Dream

Ugh. Nightmare last night.

I'm sorry.

It's a terrified kind of sorry that I've never felt before.

Like I've done something wrong, but I don't know what it was, and there's nobody after me for it, nobody to run from, just a calm breeze making everything worse.

 

Last night I dreamt that I made it to Switzerland.

I don't know anything about Switzerland, except it has mountains so I'd feel at home there.

And it's neutral, so I wouldn't need to formulate secret draft doging schemes

And the military wouldn't have me on a top secret "no hire" list, so I could potentially find a job.

A fantasy, maybe, but it's all I have.

 

It was a nice dream.

I wandered around the country with total anonymity.

Til I came to an old truck in front of a run down warehouse.

Small red truck, looked familiar.

I walked closer to it, saw the cargo. Balsam boughs, maybe 800 pounds, tied together in neat little bundles with bailer twine.

I heard something trickling beneath the truck, so I bent down to see what it was.

Tranny fluid leaking out, smoke everywhere.

I realized that this was my truck, exactly the way it was before it had exploded.

 

Lifted my head. Alan was there, wearing his dirty overalls and his only set of pants, the ones with the holes in the a*s.

He was caked with greese and dirt, as usual.

He hugged me; did that manhug kind of thing that guys do when they haven't seen each other in a long time.

Patted me on the back.

"Welcome home," he said.

Jason was there.

"Help us unload," he said.

Began unloading the dead Balsam sticks into the warehouse.

 

Cormack was there.

Jason and Alan left with my truck, drove it back to America, back to the northwoods.

Cormack stayed.

I only had enough money for one plane ticket home; I couldn't buy Mack a ticket because he wouldn't go unless I went, and I couldn't buy myself a ticket because I knew he'd find a way to follow me

And I'd end up in the northwoods again.

 

Today I went to the hardware store after I awoke

Asked them for a job

They told me they had nothing for me.
Same manager that was so enthusiastic about me a week ago.

When I came back home, the Army called

Wanted me to fight and die.

 

That's when I realized there is no long run in life. Just one short excursion after another.

Hop from one rock to another to cross the rapids.

Reviews

[Hedra Helix]

giant solid continuous rocks. you rock

[magic]

greese// grease

Did you truly dream this?

[lark]

i'm searching for some funny in your pages, because i know i'll find some...

so far, you're not helping much.



like it though.
last paragraph that isn't lined out kills.

[bunny nabber]

I've been thinking about those last 3 lines in the last two or three days and I just want to say that pretty much I think no matter what, cos who knows how the winds will blow and where what seeds on it will fly and eventually go,

regardless,
at least in this respect
those 3 lines are pretty much assured false, if you're going to ask me.

in the long run anyway. nebulous I know. but clean and heartfelt.

your friend.

[Hawksmoor]

That's when I realized there is no long run in life. Just one short excursion after another.

Hop from one rock to another to cross the rapids.


Amen.

This is an odd piece. I didn't quite get what was going on at a few points, but I did get the feeling that the latter bit took place in the narrator's head, so to speak. Memories of the past, long-ago comforts and hopes. Again, it's pretty vague throughout, which is sort of cool. Sometimes, piecing what's what together when it comes to the weird is the best part of exploring a story like this one.

There were a few typos, but those can easily be found and fixed.

Like I said at the start of these words, (because I'm no professional reviewer, so I won't even pretend to be) this is an odd piece, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy reading it.

Hawksmoor...From The Bleed.

[bunny nabber]

;-)

[Hedra Helix]

last 3 lines, not true.