Small Places : Nick L Belardes [48 of 128]

• Mulani passes me. She's a faster runner, more athletic than I ever knew. I get winded in the sand and have to stop.
• I'm a failure at rescue. I never should have watched Baywatch. They were out of my league all along.
• I gasp while Mulani comforts Vishnu with kisses and hugs. I put my hands on my knees as Mike comes stumbling,
• pretending he's mental with the whole episode. For some reason he's a natural. Mike: "I murder little kids for Frisbee.
• Now I go to car and we go back to institution." Like an insane man he stumbles across the sand.
• Lying on the sand in the dark I feel like Buildicon's cubicles have been lifted from around me. I imagine them shooting into the heavens.
• I look up, play dot to dot, connect unseen lines into Mulani's shape.
• She's about to wad the moon like paper from Buildicon's faulty printer. Not too far away there's a fire in the sand.
• Mike is building it. Sparks fly. Vishnu is drinking heavily. Mulani is humming quietly. I suddenly feel small again.
• I'm the ant shaman in the tiny farm. Even a fleck of dust shines brighter than me. A star shoots across the sky.