The End Begins (2008)
Riding the bus home, I look out the window and see a man burst into flames. As I shield my eyes from the light, I can almost feel the heat penetrate right through the glass…
People walk by without pausing, not even a sideways glance - grey-looking business men in battered suits; kids dissolving in their Chucks and drowning in striped shirts – only a dog straining against its leash shows any action (the dog is angry not terrified).
I look to my fellow passengers, they sit idle, unmoved. I am certain that by now the burning man would be screaming – but there is silence.
I have to get off the bus – get away from the light –the heat –that fucking silence.
A drink. A drink is what I need, I enter into what used to be a corner store (now it’s a slick 24/7 something or other) – I head straight to the fridge and scull a can of cola…
…cooling down I amble to the counter… $3.20 a forgotten man grunts without ever looking at me. Fair enough I consider - maybe bringing an empty can to the counter might be kinda rude... As I search for loose change, I notice a set of monitors just behind the man; grey, monochrome surveillance screens, each focused on different sections of the store and the city streets.
A few of the screens present blurry images of grocery aisles, hamburger shelves; another depicts a door bearing a poster where pandas spit out blue speech bubble catch phrases like – ‘More than just sightseeing, our China Tours are Authentic Journeys.’; it’s the last screen that gets me though, where from a slightly raised perspective – I view tiny grey men navigating their way through the city, around a silent man slowly burning to the ground.
People walk by without pausing, not even a sideways glance - grey-looking business men in battered suits; kids dissolving in their Chucks and drowning in striped shirts – only a dog straining against its leash shows any action (the dog is angry not terrified).
I look to my fellow passengers, they sit idle, unmoved. I am certain that by now the burning man would be screaming – but there is silence.
I have to get off the bus – get away from the light –the heat –that fucking silence.
A drink. A drink is what I need, I enter into what used to be a corner store (now it’s a slick 24/7 something or other) – I head straight to the fridge and scull a can of cola…
…cooling down I amble to the counter… $3.20 a forgotten man grunts without ever looking at me. Fair enough I consider - maybe bringing an empty can to the counter might be kinda rude... As I search for loose change, I notice a set of monitors just behind the man; grey, monochrome surveillance screens, each focused on different sections of the store and the city streets.
A few of the screens present blurry images of grocery aisles, hamburger shelves; another depicts a door bearing a poster where pandas spit out blue speech bubble catch phrases like – ‘More than just sightseeing, our China Tours are Authentic Journeys.’; it’s the last screen that gets me though, where from a slightly raised perspective – I view tiny grey men navigating their way through the city, around a silent man slowly burning to the ground.
posted by Matt On at 10:56 am
1 Comments:
Hello Matthew,
You've perfectly encapsulated how insular our lives have become.
Lovely meeting you and Hanh the other nite.
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