An Act of Kindness

It was with some regret that Social Services
failed in the provision of guidance
for little Jimmy Trubshaw.
The paperwork was passed on, glossed over
and filed under H for 'Hopeless Case'
and little Jimmy was left behind the barred windows
of Laverstone Sanatorium where, to all accounts,
he was a model citizen and disinclined
to unsociable behaviour.
As a Christmas treat Nurse Susan Bowler
signed him out under her care and took him home
to her gaily decorated flat and her two cats
Flotsam and Harbinger.
The police ware called at 11 Pm on Christmas Eve
after Nurse Bowler had failed to put her two cats out
and both had burned to death
along with the stumps
of little Jimmy's dark wings.