aerasio

Passerby

The dull light flickers above. I'm perched on a tall stool, sipping some lousy watered-down coffee, watching a beat up TV crackle. Its a grimy bar, dirty and beat up. The hang out of the bums, the good-for-nothings, the town drunks. Every undesirable and shady skunk you could think of. I throw down a dollar and head out. The air outside is a little better than the rotten stench of smoke, puke and piss. A little better. I get into my truck, it's good to be inside the truck. It's so good, I stop and think about it for awhile. Then I'm off, roaring down I-94. Its monday morning 5:19, and the passerby is passing on once again.

I've never been much of a people person. I got no interest in other people. They've never been too interested in me either, and thats the deal we've had for as long as I can remember. The only people I've ever cared about were my folks, and I stopped caring bout em after they died in 86'. Now all I do is roam the country, doin work where I can find it. I never was more than a passerby.

People used to tell me bout the dream. Find a girl, settle down, maybe marry even. Get a decent job, a house, a family, the works. Wasn't for me.

A town looms on the horizon, a big cheery sign with the words 'Welcome to Crakesville' flashes by. I roll into the local gas station and step out. The air is clearer our here, cleaner. I breathe in deep, the sweet sweet air. Then I'm off, asking around about work.

A voice calls from behind, a woman's voice. "Mike? is that you Mike?" I turn around, her face is familiar, hauntingly familiar. I can't put my finger on it. My brow furrows in a frown, but hers is clear, a face filled with jubilant joy. She runs up to me and hugs me, squeezing hard, her long auburn hair in my face. Suprise is a mild word for what I felt, I push her away roughly and begin to demand an explanation when I see her face once more. Cogs begin to turn in my brain, a face flashes by, a memory, the another and another, and then a childhood comes rushing back, taking with it a name I had forgotten about a long long time ago. "I remember" I whisper softly, a look of blank astonishment on my face.

A gust of wind blows my hat off, but I am lost in thought. Its good to see her again, so good I am enamoured in thought of the idea of it. She smiles and begins talking, but my thoughts drown out her words, repeating "its her!" over and over until all else was inconsequential. I had been uncertain and anchorless for so long, but that was over now. She stretched out her hand, I took it. A thousand thoughts and dreams flickered across my mind, none of it mattered, because now, I wasn't a passerby anymore.

So said Aerasio at 22:19