Curtis & Shepard

Shepard's where we want him
He's staying off of Cedar
He's shacked up with some princess
With a fish tank and a fever
Her daddy is a doctor
He sends them decent checks
He said he's sorry that he didn't have more time

Sometimes when they sail off, she forgets to feed the fish
And the float up to the top, to drift in the abyss
She removes the ones not moving with a sacred slotted spoon
Drops them in the ashtray, and she sighs and pretty soon she says
"We should probably make a wish now"

And they wish for new inventions
To make this life more easy
'Cause lately it's been hard

Curtis moved with purpose, but he wouldn't say what it was
He does something with the hubcaps and the independent trucks
Skates some empty warehouse and waits around for lunch
When they get in touch, he starts to really hustle

It's a tricky little business
It's hard to thread that needle
To build a clear consensus
With independent people

He's always had the feeling
That he'd never see the ocean
He'd be more apt to negotiate
If the window wasn't closing

And he dreams of sweeping vistas
And machines that clean the streets
And he wishes it was easy
And he's sorry that he didn't have more time

Shepard's where we left him
Princess got recalled
To Phoenix by her father
Who's in talks to cut her off

Shepard wants to go somewhere with a little better weather
But he didn't have time to pull it all together
Curtis is all business, as he sits and cleans the pistol
A decade spent in limbo waiting on the whistle
All the years they built up prisons from decisions that we made
He's coming up on Riverside like he's off to the crusades

When Curtis kicks the door in
Then Shepard's on his knees
And Curtis says, "I'm sorry
That we didn't have more time"

What went down in '89
And again in '93
You did things in the city
The city's still not happy
Remember in the garden?
In 1997
And Curtis pulls the trigger
Now Shepard can't remember