New Beginnings

Look, nobody just wants to sign up to be a guinea pig, alright? Especially not to get toyed around for some hoity-toity eggheads working for the government. When the rest of us had our boots on the ground in Normandy, these college types kept their cuffs clean playing “nukular physics”. But when they started handing out blank checks to everyone, I told them what I told my C.O.— “Sir, yes, sir.”

The job was easy— “Shut up, listen, and respond when asked”, just like back in the corps.

“We’d like to start off by seeing how well you’ll do with this New World thing.” This real scrawny little one tells me.

“For the next couple weeks, just... do. Do whatever comes to mind, anything you want— just don’t break any laws.” Some other, older geezer goes on. “Just remember to jot it all down here.” Then he passes me this this brick with the word “JOURNAL” sprawled out on the front. I think this is what the kids call “being meta”.

They didn’t gimme much else when they booted me out the nest— clothes on my back, 4000 dollars cash for the month, and an address. A place to sleep I think, and it’s just across town. I thought I’d hop a taxicab and be there in a minute flat but I don’t see jack, so I say “screw it” and just walk.

I don’t make it 10 feet down the road before my gut starts biting bullets, no surprise though, haven’t had a bite since ’52, HA. I try to chuckle but the cheek meat’s still stiff, nothing Paddy’s brew won’t fix. Man’s diner is top of the line— “Food for the soul, coffee for the go, AND CASH ONLY!!!” He said to me the same morning I got shelved.

Think I’ll stop by, grab a bite and say hi.

Just when I turn the corner, I see this... huge, and I mean HUGE drive-in movie thing all the way up off the ground... ’cept there’s no projector, and it’s got these fancy colours— red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, orange, brown, and on and on and on and on and on and on and I just... stood there.

When I saw them, all of them, dozens, hundred even, everything else just fades like gunshots on the battlefield. The only thing you remember is the flash, the lights, the colours. All of them bouncing around here and there then over there— it’s like the whole damn city was breathing, moving, LIVING... like I was finally li—

“Ah, shit, so—”

“Aight, man. We good.”

He chuckles off and hits the corner before I even finish. We knock shoulders for a second, a breath maybe, but it’s like I knew him my whole life. His tan was like hot chocolate, smooth, dark, just enough to make you want a second taste. His clothes, like nothing I’ve ever seen before on another man, no shirt pocket, no button ups, no army green, no dirt or mud or grime or blood...

...there’s a reason for the uniform, for the training, for the marching. They want— NEED us to be... uniform, predictable, EASY TO CONTROL. Down to how we dressed, how we ate, how we walked, how we talked. It was how we lived, how we survived on the front, because it was all of us or none at all, because if just one of us walked, we all would.

But not him, no, not this greaser. There was no uniform, no marching boots, no Jody shouts, no rifles, no C.O., no gunshots, no bullet to the knee, just... him, like nothing else in the world mattered.

Before I know it, I’m at the end of the line and all outta road. Just a day ago, it was big neon signs and shiny chrome streaks and stools by the bar and a jukebox that ate quarters. Today, its metal benches and outdoor tables and something called “Spotify” blasting away.

I swing the door open, waiting for the bell hanging off the wall to ring, to hit me like those waves did when the Higgin’s door dropped... and nothing happens.

“You folks still do the Paddy Special?”

The dame smirks at me and chuckles. “Not since my grandpa died.”

“Aw shit I’m—”

“But I’ll put it in, special order, on the house.”

“Yeah, thanks doll.” I smirk back at her.

I get myself a seat, right in the middle of it all, and I really BREEEEEEEEath, and I tell myself—

“—I'm gonna be alright, it's all gonna be perfect.”

“COME GATHER 'ROUND, PEOPLE WHEREVER YOU ROAM AND ADMIT THAT THE WATERS AROUND YOU HAVE GROWN...”