“Do you think the ghouls who own the processed food companies laugh when they use the word ‘cuisine’ on the packages of toxins they sell?” Matty asks Susan, as they hang out together at the homeless shelter.
“I think that’s not all they laugh over.” She answers.
“I had a weird dream last night.” He continues. “It’s not related to the food, but in a way it is, I guess.” There is a pause.
“Are you going to leave me hanging here?” She says.
What I do is this. As soon as I wake up, I prepare myself with a normal morning routine, and then I sit down and write a story about whatever comes to mind. More often than not, it is a surprise. Some people call this type of writing Flash Fiction. This is my marathon, Flash Fiction February.
“I didn’t want to assume you were interested, but OK.” Matty replies.
“I was walking in a place I had not been for a really long time. It was a section of town where the public transportation wasn’t as prevalent. I had to walk a long way to get to this neighborhood. I had no idea why I was going there. I kept asking myself why I was going there. On the way there I saw one of the people I knew from that neighborhood, we walked in that direction together and we talked. Then, the conversation ended, and I hugged her, and she kept going to that neighborhood, and I didn’t continue walking.”
“Do you think that was about anything?” Susan asked him.
“I wonder, one, is she OK? Like, why was she there? Was the dream trying to tell me something?” Also, based on the next dream, I think there was a theme of strangers, as in, everyone is a stranger, then they become a friend, until they are a stranger again, or something like that.” We walk with people until we don’t.” I feel like that is the story of my life. There is no permanence in people, it’s a series of random people.”
“That is true.” Susan says, “Homelessness is like that.”
“Familylessness.” Matty responds. “The thing of ‘we choose our family’ really doesn’t holdup, everyone is a stranger, then you kind of get to know them, and then they are gone.”
“What about the other dream?” She asks him. “Didn’t you say there was another one?”
“It was a different scenario but a similar theme. I was in a kind of nice place. I was given a bed to sleep in, and I was trying to sleep. There were two other people there in this room with a bed that I was in. They were disappointed that I was there. They behaved as though it was an inconvenience for me to be there.” This room was nicely furnished and everything was white. There was a wall full of cupboards.” Matty explained.
“Then the bed filled the whole room, and there was a TV in the corner. I was informed of a movie that would be shown. About eight people or more were sitting on the bed with me. I figured I’d make the best of it. They were talking about things and about people I didn’t know. It was a room full of strangers talking about strangers, and with zero concern at all that this one very rude lady was blocking my view of whatever it was on the TV.”
Susan replies. “That is definitely a theme of strangers.”
”Familylessness.”
The End
531 Words
The best way to subscribe or upgrade is to get a book. I’ll take care of the rest.
Share this post