Chapter Two -- in which we meet Adventure Boy

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.