An alarm goes off.
Henry wakes up in his bedroom, refreshed for once after a long, long, long, deep sleep. His hair is long and an absolute shaggy mess.
The radio switches on, “Welcome back ladies and gentleman this has truly been a wild show today. Let me bring on our last guest of the day and certainly not the least, Radcliffe’s newly appointed-” Henry knocks the clock radio of the plastic crate night stand. He looks at the clock, which doesn’t reveal a time of day, just flickering numbers. He rubs his eyes, gets up out of bed and makes his way directly into the bathroom.
He gets out his tooth paste and tooth brush and begins to brush his teeth. Once done, he spits and rinses with out the first sight of blood. He picks up some clothes on his floor, a white t-shirt and jeans and makes his way to the door.
The sun is SHINING. The streets have completely transformed. They have fresh pavement with fresh yellow and white paint unscathed by storms and filth. The sidewalks have new concrete and are not covered in trash. Also on the sidewalks are lush green trees surrounded by mulch. The sun light is even reflecting off the dew from freshly cut grass.
Children are playing at the playground across the street, laughing and having the times of their young lives. Mothers are sitting with other mothers watching them. There are even people in the crystal clear, shimmering pool..
He takes a deep breath and begins to walk up the street.
The graveyard grass is green and lively. Flowers and balloons decorate all the headstones, which are intact and solid.
Henry is standing over his mother’s headstone. He wipes away tears from his eyes and crouches down. He lifts the small metal handle on his mother’s head stone to reveal an old, cardboard shoe box. He reaches in and grabs the box to open it. It is filled to top with cash. He tucks the box underneath his arm and turns to walk away. He notices the stone angel, her head is back on her shoulders, but her position has changed. She is no longer face planted in her hands. She has her head tilted down and to the left and with her wings and arms wide open. Henry looks at the angel, wipes another tear away from his eye and leaves the graveyard.
He goes to the location of Mr. Hoffer’s office which is now a large, brick medical practice. The front door is in a huge glass archway with black tinted glass. The sign next to the parking lot does not list his name on the board. He walks into the office and is in a waiting room filled with children and their parents. He makes eye contact with the young, beautiful receptionist who opens her window. When she smiles her white teeth RADIATE between her lips, which sparkle from her pink glittery lip gloss, and light up the room.
“Hello there! What can I help you with? Do you have an appointment?” gleams the receptionist.
“No. Is Mr. Hoffer here?”
“I’m sorry, who?”
“Mr. Hoffer. He used to practice here.”
“I am sorry. There is no one here by that name. Was he a pediatrician or a physician?”
“He was a psychiatrist.”
“No, again I am sorry, but there’s no one here named Mr. Hoffer. I actually did not know this used to be a psychiatric office. Learn something new everyday, right?
Henry nods his head and slowly walks away from the window and out the door.
He stands across from Al’s Used Auto Part’s. He sees Tim and John arrive on the same time and walk into the building for another day in greasy paradise. Neither of them notices Henry.
He continues walking down the street, shoe box in hand, and can barely see due to the SHINING of the sun. He sees the Quick Mart he used to frequent, which no longer has steel security bars on the windows. He walks over to a spinning rack of sun glasses. He finds a pair of gold brimmed glass with brown lenses. As he is walking over to the counter to pay, he spots a black book bag which he also picks up. He pays in cash, which the clerk takes hesitantly and stares suspiciously once seeing inside the box.
Henry walks out of the door and is still taking in the scenery. Everything seems too peaceful and bright. It is energizing and blissful. He stops at a house with freshly cut, lush lawn. He takes in the smell and looks at the small, white rambler with black shutters. The porch is stained a beautiful brown and the front door is opened. Blooming pink, red and purple flowers decorate the garden on both sides of the porch which is filled with rich brown mulch. A light breeze passes through the wind chimes hanging on the roof of the porch.
There is a man in the front yard polishing a Harley Davidson chopper with his back turned to Henry. He is a tall, thin, Older Gentlemen with shaggy, dark brown and grey hair, which is covered by a straw fedora.
Henry looks at the bike which has chrome ape hanger handle bars, chrome frames and rims with an oft white body.
The man moves to the other side of the chopper to reveal a ‘For Sale’ sign. Upon seeing his face Henry notices he also has a beard. He spots Henry, and put his hand over the brim of his hat to shield his eyes from the sun. “Hi there neighbor. Can I help ya?”
“That’s a nice bike.”
“Yes, Yes indeed. She sure is. I have to sell her though. I hate to see her go. I think my driving days might be over though.”
“Why is that?”
“I have done enough riding in my time. I’m just ready to settle down. I just don’t know what I will do to replace the feeling I got from riding; the freedom.
There is absolutely nothing like it. Being on this bike, I just felt apart from everything.”
“How much do want for it?
“Well. . .”
“I have cash,” interrupts Henry. He unzips his book bag and pulls out his shoe box. He opens it to show the money to the Older Gentleman, whose eyes grow large. Henry grabs a few handfuls of cash and hands them over to him. “Are there any problems or anything that I need to know about?”
He is astonished and his face is covered in awe. “No, not at all. I had to put some money in the gas tank not too long ago but other than that she’s pristine”
Henry slides on the black leather seat and straddles the chopper with an enormous feeling of empowerment.
The Older Gentleman reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys.
“Why don’t you start her on up?” he says with a smile. He tosses Henry the keys, which he catches and stares at for a moment.
Henry puts the keys into the ignition, engages the kill switch and turns the key. It growls and roars like a pissed off dragon, leaving them both with grins that go from ear to ear. The vibration of the bike and Henry are one.
The Older Gentleman is talking, but Henry cannot hear him. He is euphoric.
He turns and finally notices the Older Gentleman trying to get his attention.
“She can growl cant she? She will get you wherever you need to go.” He pauses looking around, “Where are you going, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Nowhere and everywhere.”
He nods with approval. He knows exactly what Henry is talking about. “Don’t forget your helmet.” He hands Henry a black Skull Half helmet. “This will keep everything in your head. No one wants to see inside of that, except a doctor, maybe.”
Henry grabs the helmet, places it on his head and buckles the straps underneath his chin.
“You know, I have been here a long time, but I have never seen you before. Do you live here?”
“No, I was never here.”
Henry kicks the kickstand and engages the clutch, puts it first gear and slowly releases the clutch. He is off down the street, speeding with the sun beating down on his back.
Henry passes the drunken psychotic Holy Roller, who is walking along the clean sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground kicking rocks. No longer a preacher of and to the creatures; he has nothing to say.
As Henry continues down the straight path, the suns light gets brighter and brighter, like that of a million supernovas, until the city of Radcliffe is white, totally blocked by light.
An alarm goes off.
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