Two bits

I’m sitting in a barber’s chair on the sidewalk of a busy city street. Swarms of people stream past at an intersection. An older Hispanic woman starts cutting my hair. She’s talking the whole time, but I don’t pay attention to what she is saying. Then she draws on my perfectly white sneaker with a red marker. She draws a crude rocket ship on the top of the foot and two squiggly lines down the sides. Before I think to say anything, Mom and Dad walk up and ask if my hair should be shorter. Then Mom asks her to trim my eyebrows.

Wanderer

On a suburban street, I follow two teenage girls through the front door of a house. We talk for a minute or two, then one of them asks me leave. I walk out the down and down the sidewalk to the house next door. I walk in and wander down a hallway. It leads into the same house I just left. Knowing I’m not supposed to be there, I walk back down the front door of the first house. Right as I’m stepping on the porch steps, the dad of one of the girls comes up the steps. I say to him, “The girls are inside” and he gets really upset. I keep walking down to the sidewalk. The dad follows me, but instead of yelling at me for being in his house, he talks to a neighbor on the sidewalk. He wails something like, “how could they do this to me?”

Cops on the beat

Two city detectives are talking about a case involving a human heart stolen for transplant. They are asking if any of the donor recipients on a list show elevated levels of testosterone.

In the wild

I live in an Alaskan village.

Modern warfare and our founding fathers

I’m sitting on the wheel well of a huge military transport vehicle. I have an assault rifle slung across my lap and can feel the tire vibrate below me. We patrol a base, riding past several giant helicopters and planes with massive gun turrets. A gun battle breaks out but I can’t see the enemy shooting at us. I run into a brownstone style house that has been converted into military offices. The firefight intensifies inside with bullets flying down hallways and a winding staircase. Someone yells to get them out. And I push Benjamin Franklin and George Washington down the hall to safety.