a chicken bone

the streetlamp on Western Avenue is dying. it hums like a broken refrigerator. the sodium bulb keeps cutting out. it throws a sick orange glare on the damp sidewalk. i sit by the window. my ashtray is full. the bulb goes black. then it clicks back on. something moves just outside the orange ring. a rat is pulling a chicken bone. the electric hum gets louder. the rat drags the bone into the dark. i light another Pall Mall.