filthy parrots
I remember the first time I ever saw midnight. My family decided to go up to Tivoli, a booming city of 700, to visit my grandfather. Family of course excludes my dad since he's prefers to play video games and write lectures to leaving the house and one of the only vacation spots that can draw him out is Las Vegas. So here we are in Tivoli on a dusty road winding through fields and forests. Only one other person lives out here and a mile of trees cordons them off. A huge overgrown field stretches out in front of our wrap around porch. They cut it down occasionally but it looks like it escaped the blades in recent years. It made a wonderful stage for the stars to dance on. The only interfering light came from the moon but no one complained because it's really not his fault. There's a rusted scythe in the back leaning against a sleek, red, out-of-place riding mower. At that age I recognized that there was something artistic there even if I couldn't put my finger on it. In keeping with the atmosphere of this quiet old town we went to a drive in movie. Of course we had to go to a neighboring town big enough for such a facility. I was treated to a double feature. First, "Saving Private Ryan" for the little kids who wanted a fun movie and couldn't stay up for a second. Then, "Paulie" for the mature adults who could handle such violence as your standard parrot movie entails. I stayed up for both because damn if I was going to miss parrots. Bleary-eyed I climbed back in through the car window and found that the clock read 12:35.
"Hey Ian," said Midnight, "it's Wednesday!"
"No, it's Tuesday. The day can't change until I go to sleep."
"Time goes on and things change regardless of what you do," Midnight informed me.
"That hardly seems fair. Don't I get a say in it?"
"I'm afraid not pal. You're rather insignificant in the scheme of things," Midnight said nonchalantly.
"Insignificant? Well let me - "
"Ian, are you talking to yourself again?"
"No mum. Sorry mum."