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Barely Enough
by
Michael Walker
6 Nov 1999
A boy of - what? - less than five years
of age starts down a street in Queens, New York, innocent and
wide-eyed with little though of his life to come. His past is shrouded
with a comforting darkness that disallows memory and creates the
illusion of safety. His life is an oyster, or some such, and the
street he walks shakily down leaves faint impressions upon his mind.
There are houses, small with families,
low to the ground, surrounded by small trees and adorned with lawns
and bushes. Toys are thrown about, here and there, and on occasion an
elderly person sits out front. A rotor blade lawn mower here with
sharp teeth and a garden hose there wrapped around like some snake.
The direction he is heading will take
him to a series of stores that include a butcher shop where his
favorite (and handsome) butcher-friend, Pat, chops steaks and feeds
him raw hamburg meat and slices of fresh liverwurst. Saw dust covers
the floor of Pat's shop and the boy loves the smell of the wood --
which for some reason reminds him of clothes hanging somewhere.
The journey the boy is taking, alone,
is no doubt monitored by his mother and (possibly) friendly neighbors
along the way -- although in retrospect he can remember no neighbors
-friendly or otherwise. The boy ultimately, of course, finishes his
journey, safe, but by the time he gets to Pat's store, Pat is long
dead, the store is closed, it is dangerous to eat raw hamburg meat,
and the boy is old enough to be his own father.
For, memories, being what they are, is
all he has and they are barely enough.
-- 30 --Back to writings contents
Copyright © 1999 by Michael Walker
Michael Walker is a freelance writer in Washington, DC. He is also the founder
and proprietor of
DREAMWalker Group.
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