I let her talk even though each word brought tears to my eyes. I did remember some things. Especially Dad pushing us in that swing. It wasn’t much more than a rope tied to a tree limb. But it was exhilarating. The fresh air. The togetherness. I looked up to Daniel. He helped me get on that rickety swing seat and hold on tight. He was the big brother to my little sister.
And Dad was so big and strong. So brave, larger than life. He was my everything. Now he’s gone and we exist here in the after. It’s ironic that I would be here with Mom and everyone I truly loved is long gone.
“Now we live like rats in a tunnel. A bad social experiment gone wrong. You know Kel, I used to bake cookies and cakes. I remember once making you a birthday cake.”
Mom hesitated for a moment. I could tell there were tears in her voice. I said, “Yes, that was a long time ago.”
“But that was in the before. Before the world went crazy. Before, when we lived on the good earth, not buried halfway down inside. Before the air went bad, and we didn’t have to manufacture it. Before the crash and my legs weren’t a metal/plastic monstrosity. I wished I had died right along with your Dad.”
“I know Mom, I know. I’m sorry.” She called me my ‘before’ name. She called me Kel. I don’t remember the last time she used that name. Maybe when Dad died and Daniel went into deep depression.
I never thought about it from their point of view before. How they were just as much a prisoner as I was. How Daniel was devastated by Dad’s death. He was trapped in the vehicle with them but came out without a scratch. How much guilt he must carry because he was alive and physically unhurt.
“I remember Kel, I remember how the world was. We actually had states and governments and a president. We had neighborhoods we could walk around in. We had real neighbors. That was before, when they didn’t replace every damn broken body part with plastic parts that never die. Before you lived too long with nothing to live for. I’m 140 years old. I should have been dead 50 years ago, but here I am. Encased in this machine with nothing to do and . . .”
Mom faltered. I kinda knew what she was going to say. She loves Daniel. He’s her reason for holding on. He’s all she has left. God knows I have not been very lovable. I guess I don’t want to be. To be loved and someone to love is a precious gift. I don’t deserve that gift.
“Kelly, Daniel hasn’t called. What should we do?”
“I’ll send a vid to the Peacekeepers. They’ll know what to do. Don’t worry. Daniel will be back.”
If nothing else God, please let Daniel come back for her.
Haunts
Love Lost
Out in the lowermost part of the grove
A form glides along as if drawn
Bound to this earth by a tenuous link
Still a bond stronger than life itself
No longer does this form think of self
Passion of a kind that few can imagine
Links it to its frightened quarry
Its quest, to reach - to touch, clearly lost
Around and around it stalks
Tangled in thick vines of forgotten lore
Wedged in a void of ether time
Fixated on capturing its one true love
Sighted at last but still elusive
Reaching for what can never be touched
The form sags, deflated, deflected
Still and slight, it yearns to be known
Muted shrieks of anguish
Stagnant, cooled, vanishing life force
Feeling what was once, but now restrained
It stands, but greatly lowered in stance
Head thrown back ready to receive
Accept the languishing heat
Exult in the nearness of lost, found
Reach, touch, claim, accept
Startled, another being, senses
The not quite stillness of an interloper
Apparent to the inner beat of a broken heart
Quicken heartbeat cannot fathom
Trembling, faint but determined
An ethereal moon emerges overhead
Shadows intertwined between breaths
Touched, but not felt, felt, but never touched
The Time Traveler
No Time for the Bull****
"YOU'RE A TIME TRAVELER, huh?" The waitress with the platinum hair and big boobs asked the skinny young kid sitting in the booth by the window. He had on an old Prince t-shirt that had seen better days. His hair was a mass of spikes with greenish plaits interwoven between the strains.
The kid pushed his empty plate away and replied, "Yeah, been traveling through time for the last 1500 years. My last stop was in the year 522."
I perked my ears up to hear exactly what Doris the waitress was going to come back with.
"Well, you don't look a day over 19 and I should know cause my grandson is almost 19. But if you been traveling since you left the year 522, how come you speak English? They weren't speaking English way back then and wearing ripped jeans. Back then they wore robes and stuff like that. I know cause I was just watching some old movie called Benjamin Her or something like that."
Good one Doris, I thought to myself.
The kid said softly, "My time traveling machine allows me to take on the language, dress and customs of whatever time I’m traveling in. But not currency. That's why I asked could I work off this meal, since I don't have any of your money on me. Besides, part of my mission is to integrate within the common population to learn more about your culture."
The young man was starting to look nervous. I guess he wasn't used to somebody like Doris questioning him.
"Look here son, how many customers you see in this old place. Ain't no work around here.
