Compassion Aaron Pelletier I have now been set free
After a long night of mind trips and swollen wrists
I notice the thick glass separating us from them
As the blood was stolen from my vein

I presented a not so photogenic glimpse of side and front
As my anonymity was forever lost
And stored in a mechanical mind
My appearance
Mohawk, eye ring, dilation of eyes and spirit
The stares were almost tangible like I could reach out and feel them

An encounter with the one mostly responsible for this evenings stay
Left a worse taste in my mouth than the complimentary sausage breakfast
The Mcgurgles as my buddy would refer to it

I sat akin to the steel windowless entryway
Awake on the promise of a midnight release
After all, phone calls had to be made
Confessions relayed
And we weren’t supposed to stay
But no one came
Not until much later anyway

When my mind had escaped the bright plateau of alertness
And found its way to the Dark pits of sleepless hallucination
I found little peace in knowing that it could have been worse
A lot worse

Released with documents of lies and misunderstandings
And of course, our personal belongings
Myself, and the others walked out using the same free will
That got us put there in the first place

The long sleepless night has now turned to a bitter stretch of desert highway
The calls have been made
The ride arranged
Only A 6 hour wait
And a walk of fate

We estimated a 3 mile stretch
Truly wretched it seemed to be
Take long steps I thought to myself
Think of cool places
Anything to keep my mind off our burning faces
We walked and pondered turning back
But chose to move on none the less

3 guys walking the side of a desert highway
with the rays treating them as vampires
perhaps a punishment due
or a chance to renew their rituals of socialization

kicking small rocks I remember accepting the terms of the day
dripping sweat like a fountain from my forehead
I recall the sting in my eyes
Then the feeling of despair
As the white Oldsmobile pulls across many lanes of highway
Almost as if drawn to us
The window descends
A man is visible
His lips move
Though I do not hear his voice
I see his eyes
And I know he wants us to enter
We 3 quickly converse
Actually it was quite instant
We would face a serial killer if it meant we could get out of the sun for a while

“T” in shotgun
my self and The “Z” in back
“T” does the talking
“Z” throws in a word or two
I don’t remember saying much
Just peering out the window watching the ground go by
I heard him say he would take us to town
Our eventual destination anyhow
Our estimate of 3 miles was short by about 4
The road just went on and on

We had been released just two hours before
We had a world of hurt ahead of us
And yet somehow
We were now traveling much faster then blistered sore and tired feet could ever take us
And we were traveling in air conditioning
I did the best I could not to let the driver notice my tears

Not that I was ashamed
Amazed is more the appropriate word
Absolutely elated that there are still people out there
Practicing compassion
And that we were worthy of such consideration


Redemption


Compassion – The man on the Road
Redemption - $20