It’s late summer, 1975 and a man walks across the heat haze of the flat desert sand and scrub of New Mexico. Lost in his own world and his spirit and soul are deadened not by the sun’s affects on his body but more by the path that lay behind him. Each footprint a reminder of what he has lost and what he had seen.
Days past and he walked into their nights on a seemingly endless trek towards himself, perhaps. On the fifth day he reached the road. What was the main highway through the state was now relegated to an unused side road. Barely traveled the last tire tracks washed away in the winds that swept the land clean each and every evening while the sun went down over the far distant hills. Morning became afternoon and the heat of the sun almost was an entity to him as he stood alone at the edge of the cracked pavements. The sun made a noise to his weary ears and in the squint that had became of his eyes he saw on the opposite side of the highway, a shack. He knew somehow that he had reached his destination. The sun spoke to him then and told him to take that step forward into the future. That step was more a stumble but he caught his balance before falling to his knees.
Crossing over to the other side he stood and tapped his knuckles on the door. There was no sound from within so he pressed his palm flat against the wood and the door swung open away from him and the force of exhaustion pulled his body inwards and it was suddenly cool.
Everything was black and dark until his burning eyes adjusted to their new surroundings.
He found a chair in the corner of the room and pulled it around and sat as though the weight of the universe had pushed him down hard. He breathed heavily and was dizzy. He could now make out small amounts of the interior of the shack on the side of the no where highway. There was a long counter and a pair of tall stools like the ones you find in 50’s dinners. But this was not a 50’s dinner he thought. He turned in his chair and looked the other direction and saw a few meager chair and tables. The windows were not clean and covered in the dust that the evening winds deposited on the frames.
Everything came clear just as he heard a sound, a banging from the back of the shack. It made him jump up to his feet and he forgot for a moment how sore they were. He stepped towards the direction of the noise and stopped in his tracks as a woman appeared from a small beaded curtain that separated the back room from the front room.
He brushed his damp hair back from his forehead.
‘Um, hello.’ He said in a dry crack of a voice.
Her name was Elise. She came north a few years back and before the new interstate was built and this was the outskirts of a thriving mining town. No one came through here now and herself and a handful of people with no where to go still live in the area. The town is long since empty and dead after the bottom fell out of the stockmarket.
She was tall, about 5’ 8” and had long black hair that fell in a mess around her shoulders. He felt she must have been in her late thirties but the sun does things to make the skin look older. There were crinkles at the corners of her eyes from smiling when she was happier. He looked at her as though she was not really there. His throat too dry to create more words, he stood with his hands at his sides for a long moment.
‘Hello yourself, sit down here and I will get you something.’ Elise said pointing to a stool by the counter.
He stepped forwards and leaned up against it as he sat carefully.
‘Here, on the house. You look like you could use it.’ She said.
He took the glass and drank most of it down.
‘Lemonade…’ he croaked.
He drank down the rest and asked for another. As she turned he glanced at her body and how it moved slowly and easily. Her sundress was clinging skin tight at the hips and waist and had a low back. The defined outlines of her ass pressed through the fabric. He felt a stirring down below at the vision.
‘Here, one more but no more or you will clean me out.’ She smiled and handed him the full glass. It was wet from instant condensation and he nearly lost the grip and placed his other hand underneath to protect from spilling any. The second one revived his senses.
‘Where is this place?’ he said more clearly now with a lubricated throat.
