A Billion Times Before

by James Babbs

he was taking a piss
with the bathroom door open
I don’t know
he said
maybe I need to find another job
we’d had this same conversation
about a billion times before
you don’t need another job
I said
you need a career
I was trying to peel
the label off of my bottle
but it wasn’t going very well
how do I get one of those
he asked
I said
first of all
you have to figure out
what you want to do
I heard him flush the toilet
before washing his hands
he came back into the living room and
handed me another beer
he said
isn’t there any way I can get paid
for drinking and sleeping
I said
well if there is
be sure and let me know
I watched him toss his bottle cap
at the waste basket in the corner
it bounced off the edge and
landed on the floor
shit
he said
I swallowed some more beer and
went back to working on
trying to peel the label
off of the other bottle