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Pavement Narrows
14 September 2008 15:13I grew up in a small town called Pavement Narrows.
Well, to be more accurate, I grew sideways. To grow up, a person needs to question, to explore, to reach, and to learn. There wasn’t a whole of lot of that going on in Pavement Narrows. I got fat talking about the four things that we were allowed to talk about.
1. Vehicles: Fill your boots. The ins and outs of every single engine part was free conversational material. Makes, models, companies, power, customs add-ons, deals, and opinions about the capabilities of diesel versus gasoline were all allowed. It was perhaps the most liberal and sweeping topic of conversation possible in the town.
2. Relationships: Talk about accepted sexual positions and the sexual characteristics of different people in town. The bemoaning of unfulfilled personal needs or conversely, the detailed quality of last night’s conquest. Who was going out with who and the backbiting comments about new boy/girlfriends versus old boy/girlfriends. Alliances changed daily. Quite a stimulating thrill ride for the populace from what I could observe.
3. Weird People: Incessant slagging of people with strange characteristics, including everyone that wasn’t from Pavement Narrows, big-city hairdos that had been seen on the television, same-sex couples, non-whites, and people that used big words. You had to be careful with this one, though, because if your invective got too colourful, you might show a glimmer of education or creativity and risk becoming one of the burned.
4. Celebrities and the Weather: I include these two in the same category for obvious reasons. Conversational filler in the center of the wiener. I’d call it Miscellaneous if there were any other topics than these two.
The library gathered dust in Pavement Narrows. People were crushed. Minds were dulled. Candles guttered and went out. Any glimmer of an idea was beaten. It was like the sheep and sheep-dogs were all the same animal, corralling and controlling each other. It was like they were doing each other favours, cutting off tangents, stray thoughts, and new notions like they were split ends in a barber shop.
Everyone in Pavement Narrows had the cold, dead eyes of a mannequin. They were robots made of meat living the dictated dream spooling out of the television sets. This was what ‘no resistance’ looked like. This was what they called peaceful.
There was a straight line in Pavement Narrows. I was having trouble balancing.
I fled.
Like a refugee in the night, I gathered a few clothes in a backpack and bailed. I’m sure no search parties were sent. I’m in the big city now, homeless, and requesting asylum.
tags
Well, to be more accurate, I grew sideways. To grow up, a person needs to question, to explore, to reach, and to learn. There wasn’t a whole of lot of that going on in Pavement Narrows. I got fat talking about the four things that we were allowed to talk about.
1. Vehicles: Fill your boots. The ins and outs of every single engine part was free conversational material. Makes, models, companies, power, customs add-ons, deals, and opinions about the capabilities of diesel versus gasoline were all allowed. It was perhaps the most liberal and sweeping topic of conversation possible in the town.
2. Relationships: Talk about accepted sexual positions and the sexual characteristics of different people in town. The bemoaning of unfulfilled personal needs or conversely, the detailed quality of last night’s conquest. Who was going out with who and the backbiting comments about new boy/girlfriends versus old boy/girlfriends. Alliances changed daily. Quite a stimulating thrill ride for the populace from what I could observe.
3. Weird People: Incessant slagging of people with strange characteristics, including everyone that wasn’t from Pavement Narrows, big-city hairdos that had been seen on the television, same-sex couples, non-whites, and people that used big words. You had to be careful with this one, though, because if your invective got too colourful, you might show a glimmer of education or creativity and risk becoming one of the burned.
4. Celebrities and the Weather: I include these two in the same category for obvious reasons. Conversational filler in the center of the wiener. I’d call it Miscellaneous if there were any other topics than these two.
The library gathered dust in Pavement Narrows. People were crushed. Minds were dulled. Candles guttered and went out. Any glimmer of an idea was beaten. It was like the sheep and sheep-dogs were all the same animal, corralling and controlling each other. It was like they were doing each other favours, cutting off tangents, stray thoughts, and new notions like they were split ends in a barber shop.
Everyone in Pavement Narrows had the cold, dead eyes of a mannequin. They were robots made of meat living the dictated dream spooling out of the television sets. This was what ‘no resistance’ looked like. This was what they called peaceful.
There was a straight line in Pavement Narrows. I was having trouble balancing.
I fled.
Like a refugee in the night, I gathered a few clothes in a backpack and bailed. I’m sure no search parties were sent. I’m in the big city now, homeless, and requesting asylum.
tags