Later that same day, Ralph Balmont lay passed out on the floor of his kitchen, stomach crammed with processed foods.

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Ralph's eyes snapped open to reveal a dark, warm place he couldn't immediately define. Putting his hand down, he felt his palm smoosh into something soft & wet. It was only after withdrawing it reflexively, he realized whatever it ( Read more... )

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A long walk begins with a first step, each consecutive step takes a person on a transformative journey further down their path to its ultimate fulfillment; this thought brought Ralph some comfort as he entered the 2nd hour of his long, sweaty journey of lugging a cardboard box full of groceries in the morning sun. The heat was rising fast, and ( Read more... )

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When Ralph Balmont arrived at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle Church, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. Lovejoy was daydreaming when Ralph Balmont approached his registration table ( Read more... )

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Ralph staggered on in the darkness of the early morning hours, half sleepwalking & half correcting his faultering gait. He felt awful, like absolute shit. In his mind, the words of an old veteran he'd overhead at the local labor hall one morning kept playing in his head, wherein he described two POW's as looking like "miserable beaten dogs, covered ( Read more... )

In his thought, Ralph Balmont lost track of time; when he finally returned to the kitchen, everyone was gone. There on the counter was a small photograph. Ralph picked it up, only to stare back at himself. It was a picture of him back when he was only 8 years old. The gentle, innocent boy full of life stared back at him. Ralph turned the photo over ( Read more... )

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Having said his peace, Ralph Balmont walked out of the kitchen, holding his jug of sweet tea. He walked through a small dining room, meant for more private dinners, to a double door on the far side of the room. Undoing the latches at the top & bottom of the double doors, Ralph turned the handles and almost effortlessly opened them to reveal a ( Read more... )

Time passed strangely for Ralph...

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For many years, his dream did not return. He completed his probation, then disappeared from Mumsville entirely... then, his mother died. As much as they disagreed, he cried real tears of sorrow at her funeral. No one else came ( Read more... )

Days passed, and the small hours where people sleep & dream, Ralph had another very vivid dream. It started very much the same: all was grey grass, then with the road came black & white, sensations of warmth & wind rushing past. Again finding himself in the backseat, Ralph resolved to stop being a passenger in his own life and become its driver ( Read more... )

Late that night, Ralph Balmont had a very strange dream ( Read more... )

Ralph Balmont walked out of a pharmacy located in a strip mall in downtown Mumsville carrying a soda. As he sat on a derelict fountain, now dry and long gone into disuse, he focused his attention on the sun he could feel, as a way to cope with the discomfort his trip had- in every other way- provided. It was too much to take in so suddenly- and so ( Read more... )