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The man's face was hidden in a shadow, but the rest of his body could be seen. Mostly there was garbage around, and in the distance above the brick and metal buildings there was a star, a beacon, some bright light that stood out among all other bright lights that were there. The man felt drawn to this star.
The man shambled along a ruptured sidewalk below tall yellow lamps. Two people walking strangely approached and passed. He thought, They were walking strangely. Behind him, they said, Trees are dying.
Soon, he came upon the star. It was fastened to a high spire, the spire crawling up as high as he could see in a twisted mess of threatening architecture. It was like the spire was a huge drill bit whose purpose was to destroy the heavens, or space, or some targeted planet so maybe the spire would be shot at that planet, dismantling the planet by splitting it in two.
The man thought of this possibility. He thought of other possibilities too. Another possibility he thought of was that the spire was a public lookout. A place built by the people, that all could have a sense of security provided by a place to watch over their possessions. To make sure there was no otherworldly army marching toward them, or no meteor coming in from outer space, or no atomic bomb detonating in a neighboring city.
The spire was there, in any case, and as far as the man presently thought, it would not be going anywhere for a while or it might launch off into space right now. The star on the spire's pinnacle turned around, making the man dizzy and feel like he was going to throw up.
The man followed with his eyes the spire down to the ground. On the ground, he saw something interesting. He also saw something alarming and became afraid. He stopped speculating as to the purpose of the spire.
There was a scared girl with sunken eyeballs and greasy hair on the pavement. The girl was meek, afraid, broken, and skinny.
A demeaning man with a beard stood next to the girl clutching a large broom. He rounded up the stray animals with this broom while muttering obscenities. He wanted them all to Lie down and be still. The bearded man spat at them and dust got in his mouth.
The bearded man looked at the man with an angry face and said, To solve unemployment, the government systematically killed three million people.
The girl started to scream. She started to wail into the darkness and squirm on the ground as if her skeleton was trying to escape her translucent skin. The skeleton does not want to be in there anymore, the man thought.
The girl lifted her dirty legs and spread them. She wasn't wearing underwear beneath her blue dress. Her vagina was there, a hairy pulsating thing bleeding from its crack. This made the man think of the spire as an intense robotic penis.
The bearded man saw the girl's vagina throbbing and began running around frantically. He went to a wall and slapped it with his palm and then ran to the wall opposite and hit it with his broom. The dogs and cats began making loud noises while running away. The bearded man chased them away now because he did not want them there anymore. He felt angry and the diseased girl was now panting heavily. The bearded man cursed God and shook his fist at Him.
The girl's vagina was starting to bulge and come open. The man thought, She is having a baby now.
1) A baby started to come out of the girl's vagina.
2) The bearded man made a series of short animal screams that did not echo.
3) The bearded man knelt down and inspected the girl's vagina with the baby coming out of it.
4) The bearded man screamed and shook his fist at God again.
5) The bearded man still felt angry but also afraid and cautious.
6) The girl pushed the baby out of her vagina more.
7) The bearded man grabbed the baby and pulled it out of the girl's vagina.
The baby coughed and started to cry. The girl was also crying and a lot of stuff was coming out of her vagina. The bearded man held the baby to God so He could see and bless the baby.
The dogs and cats began making loud sounds again while rushing back to eat the afterbirth.
The girl was now laying on her side moaning.
Behind the man three men wearing crowns approached the grouping.
As they passed the man, they said, We're infected.
Brandon Gorrell is not eligible for unemployment benefits in the state of Washington. His work has appeared in Thieves Jargon and Why Vandalism. He has some other poems and stories published in his blog, http://brandon-alien-fine.blogspot.com/. You can listen to his "band's" music at www.myspace.com/emsdos.