Small Places : Nick L Belardes [49 of 128]

• I see Mulani's shape in sparks. I see her shape in the sand, in imaginary bioluminescence. I hear laughter, crackling flames, ocean roars.
• Buoys bounce in the dark sea. Waves crest and crash. The sand is cool next to me. A sand crab wanders close, moving like a sideways glance.
• I drift off to sleep feeling so infinitesimal that I can understand the small places between grains of sand. There's electricity in them.
• I can leap from each. A billion stepping stones to an uncertain future. The spaces become wider, the leaps longer. I try to grow wings.
• Fifteen.
• Working for a corporation is like taking the end result--life's grand statue of me--and re-sculpting into a big worthless block of clay.
• Some, like Joan or Milt, are practically monoliths at their desk. Think about it. What happens to our personalities in cubicle culture?
• Buildicon's idea of team-building is turning us all into big cubes. We'll never escape our cubicles: products of a product-driven company.
• I'm beginning to think there's more of me in the worthless Happy Meal toy I brought back from lunch. I put it on the shelf with the others.