I am running away from the hotel with some travelers. we have done wrong. assistance tells us to continue moving north. the conservatives are coming.

boardwalk show. lug all the equipment to the rundown bar. I take a bicycle, carrying drum cases on my back. surprisingly light. at the bar, I see some fellow queers. I want to draw the outline of this young face, nape of neck. couldn’t we be friends. suppose anxiety and time separates us. I move. bike back through what looks like an exit out of my neighbourhood, more hidden by the wood than I know. chrome pick up truck almost snags me. I am okay.

time to go to school. I am cramped in the corner with kids who seem like greg, natalie, and kevin. we seem smaller. every day after school, we go to work at this popular bar in the new shopping center. it’s not a typical server / host / bartender job though. the manager always brings us out into the field and forest to race through these physical trials like climbing mountains while dodging falling debris. I pass the first day. the second day I am carpooling with co-workers. as I am about to punch in with my time card, the boss puts up footage of our trials. there is a feminine android voice that narrates over the footage with whatever we were all thinking while going through the forests, mountains, and such. it is dramatic and strangely revealing. the customers are entertained. I wonder if my thoughts of self-encouragement make me seem pretentious to others. oh well!

take a trip out of here. I have to babysit some students. somehow a little girl gets head trauma. her sisters and I take her to the hospital. she is healed. my dad and family friends’ dads are all drinking. everything is annoying. I want to be sure. out into the streets, we chase down the little girl’s stubborn dog. grab it inside a film club. calm it. come back out and everyone is playing pattycake beneath the bridge. walk further, things seem cooler in the evening. see my mum on the phone beneath another bridge. feels like central park architecture. so many people.

traveling with my bros. walking through an airport, we decide to get lunch. I should buy something good for us all to eat. feeling anxious for some reason. I buy this steak sandwich. find ourselves out and about, taking eyedrops before an eye appointment by the beach. I end up sleep through the tide. dad said something about money before my bros and I went off. I was not pleased.

I am a flower boy, going from house to house collecting unwanted plants for the occasion. know I have to meet others for rehearsal later. take a swig of beer beforehand. drink water afterwards. on the way out, remind ourselves that our bodies are beginning to die.