Adventure Boy waits
at the
junction
between
Metal Town
and the road
to anywhere you
want to
be.
He listens to
the sound
of
distant
traffic--the
gentle susurrus of
wheels
and wind
and knows help
isn't as near
as wishes
it.
He bends,inspects
the wheel
mutters
an imprecation. He
should have
known.
Things
happen at
the worst times.
A flat tire
in the
middle
of nowhere is
not exactly
his
idea of convenience.
He looks
back
towards the sound
of traffic
and
shakes his head.
He looks
forward
to where the
tops of
metal
struts
seem to
pierce the afternoon
sky.
He sighs.
He can take
the long walk
back to
the
highway
or take
the short walk
to the center
of this
place
often
heard about
but never seen.
#
If
you asked
he would tell
you the truth.
He has
no
recollection
of where
he came from.
He only remembers
following the
road
and getting here.
If asked
he
would say he
wishes he
could
remember
father, mother,
sisters, brothers, aunts
the entire gamut
of family
each
of us possess
and yet
he,
this Adventure Boy,
does not
remember
ever having. All
he remembers
is
journeying
from one
town to the
next
in search
of an unnameable
in search of
an unknown
something.
#
He shoulders his
backpack, locks
his
door
inspects the
road and starts
walking.
And this
is how he
meets Alternate Girl
a.k.a. Tough
Girl.
#
Shift back to
now, shift
back
to Alternate Girl
with her
eyes
closed
as memory
rushes through her.
A cliché of
waves rushing
in
from the sea,
a cliché
of
the ocean’s roar
multiplied inside
her
head.
This is
how she remembers
meeting
Adventure Boy.
This is how
she
remembers the
start of forever
after.
#
Once
she was
their fearless leader.
A
bunch of
Metal Town kids.
Born to this
life. Born
with
the knowledge of
this is
how
today looks like
but tomorrow
could
be the day
our lives
end.
They travel the
insides of
their
town.
They possess
the hidden highways,
Own
secret networks
and secret signals.
When
Adventure Boy
starts walking the
system is activated.
Hoots and
Whistles
The thrumming of
Heels on
Metal
Pipes,
All send
A warning signal.
Stranger Approaching. Beware.
It is
She
Who
Meets this
Stranger. It is
She who comes
Out into
The
Open,
Confronts him
And asks him
“what’s your business
In Metal
Town?”
#
She remembers the
Sunshine. His
Eyes.
Brown
With flecks
Of golden light.
She remembers her
Breath stopping
And
The queer sound
Her heart
makes
He smiles and
It is
like
catching
sight of
a beautiful dream.
She is awkward
And shy
And
Conscious
Of the
Angles of her
Body
And the
Way her clothes
Are
Two sizes
Much too large
She
wishes she
had taken time
to wipe away
the stains
from
fixing
cars and
riding the rails
and even though
he doesn’t
do
anything but smile
she resents
him
for making her
feel uncertain
and
unfamiliar
and suddenly
so very unsure
of her role
as renegade
leader
of this ragtag
band of
boys
and
girls. Metaltowners
just like her.
LC WAS RIGHT (over The Hills)*
14 years ago
