His Handcart Cart

The legless man awoke awakened, his legless legs aching like phantom stumps. His handcart, this was built from wayboard and old nails and a piece of tin hammered into a scoop. The scoop added leverage and absorbed the vibrations between him and the asphalt. The legless man carried a three volume set of Russian philosophy (volumes 1, 2 and 4, as he was missing volume 3 which would have made it a 4 volume set) in a specially built shelf attached to the backend of the handcart. He wore his porkpie hat, the one with the visor so as to keep the sunlight in abeyance and the scolding thoughts out of his head, when he read Russian philosophy, never really understanding a word he read. Embossed on the inside facing page of each volume was a three-headed eagle in a newsboy cap encircled by a somatoform in the shape of a quails foot, the Russian insignia for honor, forthrightness and vodka.