fever dream
i edged one step closer to the straw-and-mud-caked ledge to peer over at the slope and the ledge gave way with a quick squish, my shoe sinking up to the ankle in the wet mud and me toppling over sideways, my arms flailing out, my left hand scrabbling on a dead tree branch for purchase. i heard peter and ariel shout behind me and in a moment they were to me, carefully pulling me back up, us all getting muddier in the process, me staring down transfixed at the dirt and rocks crumbling down into the dark water below. it was probably only about 20 feet but with the dark lumps that had to be rocks jutting up here and there the distance probably wouldn't have mattered, any fall would have been death. we were on this narrow land bridge stretching between the mainland and a large island; the bridge was covered in dead, waterlogged grass and soupy clay mud. here and there tall leafless trees grew in clumps, tall pole-like trunks that might have been bamboo- i don't know, we weren't taking much time to inspect the flora. the light wasn't so good anyway, a weird twilight haze that made everything into oranges and purples. getting back on my feet i thanked them and looked into their faces; they were dirt-smeared, hollow-cheeked, too frightened to speak. we kept walking, towards the island, looking for something that we didn't want to find but had to. we were almost across, moving from the muddiest part of the bridge into a copse of trees on the edge of the island, these with some spare leaves hanging from their long branches, giving us some imaginary degree of shelter from unseen eyes. suddenly i heard peter curse and i turned around to see flashlights beaming out, bobbing in our direction as someone started out across the land bridge. ariel panicked and ran whimpering farther into the foliage, her running sending out a crashing of underbrush that told our pursuers where we were and where we were going. peter and i looked at each other and ran off as stealthily as possible in opposite directions, to the sides of the bridge connecting to the island. i huddled behind a prickly bush and waited. the lights moved quickly across the bridge, much quicker than we had, much quicker than should have been possible. i huddled and didn't breathe, my heart pounding in my ears as they came closer. a noise behind me made my legs jump in reflex and as i whirled around it was ariel. i looked back around in time to see a flashlight closing in on her. with nowhere else to go i waited until it was upon us, and then leapt up with one foot, yelling as i tried to surprise our assailant with a kick right above the light-
and was getting out of the driver's side of a rusty pickup, the ignition still running, dave l and holly waiting impatiently inside the truck. i was at a glowing convienence store in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a starless night, there were no lights anywhere except inside and under the tattered awning hanging over the entrance by one rusty rail. dave handed me a handful of crumpled bills and i walked inside, past several customers roaming around toppled shelves, a dirty young boy swatting at a bare yellow light bulb with a rolled up newspaper, a man with a scraggly beard talking to the cashier with a cigarette in his mouth, mumbling what i couldn't understand. i went straight back to the beer cooler, stood in front of the glass doors staring. it was carnage inside, torn cardboard holders, broken bottles, lone single beers laying on their sides in the racks. i opened one door and rooted around in the mess, attempting to cobble one six-pack together out of all the stray beer, to no luck. peering back through the shelves into the depths of the cooler i saw stacks of boxes, some with tops of bottles sticking out encouragingly. i glanced back towards the counter, the cashier was holding her sides laughing at something the bearded man had said. another man who had been perusing the potato chips aisle and eating the spillage from busted bags off the floor looked over and said through a mouthful of crumbs, 'go on back n' find y' whatcha need'. i nodded and walked around to the end of the coolers to find the big metal door already partially open, and without hesitation i went inside, feeling the chill wash over me, shoving empty boxes out of my way to get to the stacks of boxes. it wasn't until i started opening them up that i realized i had never seen any of the brands of beer before, labels with strange names and pictures, labels in different languages, some without any writing at all and only pictures of snakes, palm trees, umbrellas. i opened one box to find four bottles of steak-flavored beer, which contained 'real grade-a meat'. perplexed, i shook my head and set the box aside, continuing to find 2 beers of one kind, 4 of another, never 6 of any one. finally, in desperation, i grabbed an assortment of different kinds, jammed them into a cardboard caddy, and ran out of the cooler, up to the cashier, paid for my purchase without a word and went out to the truck, where i attempted to placate an angry dave all the way home.
and was getting out of the driver's side of a rusty pickup, the ignition still running, dave l and holly waiting impatiently inside the truck. i was at a glowing convienence store in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a starless night, there were no lights anywhere except inside and under the tattered awning hanging over the entrance by one rusty rail. dave handed me a handful of crumpled bills and i walked inside, past several customers roaming around toppled shelves, a dirty young boy swatting at a bare yellow light bulb with a rolled up newspaper, a man with a scraggly beard talking to the cashier with a cigarette in his mouth, mumbling what i couldn't understand. i went straight back to the beer cooler, stood in front of the glass doors staring. it was carnage inside, torn cardboard holders, broken bottles, lone single beers laying on their sides in the racks. i opened one door and rooted around in the mess, attempting to cobble one six-pack together out of all the stray beer, to no luck. peering back through the shelves into the depths of the cooler i saw stacks of boxes, some with tops of bottles sticking out encouragingly. i glanced back towards the counter, the cashier was holding her sides laughing at something the bearded man had said. another man who had been perusing the potato chips aisle and eating the spillage from busted bags off the floor looked over and said through a mouthful of crumbs, 'go on back n' find y' whatcha need'. i nodded and walked around to the end of the coolers to find the big metal door already partially open, and without hesitation i went inside, feeling the chill wash over me, shoving empty boxes out of my way to get to the stacks of boxes. it wasn't until i started opening them up that i realized i had never seen any of the brands of beer before, labels with strange names and pictures, labels in different languages, some without any writing at all and only pictures of snakes, palm trees, umbrellas. i opened one box to find four bottles of steak-flavored beer, which contained 'real grade-a meat'. perplexed, i shook my head and set the box aside, continuing to find 2 beers of one kind, 4 of another, never 6 of any one. finally, in desperation, i grabbed an assortment of different kinds, jammed them into a cardboard caddy, and ran out of the cooler, up to the cashier, paid for my purchase without a word and went out to the truck, where i attempted to placate an angry dave all the way home.