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THE HAWK

by

David S. Mason

Just before dawn is the coldest part of a winter day.
The gl:ound has reached its coolest point, and even when tile
sun does rise it is a while before the temperature begins to
climb. Wilbur Thomas, known as Willie to his friends, knew
this was true a.lthough he nevez articulated t:he fact in this
way. He was content to say, "The Hawk is out, II and partake
of what he called his liquid antifreeze---any alcoholic
beverage available. Willie never really got drunk, just
took a shot now and then to wexd off the cold. He
couldn't afford to get really drunk because his job
required t.hat he maintain a minimum level of manual dex-
tzez.i ty. Willie drove and operated a front end loading
t.rash truck. The old drunks working with Willie at Ox Hill
Trash Collection, Inc., never got to drive the front end
loading trucks. They always went on the residential
routes, picking up trash in a piece of burlap and dumping
it by hand into the trucks. Willie liked his job too ~ch
to end up like them. He never handled the garbage or did
much physical labor, and best of all, he could smoke all
day long.

Willie considered himself a hippie and tried to ~~ke
the dist.inction clear to rednecks. His .hair was shoulder
length and dirty, so dirty it frequently made decent old
ladies feel sick to their stomachs. His beard was full for
his twenty-two years, and unkept. He was about five feet
ten inches tall , and heavy --- not a hard heavy but a soft,
white, unhealthy puffiness. Willie wore old Army fatigues
and liked to tell rednecks about his imaginary stretch in
Viet Nam. All his friends knew his draft number had been
two-hundred ten and that even if he had been drafted he
wasn't old enough to have made it to Nambefore Nixon
ended tile wax. Willie' s proudest distinction as a hippie
was that he I d been srtr:;)kinggrass since .Qe was fourteen
years old. Alrong his peers Willie was one of the first to
be arrested.