.

To those of us who knew him

– his friends –

we called him Roy.

To others he was known

as that horrible Toxic Boy.

.

He loved ammonia and asbestos,

and lots of cigarette smoke.

What he breathed in for air

would make most people choke!

.

His very favorite toy

was a can of aerosol spray;

he’d sit quietly and shake it,

and spray it all the day.

.

He’d stand inside of the garage

in the early-morning frost,

waiting for the car to start

and fill him with exhaust.

.

The one and only time

I ever saw Toxic Boy cry

was when some sodium chloride

got into his eye.

.

One day for fresh air

they put him in the garden.

His face went deathly pale

and his body began to harden.

.

The final gasp of his short life

was sickly with despair.

Whoever thought that you could die

from breathing outdoor air?

.

As Roy’s soul left his body,

we all said a silent prayer.

It drifted up to heaven

and left a hole in the ozone layer.

.

From The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories