Was at a park yesterday. There was a crew of convicts in white prison garb and orange vests being herded by a bossman who were going methodically through the park picking up litter and doing minor gardening and upkeep.
My daughter is feeding the ducks. I'm sitting at a picnic table and staying out of the way. She's got on an AU Girl tshirt.
Convict about 50 yards away scooping duck shit into a pan yells "Rawwlll Tahd" as he passes her. She looks at me. I shake my head and we don't say anything.
That doesn't satisfy the con. He's a weaselly little scrap of nothing, a face like Scut Farkus of A Christmas Story and some kind of skanky tattoo scrolling up his neck.
Three more times as he's scraping up duck shit he bellows the same thing and giggles.
We ignore each one.
But as we get ready to leave we pass about 20 feet from where he's dumping duck excrement in a bag. I can't help myself.
"War Freedom, jackass" I yell in his direction. "War Damn Freedom."
I get the bird. And drive away, past the white convict bus that will take him home later.