Nick didn’t know what he would have done if they had got rid of the van… it was the only thing he knew to look for. Most of his childhood memories had faded with time… and no little bit of effort… but the image of the van remained. He might have even seen it a few times over the years, though he rarely had reasons to go where it might be.
Until now.
When he began his search, he thought of it as a sort of moving landmark which drifted through the city, but as he drove his sleek black Audi through those parts of Jericho that Nicholas Brown, Esquire rarely had reason to visit, he realized the opposite was true. The city was shifting, fluid; only the van itself was stable.
He spotted it finally, in the corner of a wide weed-and-garbage-and-humanity-choked lot down by the canal. The tan and cream exterior was fairly well maintained, though it showed its age in places. The windows were curtained. He parked his car a short way up the street, careful to arm the alarm, and then set off on foot.
He’d chosen his outfit carefully, wearing the old jeans he kept for doing housework, one of his undershirts, and a flannel shirt he had no memory of even buying, much less wearing. He hadn’t shaved, but one day’s growth was practically invisible with his fine hair, the color of white gold.
He knew that he stood out, and would have no matter what he did to alter his appearance.
“I’m here to see Mama,” he said to the man who drifted almost casually into his path, between him and the van.
“‘Yo’ mama’ ain’t here,” the young man… boy, really… said. “You lost? Confused? Off your meds? Is there somebody we could call?”
“I’m not confused,” Nick said. “I’m here to see Mama,” he repeated, and then added the two words he had never thought he would ever have to say again. “I’m tribe.”
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I like it. I am happy I discovered it while having to spend a few days without Mu. Great visuals. Dear me — I have to wait for the next installment of this, too. Luckily I’m a fast reader, or my life could be totally absorbed with reading your stories. (Thanks!)
yes, now that you have moved MU to a monday thru thursday scheduale i had to find something else to read. I hope this is as good
I am sure it is
You might consider trading in some of your ellipses and investing in a dash or two. Great series, though!
I prefer ellipses over dashes in part because the dashes mess up the automated word counts.
You’ll note I cheated a bit in that regard with my massive hyphenation within the description of the lot. This was only the third day of the experiment and I still hadn’t got the hang of fitting it with 333 words. I’ve considered going back and fixing it, but I also see advantages to leaving the “learning curve” intact and on display. I suppose I don’t have to make up my mind until I make a dead tree edition.