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>"I'm just trying to figure something out. Things aren't so good back home."
There's a tightening sense of relief around your chest as you say those words aloud. Under the influence of the dreaming, aimless flow of the conversation, your carefully held guard slips away. <span class="mu-i">Back home, I...</span>
No, no. It's not something you like to think about, yet you can't help but think about it in the silences you find yourself slipping into these days. So you compromise yet again and say something about it without really saying it.
You guess it's better like that.
But you have time now out here in the Suburbs, cruising along leisurely. Surely, time enough to think at last. And maybe one day-
Ed coughs, snapping you back to literal cold reality of here and now.
"Hey chief."
"Yes, Ed?"
"Whatever you're thinking about, let it away drift for now. Bad memories. I get the picture." Something in your expression must have changed because Ed takes a look at it and chuckles. "Cheer up. It's not always quite so bad down here, under the earth."
"That's bullshit and you know it," you snap back, with surprising force. As sudden as it came, only embarrassment remains. "I mean, shit. I just got distracted."
"It's fine. You're doing an okay job so far. No one's been put behind the pipes yet." Ed shrugs, then searches his pockets for another cigarette. "Though, it's just been the first shift. And as the old folks would say, 'good times don't last forever.'"
Another pause. Longer this time. The roar of the waters recedes into an ambient lull. Ed's cigarette remains in his mouth, unlit.
"Where might you be headed now, Ed?"
"Got the express train to catch, it's waited long enough. I've got to get going for the security nightshift." Ed takes off his teashades and you can see the sleep set deep into his eyes. What you thought was simple tiredness is instead complete exhaustion seeping into his entire being. "The other place is a real mess. You wouldn't believe how much he's got all of us rushing around like that."
"You look like shit, Ed," you state lamely.
"What can you do, man? It's just this City. Man's built to work, ever since we came outta the garden." Ed starts to walk off and down towards the facility. "It's been good talking to ya. I'll be seeing you around, Mr. Big Shot."
"Have a good night Ed," you call out to the rapidly ascending form. The figure throws back a wave and then he's gone.
What a cool guy.
[GRANDFARCE] <span class="mu-i">You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? What have you settled for instead?</span>
