Cheke pushed the hard on the pen digging into the desk, he imagined his life with her and all the happiness it would bring. This paper was for those feelings, and in his mind it was full of beautiful poetry. A small tear formed, it occurred to Cheke that poetry may not be his forte.
Somebody has stolen the top of HHC Brigade Company’s guidon, this brings what seems to be the entire war effort to a screeching halt. The big voice sounds off
“ALL E9S AND FIRST SARGENTS REPORT TO BATALLION TOC, I SAY AGAIN ALL FIRST SARGENTS AND E9S REPORT TO BATALLION TOC”
I am told I will have to stand in a formation every hour on the hour until it is found. I think; I most likely just wont go, I leave in a couple days anyways, nobody is really tracking. I sleep until 11:13, I guess they found it. If only people knew how we were spending their money over here…
April in Minnesota, the spongy ground soaking up the natives, many of whom are venturing outside for the first time willingly in months. After the snow melts the empty trees and dead grass turn the whole landscape gray for a few weeks before budding with life again. I like to go on walks though town imagining the whole neighborhood rolling out of bed and slowly acknowledging that it has to make itself presentable for another trip around the sun.
Suddenly I am talking to Kala, She wasn’t here a moment ago but is now standing in front of me. The sidewalk follows the curve of the road and its possible that we just ran into one another unexpectedly, I don’t always pay the best attention after all. She is telling me a story about her brother but it seems bizarre, her arms flail with emotion, eyes darting from side to side.
“He put his head in a box! I cant understand a fucking thing he says anymore and he’s never around.” She rambles on and I do my best to look through her and still appear to be paying attention.
How did I get here? I remember leaving my parents house, I haven’t lived there in years, its not impossible though that I could be visiting. I scour the landscape behind her head for any discrepancy. Everything is in order, my focus shifts to the tree behind her, I will it to bud, explode with life! Nothing. I return my focus to Kala, still talking, I want to check my watch but I cant think of anything more impolite, she pauses for a moment now seemingly calm.
“Ive gotta go, but hey, I am gonna be downtown tonight you still going to be in town?”
I nod, “Ill be at Rod’s.”
“Awesome that’s where we all go, see yah there”
She walks past me. I take a few steps, my wrist snaps to my face 11:34:53, fuck, a few more steps, 11:35:01, fuck, fuck. For a moment I am tempted to look behind me and see if she is still walking away but I keep moving forward. I guess that just happened but, then again, you can never be too sure about these things.
Today is Tyler’s 35th birthday, his friends and family are here to celebrate with him, he puts on his party smile. This year has been one of his best, he kicked smoking cigarettes, devoted himself to eating right and exercising in stead of spending his evenings in front of the television. Many of the people singing happy birthday admire his success wondering what gave him the determination to change, a few are even jealous. When the cake is served Tyler picks up a piece and holds it for a moment before quietly disposing of it in the trash.
When people ask him what caused him to change Tyler will say; “I just felt terrible all the time, I would come home from work exhausted, I would go to bed and wake up tired. My doctor suggested to stop smoking and that just got the ball rolling, yah know, then a few weeks after I joined the gym and really started enjoying it.”
After the party Tyler laces his shoes for a run, stepping outside he begins to propel himself forward, faster, faster. He is running through the jungle jumping over downed trees, the undergrowth grabs at his calves making small cuts the pain propelling him ever faster. His legs tire, vision blurs, he imagines his body a machine pushing through the organic world destroying anything alive in his path. Black smoke trails off his body leaving soot on the leaves behind him, the grass dies under his feet and the animals hide in fear.
When he returns home his wife is still tidying up,
“Hi hun” she chirps moving in to kiss his cheek and take in his smell. “You know you really were wonderful today, I know you hate these things” She paused “do you have a goal for this year?”
Tyler saw himself at work, he would move from his desk over to the water fountain for a drink, his fingers wrapping around the edges the water begins to flow. His fingers digging deeper and his back arches as he pulls with all of his might. He can hear the bolts shaking free from the cheap cement and the pipes rattle, the water begins to burst from the cracks in the pipes onto the floor, the unit breaks free and water sprays everywhere. He holds the fountain above his head, he has just won the Stanley fucking cup.
Tyler looks to his wife and says “I would really like to see a little more definition in my triceps.”
He sat in the car, head in his hands, moving up the walk he fumbled through the key ring searching for the key to her apartment. The key slid into the tumbler and to his surprise the door was open, she was gone. He stared at the keyring for a moment, he left his key on the counter.
Kathrine sat against the wall, she had not heard her first name in a month, maybe two, so she imagined it spoken to her. Lips making words without a sound, her cigarette dangled between her fingers. Pretty good for someone who doesn’t smoke, she cracked a smile, fake too.
Someone turned the corner, the cigarette burning at the filter and she panicked without cause to be there. She ditched the smoke, stood up, moving for the door, now she feels him behind her stirring the air. Doors open now, she holds it for a moment as he passes exchanging a nod. Kathrine returns to her room.
She could feel her heart beating, clammy hands dammed up tears before they could form. She poured some gin from the bottle on the counter top, she sat on the edge of her bed, she turned the radio on for a moment then off again. A little later Kathrine decided a smoker would need a cigarette again, by now.
The arcade closes for two hours every day in the morning, this gives us time to clean and maintain the units. Amy is open in front of me, the heating units built into her thigh registered a malfunction during her steam treatment.
What did they do to you?
Her skin was pulled back like a curtain from the mid-line with her ribs open presenting her inner workings, some kind of film was covering the housing that held he electrics for her lower left appendage. One of these jerk offs must have brought in some lube that reacted to the steam. The inventory shows 0 replacement parts in stock. Trouble ticket;
Unit 17 “Amy” RM 2, PT 3124/L electrical short, need replacement or L3 Technician. UNDER WARRANTY. SL 0641/13/11/32
**0644/13/11/32 GM Barnes, Andy – Amy unit.
Clean her up. Run at 10% discount offer free facial rendering as damaged unit incentive. Parts on order. Cant loose her she is the most realistic girl we got.
“Looks like you never get a day off” I mumble wiping off the housing and replacing the bag around the pump cavity. The unit closed and the folds in the skin disappear leaving her seamless, I prompt the computer to restart the steam treatment. Amy is blank, featureless, I suppose that’s naked for her. The door locks behind me, I walk to the front desk preparing to break the news to the world that their fantasy is broken today.
I have been here an hour now, pumping away. She started doing her thing in front of me, running in place. Has it been so long? The sweat running down her calves I can almost taste, my blood starts to crowd me.
For a moment I feel sorry for the real perverts, pumping away.
I was speaking with an older man most likely in his fifty’s, he had just retired from the police force and joined our team as an adviser. Throughout our conversation we learned that I had come to live in the area of the country that he had worked as an officer and he asked me to sometime tell him the story of how I had come to that area.
Almost a month had past when we happened to to find ourselves sitting together for lunch on a slow work day. The man inquired about my story and I proceeded describe to him the most boring set of circumstances imaginable. He did not speak until I was completely finished and when he did it was only to say,
“women”.
This is a long line, a really long line for a convenience store and I feel like I have been here for a long long time. I wonder what it would be like outside maybe with the same people, yah know talking and all but doing one less thing. And here I go, stepping up the the plate this one is gonna be a home run for sure. Now I cant find my card.
“I know I had it” Half turn, I have no idea who I am talking to.
I really hope nobody’s walking a mile in my shoes today.
scarswarm 