morning fog blanketed the docks, thick with the sent of past rain. if you squinted hard enough out yonder, you could see the outlines of ships on the harbor. seagulls woke yearly to get the days first catch before the fishermen took it for themselves, their honking acted as an alarm clock for the working folk in town. they woke their horses, hooked them to their buggies and clopped down the street to work. with all the horses naying, the school children woke and opened their windows to wave at the horses going by. they would call to them saying 'goodbye!' have a lovely day!' 'bring me candy' and their voices would carry down the ally ways, ringing off rubbish bins to the ears of bums. the bums would wake and shake their friends and family.
because of the thick fog, the buggy drivers would have a difficult time seeing the road ahead of them, sometimes they would almost hit a bum and they would shout at one another until the paper boys, who slept on the curb, would wake.
the paper boys would go get their share of news and sell it on the street 'get your morning paper here!' 'todays news! 25 cents!'
their shouts would wake James mother and compel her to go outside for the paper and once she did, she would go inside to James's room. he'd sleep till noon if you let him, but his mother never let him. she'd beat him over the head with newspaper to wake him up.
and he would say ' but ma' the seagulls didn't come!'
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