Missing My Mark

Apocolyptic Dream: In the late afternoon, a missle shaped like a fat grey bullet flew just hundreds of feet from the ground and was heading towards the city. Karl jumped into the air and flew after it but lost track as it went passed over the buildings. He landed and ran through the streets and saw two class mates from high school, still dress in their sloppy untucked uniforms. "Joachim! Steven! did you see where the bomb went?" They pointed and looked away. Karl wasn't very popular in high school. He ran panting! There it was, lying in a shallow crater, unexploded. It was a dud. No one seemed to notice, they just went about their business. One person even stepped over it.

Karl slept through his alarm this morning and woke up at 8:38 am. He missed the 8:00 am Community Service bus. He tried getting a car service on the phone but no one was picking up. Leafing through his court file, he found the CS supervisors number and called. "Mr. C-----, this it Karl, I was supposed to be on Mr. B----'s Saturday work crew but I over slept. Please call me back it's now 8:45, I can get a car service to the location. Here's my number..." Frustration rolled up and down his body from his clay-colored eyes to his knee brace. He took a deep breath and unpakced his beef patty lunch and took a bite. He unpacked the rest of his bindle, court papers and all and took of his work boots.

I feel like an idiot, I have no way of contacting Mr. B----- and I don't think anyone is going to call me back on a Saturday. I wonder if CS will make me do a double shift. Can I go to jail for this? I guess I won't know until Tuesday when I meet with PO Mr. L---. Monday is Martin Luther King day. Is this like missing a plane a bus or doctors appointment? This can't be good. Can I make this up? Is there a make-up day available? I decided I'll just wait here at home for the rest of the day. I don't think I'l get a call but... 34 degrees and it's raining outside this morning.

Karl recalled one summer when he was a chubby eleven year-old boy. The brakes on his bike gave out as he rode down a slippery hill. It was coverred in blue-green algae that had swollen with rain. He tried to stop with his feet but ended up slamming into the front of a parked vehicle. The front wheel of his bike was bent and his leg was bleeding. Remarkably the vehicle was fine, except for the fact that Karl grabbed the side veiw mirror as he flew onto the hood. He waited for a while with the broken mirror in his hand but no one showed up. Writing "Sorry" on the dirty window, he left the mirror on the hood. He hiked his tube sock above his knee to stop the bleeding and dragged the broken bike up the hill limping. Ironically all this happenned in front of the old hospital.