(This is a short story I started playing around with the last couple of days)
John
pushed the shopping cart along as he hunted for more aluminum cans. Probably
his favorite place had to be the bar that was one block away from this one.
There he could get fifty to sixty cans from that dumpster on a good day. On
this block where he was there was heavy beer drinker who apparently also liked
football. It was Monday and there could be a lot of cans in the trash bin of
the drinker for him to collect.
He
only thought of him as another drinker since he didn’t know the man’s name.
Always, the largest amount of cans was right after a Sunday game was played. While
John didn’t see the games themselves very often he would notice the banners
that were strung up at a few of the bars.
Later
today he would take his haul into the recycling center and get his two cents
per can. His dirty, disheveled clothes needed a bath and so did he. It helped
to keep people away is why he knowingly wouldn't clean up. There was no way he
wanted anyone to see what had happened to him.
The
last time he shaved was seven years ago back when he had a job. In many ways he
didn't miss punching a time clock and the constant struggle to get the next
sale. His boss could only think of the next sale also, he never really cared
about anything else. For lack of a better word he felt back then like he was a
slave to his job. When he left for the day on that last day he left that world
permanently behind.
The
spiral downward brought him to this place in his life. First he was laid off,
couldn't find another job, and then the house was repossessed by the bank. His
wife even left him for one of his former coworkers. Like he ever needed her
anyway since he was better off without her. At least that’s what he told
himself when he even deigned himself to think about it.
There
was just no recovering especially once he started drinking that cheap wine and
he no longer had a roof overhead. The culvert nearby that he slept in seemed
rather comfortable most of the time. During the winter he would find a large
box to turn into a temporary domicile that would be abandoned once the weather
turned warmer in the spring.
A
half a block away the trash bin was sitting and it looked like it was
overflowing with cans. That made him happy knowing he would soon have the cart
filled to the brim. To make sure he didn’t miss any he checked each trash can
along the alleyway as he made his way to his quarry.
The
first three cans didn’t have anything in them to speak of. In the fourth can
was some electrical wire he could also sell at the recycling center. Only two
more cans and he would be hitting the mother lode on this block. Picking up the
lid of the next trash bin John was taken aback.
Instead
of trash it looked like there was a field of stars in inky blackness. What in the hell? Deciding to move on to
the next bin he began to put the lid back on this one. It rebounded and painfully
jerked his arm out and he felt a strange stretching sensation pulling him in.
Trying to drop the lid and pull his body away was unsuccessful. Both fell
backward, the lid clattered away from his limp hand. Everything around him
became a blur as his sentience went into another realm and began to float. The
alcoholic haze from the last bottle dissolved and he reveled in the pure light
that surrounded him.
Just
wanting to explore it all with a single thought it would transport him closer
to one of the glowing orbs in the ebon field. He now found that he had awakened
into a wonderful new universe. His sentience now freed from a body he was able
to move at will.
