even after 33 years

Jesse was 11 years old..
It was a Saturday morning around 7:00.
He never slept late, not even as a teenager,
he was out to the barn early to feed his horse.
He got some grain and put it in the trough,
then he climbed up into the loft to throw down some hay..
His dad was asleep on a green army cot in the corner.
It startled Jesse for a moment, feeling like he was seeing something he shouldn't see..
33 years later,
As he sat there at the kitchen table,
he wondered..
"What did I feel that morning when I found him there?"
There was a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels lying on its side,
James was fully dressed in his boots and coat,
his white straw cowboy hat was bent underneath his head acting as a pillow.
Jesse was as quiet as a mouse as he threw two leafs of hay down to his horse.
James turned over and almost fell off the cot but didn't.
He started snoring as Jesse climbed back down the loft ladder.
"Why am I remembering this?"
He hadn't thought about it once in all these years..

wkm
Oxford