Everyone Knows It - So Why Don't I?
Well, the Fires continue to burn; burn all around us. Lots of damage, and immeasurably more tragedy. Flames dance in the horizon, in and out of sight. Sirens can be heard regularly, speeding past and then fading off in every direction. Ash covers the roofs of cars and the pavement like a nightmarish winter storm. It gets into your throats and burns your nostrils.
And then there's the sky. the sky is a festive orange haze. A thick pillar of smoke rises up from the mountain range, all the way across the sky, as though a great hole has opened in the Earth, and Hell was gradually making it's way out.
The scent is everywhere; of charred particles of wood, and cloth, and asbestos, and insulation fibers, and plaster, and everything else that used to be happy homes. The smell of lives destroyed.
And you can see the people all over town now. The victims. People who wander the streets pale-faced and blurry-eyed; ghosts without a house to haunt. The few items of sentimental value they could save stuffed into shopping bags. They sit in coffee shops, and in parked cars and on park banches. They sit slump shouldered and stare out into empty space, their mouths hung open like puppets with no hand inside. Other times their gazes search, and fix to the sky, and they watch as the last of their belongings, their sense of security, their memories, and their hearth become a mass of black smoke, trailing off towards Chino, or San Gabriel, or Crestline.
Everything is black and hard and dead. Everything is covered in the dead skin of homes and trees and entertainments centers, and ottomans, and duvets; the cremated remains of a community.
And all I can do is watch.
...
Weekend was okay. Spent most of it sit on my ass at home watching movies, listening to some CDs I just bought, and reading.
Actually, it was pretty productive, at least for my peace of mind. Friday I had a talk with a friend with whom I've had some unresolved issues with; we talked and worked everything out, and even strengthened our friendship. Then, on Sunday, I talked to a certain person and cleared up a bunch of stuff, and ended everything on a particularly up note. Not sure what will come from it, but I feel a billion times better about things now. Thank God.
Oh; and I saw "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Pretty good film, actually...
And then there's the sky. the sky is a festive orange haze. A thick pillar of smoke rises up from the mountain range, all the way across the sky, as though a great hole has opened in the Earth, and Hell was gradually making it's way out.
The scent is everywhere; of charred particles of wood, and cloth, and asbestos, and insulation fibers, and plaster, and everything else that used to be happy homes. The smell of lives destroyed.
And you can see the people all over town now. The victims. People who wander the streets pale-faced and blurry-eyed; ghosts without a house to haunt. The few items of sentimental value they could save stuffed into shopping bags. They sit in coffee shops, and in parked cars and on park banches. They sit slump shouldered and stare out into empty space, their mouths hung open like puppets with no hand inside. Other times their gazes search, and fix to the sky, and they watch as the last of their belongings, their sense of security, their memories, and their hearth become a mass of black smoke, trailing off towards Chino, or San Gabriel, or Crestline.
Everything is black and hard and dead. Everything is covered in the dead skin of homes and trees and entertainments centers, and ottomans, and duvets; the cremated remains of a community.
And all I can do is watch.
...
Weekend was okay. Spent most of it sit on my ass at home watching movies, listening to some CDs I just bought, and reading.
Actually, it was pretty productive, at least for my peace of mind. Friday I had a talk with a friend with whom I've had some unresolved issues with; we talked and worked everything out, and even strengthened our friendship. Then, on Sunday, I talked to a certain person and cleared up a bunch of stuff, and ended everything on a particularly up note. Not sure what will come from it, but I feel a billion times better about things now. Thank God.
Oh; and I saw "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Pretty good film, actually...