You Know Better

There were five of us.

Just enough to congeal

Into a one digit I.Q.

And do something without redeeming social value.

This was a long time before social values.

When I was ten, my Mom 

Would’ve supplied the term “constructive”

As the antonym for our behavior.

We five neighboring apartment dwellers,

Not highly-motivated bums- in-training,

Would play stick ball, using parked cars

As launching pads for heroic, leaping catches.

The adult who owned a new red De-Soto, 

Caught us practicing elaborate snares

Off the trunk of his car.

He was unhappy.

Looking at his “not badly -damaged” car,

He expressed his “disappointment” with our behavior,

Then turned a nasty face on me and spat out,

“You, you know better!!”

It was a very weird moment.

I was handed a sort of compliment

While simultaneously carrying the weight

For my buddies, who apparently did not know better.

65 years later and I’ve reached no conclusion.

Just because I was the runt of the litter

And possessed the best leaping ability,

Is no reason to think I really knew any better.