Yep, all kinds

after the man looking for the biography of the influential philosopher Ludwig Wittenstein left
(which i actually found after he left in fiction of all places,)
the man with the faded tattooed knuckles came in
they read on one hand "love"
on the other hand "hate"
it wasn't that he joked with me in that way that wasn't funny
trying to be clever and trying to make a joke out of me
or the fact that I wasn't taken with his choice in reading material
it was the threat to the parrot
"squawk at me again like that and i'm gonna slit your throat"
it was the conviction in his voice that prompted me to
consider asking him to leave,
(really threatening the parrot for pete's sake)
i responded with this thought bubble, but kept my silence
"really, what gave you that idea?"
the man looking for Wittenstein wore around his neck a bird in flight necklace
and asked if we had any spoken word on c.d.
the man with the knuckles tried to play nice
but couldn't
they both were older,
the philosopher king in his 50's
the tattooed knuckle man in his 60's
i told my boss this story
"Yep, it takes all kinds"
he said