warm himself, so that the sweat dripped out of his waxy pores.

Some thought and tried to tell the story of Daryl, and how to got to be the man in the ditch.

"Did he always live there?"

"No darling.."

So where did he live before? But nobody could remember.

Finally one day a virus wiped out the entire town. everyone died except Daryl.

He looked up at the sky and where there usually was a hand with bread there was nobody.

For the first time in many years Daryl leaned against the dark soil of his home and clawed with red, fungi ridden fingers to the top of the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.

Seeing that there was nobody there, Daryl asked aloud, "anybody here?"

He wobbled delicately to the edge of a green forest where the townspeople used to live.

Seeing that nobody was there,

Daryl began to sort through the leftover clothes and food to salvage what he should wear. He noticed that he was very dirty, suddenly, because the clothes felt repulsive to him on his too waxy, fungi ridden skin.

I must take a bath then..Daryl mused.

he sat in one of the outdoor tubs and steam overcame his body, suddenly his emotions too were also overcome by steam.

His eyes filled with tears at all the people who had left the Earth in his town, all the people who had helped him while he was still living in the ditch.