53. IN ON THE JOKE

IN ON THE JOKE
(Something About a Hat)
This - [this] - was a solid line,
an esplanade of wide-ranging features,
a broad steel pilaster set to slice,
an eventful prime moment well-remembered.
I remembered [somehow] leaving my
dark green hat behind. I recalled that the
nice girl nearby was calling her husband on
the telephone - in a sort-of panic - stating:
'I left my keys at work in my jacket. I left that
there too. I didn't realize it until just now.
Where can you pick me up, and when?'
It all went like that - smoothly progressive in
an opposite manner, unlike an old cartoon, say,
where a villain can be concealed by a tree.
They were always nearly completely obscured, except
for a tophat or some sort of long coat. It always gave
them away, usually without them even knowing.
Whoever watched [along with YOU the viewer], the hero
or the lawman or the comic foil coyote, was always
in on the joke; and expected as well you were with him.