Demon
I was listening to Opera and he said "what the fuck is this?". Embarrased, turning the music down, he had already started fiddling with the broken backseat window, at the whim of his own insatiable intrinsic motives. The motives that would drive him to his end.
He lived next door to me for years.
My first solid memory of him was clapping erasers outside the school at the end of the day, in the second grade. He dashed out, Ms. Wilson comes screaming after him but he's gone, unfolding on a horizon I hadn't even seen before, and gone.
"Do you want me to go after him?" I volunteered. She just put her hand on my head.
Once we gave him a ride to school at 7:30 in the morning and he reaked of pot. Didn't say anything. Mom coaxed him into coming to church a few times that year. She said later they had talked about redemption. "Do you think I could ever be forgiven for what I've done?" he'd asked her on our doorfront, come over to ask to hunt on our land.
His class had a lot of bad eggs. 3 years my senior. Someone looked up and noticed. Changes were made. Too late. I owe a lot to the changes instituted by the provenance of that class. My first rejection, for instance.
His sister got pregnant I think and fell off the face of the visible earth.
3 other guys from that class have offed in the last year.
Unseen horizens.
Went to a girl's party after graduation and he was there, hanging with her older brother who was on parole and drinking beers in the afternoon. He half smiled at me, probably nervous to be recognized. We didn't say anything. Different worlds only Collide if they have to. Looked pale and thin, malnourished almost, patchy facial hair. A kind of just keeping above the surface desperation. The girls were ugly and you could tell they had been crying. The boys drove off to the woods to go shoot things. That was the last I saw of him.
His dad said he was doing good. His dad who had tried so hard. Worked years full of honest days work raising two kids single. Found a good woman and remarried. Said his boy had a girlfriend, a steady job. Was doing well. Had found an apartment. Said he was doing good.
Guess now he's done running.
He lived next door to me for years.
My first solid memory of him was clapping erasers outside the school at the end of the day, in the second grade. He dashed out, Ms. Wilson comes screaming after him but he's gone, unfolding on a horizon I hadn't even seen before, and gone.
"Do you want me to go after him?" I volunteered. She just put her hand on my head.
Once we gave him a ride to school at 7:30 in the morning and he reaked of pot. Didn't say anything. Mom coaxed him into coming to church a few times that year. She said later they had talked about redemption. "Do you think I could ever be forgiven for what I've done?" he'd asked her on our doorfront, come over to ask to hunt on our land.
His class had a lot of bad eggs. 3 years my senior. Someone looked up and noticed. Changes were made. Too late. I owe a lot to the changes instituted by the provenance of that class. My first rejection, for instance.
His sister got pregnant I think and fell off the face of the visible earth.
3 other guys from that class have offed in the last year.
Unseen horizens.
Went to a girl's party after graduation and he was there, hanging with her older brother who was on parole and drinking beers in the afternoon. He half smiled at me, probably nervous to be recognized. We didn't say anything. Different worlds only Collide if they have to. Looked pale and thin, malnourished almost, patchy facial hair. A kind of just keeping above the surface desperation. The girls were ugly and you could tell they had been crying. The boys drove off to the woods to go shoot things. That was the last I saw of him.
His dad said he was doing good. His dad who had tried so hard. Worked years full of honest days work raising two kids single. Found a good woman and remarried. Said his boy had a girlfriend, a steady job. Was doing well. Had found an apartment. Said he was doing good.
Guess now he's done running.
posted by DMM at 4/22/2008 02:20:00 PM
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