This Guitar

     Jack was a boy of 14 who, once again, found himself in a new school. He lost count on how many times he had moved in the last few years, but it didn’t matter anymore. “Sorry honey, but the work is better there.” He remembered his mom saying. It was the same excuse she always used, but no matter how many times she said it, it was no truer now than before. Empty words.

     In truth, he knew she couldn’t hold down a job. Just like her relationships and the rest of her life, her love of alcohol was all consuming and came first. She’d wreck her life once, sometimes twice a year. And they’d move to new town with new faces.

The Hard Path

     He stood on the side of the road. A wide expanse of nearly nothing but dry dusty fields surrounds him. The only blemishes on the landscapes are the ancient, rundown one-room bus station, a light pole and a few signs. The attendant coughs 20-years of her smoking addiction in one long raspy wheeze. Something Tommy heard effortlessly through the half rotten walls, even over the howling wind.

     He rocks on his heals adjusting the heavy pack on his left shoulder. “Twenty-five minutes before my life to start.” He thinks aloud.

     Tommy Clearwater was a tall young man of 18, with the sun-kissed skin of his people. The Paiute. He decided now was the time of his life to set out and see the world, to find the opportunities outside of his small town. He knew he’d miss his family, but he had to do this. Still, the thought of sacrificing his relationships of the ties to his family’s way of life was a hard pill to swallow. He didn’t feel right about making this choice, but what could he do? He sighed and kicked his boot at the dusty ground.