The Iron Bar

Just leave it there.

The dawn was barely gleaming when Glenn saw the solid iron railroad tie in the gutter near where he walked but for whatever reason hadn’t bothered to pick it up. It was one of the roads he traveled on himself quite often so he wanted to snatch up the tie before his tire found it.  

He picked it up and bounced it in his hand twice, astonished that the tie was on the road and even more astonished the City’s street sweepers hadn’t been by in a few weeks. Where it came from and how it got there was anybody’s guess, but now it was safe in his hands and out of any tire’s harm.

Glenn still had a half mile to get home and there was no trash can between where he picked up the piece of iron and home. Plus, he’d get a chance to do a little show and tell with his wife about what he found on his early morning walks. She had long since tuned out and responded with “That’s nice, Dear.”

“Maybe this’ll impress her,” Glenn said out loud as he continued on his walk.

“Morning,” he said to a woman jogger who stepped out into the road as she passed him. Her headphones prevented her from hearing anything outside of her little zone. Her eyes darted back and forth between Glenn and the road.

A swift walking man passed and he muttered a “hello” but kept his distance.

Glenn continued to play with the railroad tie in his hand and then he saw the flashing lights off the concrete ahead of him.

“Someone got busted,” he said out loud as he turned to see who the police had stopped.

The two officers had their guns drawn and pointed right at Glenn.

“Put the weapon down and put your hands up,” one of the policemen said.

Glenn squinted at the police and mouth their words, trying to make sense of what the officer was saying. He dropped the iron and put his hands up. The lightbulb went on in his mind. One of the two passersby thought the hunk of iron was a weapon of some sort in the dim light, so they alerted the authorities.

As the officers approached Glenn, he surmised that now would be the perfect opportunity to rant against the City Maintenance regarding the junk on the city streets.

Or next time.