The Bone

He opened her wardrobe
expecting to find
that skeleton
from her freshman
college science lab.
But he found it empty
(then he suddenly remembered
she already
cleared her closet)
save for
one, single
bone, the longest in the body,
a femur ─ thigh bone ─
and he doesn't know if it's left
or right.

It bothered him,
for the bone stank
like bacteria-
infested cat feces.

With surgical gloves,
he picked it up,
and saw that the bone
was made of plastic,
which made him wonder
"How can
something synthetic stink so?"

He wanted to take a shovel
and bury it, but
he didn't want to
burn that many calories
for a fake bone
that's not even good enough
for a dog to chew on.

So he went outside,
drew back his arm,
and launched the bone like a projectile,
hurling it like a home run
fired from a cannon.

And the bone landed
in a garbage dump,
with the other trash,
where it belonged.