naivete is no excuse
bawled a policeman in my ear
i was cuffed
printed
and processed
any drugs ?
yes please ! i said
oh we got us a wise guy…..hey larry we got us a wise guy..!
a big nasty new york style copper appeared
he grabbed me by the cravat
whaddya fink yer diff’rent ? he yelled in my face
no sir no sir ..i squawked
thats better ! he said
pushing me in the dankest dungeon downtown
alone with my thoughts
i began writing poems on the wall
scratching them in the solid rock with my fingernails
and filling them with fresh blood
to tell the truth they were hard to read in the complete blackness
and i never finished them properly
or using much shorter words than i woulda liked
time passed past
2034 came around
my eightieth birthday
i was released
i couldnt believe how the world had changed
everyone wearing protective clothing
what we are being protected against ? i asked
everything grandad ! said the guy fitting me
the sun
the air
the water
each other
the noise
the disease
the argy bargy of life, old man!
i staggered outside the prison gates
no trees
no birds
no flowers
the sky was grey and dry
the earth was all used up
a silver car sped by silently
something like a bus pulled up
and i hopped on
i got off at bondi junction
the zeitgeist mall had been knocked down
where it stood was a noxious pit of green water
the high rises were now a dark jungle of twisted metal
it was hard to breathe in my suit
i kept trying to get the nitrogen oxygen mix right
but i was feeling dizzy and out of breath
i walked down bondi road
it was now called mal turnbull blvde
but the shops were all closed or burnt out
a few other people wandered in their suits
but it was impossible to tell
who they might be
i was rip van wrinkle
staggering in the remnants of my olde life
eventually i found my way to ninny street
my olde address
my olde house still stood there
i banged on the door
a youngish woman in her late twenties early thirties
brown curly hair with a blonde aureole
scarlet? i asked
she nodded behind the perspex safe-t door
dad?
yes sweetheart, its me..
go away dad …! she motioned moaning
i’m not allowed to let you in…..
i wandered down to the sea shore
lonely as a cloud full of fumes
bondi beach was nearly gone
the grey empty sea nearly lapped the pavilion
yeah
the fish were all gone
anything still living in that sea…..the mind boggled
nobody swimming or surfing..it would be a slow death
still a bus-thing full of jap tourists pulled up
out they jumped in their colourful sun-suits
posing against the wreckage of our civilization
the pavilion was now some kinda factory or something
a big pump shuddered underground
above us the dry grey sky
i walked into the pavilion
there were all these little booths
i pushed my credit -thing in a slot
a door opened and i stepped in
you may now remove your helmut said a sign
i hunched over a console
products were advertised on a screen
menus for weird things i didnt understand
transparent schema and instructions in strange hybrid languages
different logos and emblems
i saw sony flash up more than once
but the others were unrecognized
what do you want? asked the machine eventually
in a neutered machine voice with a slight australian accent
what can i have? i asked amazed to hear my olde rheumy voice
how much have you got? asked the machine in its flat way
i stuffed my credit-things into its slot to be read
you have 13 hours remaining …the machine replied disinterestedly
food?
a menu appeared
hot chocolate
various biscuits
rehydrolized water
fruit when in season
i ordered a hot chocolate and a various biscuit
the hot chocolate was scalding hot runny and tasteless
the biscuit was damp and crumbly and sickly sweet
great …i remarked
the machine made some quiet sound
what else?
what else do you require? asked the machine
i want the hole proof troof i said
the machine hummed expectantly for a while
i’m sorry sir could you be more specific?
i just wanna know what happened …i said
oh…said the machine (oh!?)
then you need history ….
ancient or modern?
gimme modern…last thirty years ..i said
ok said the machine
begin replay now
i was suddenly enveloped in the past
it was like i was really back there
out the back of some club doing yoga
while jets jetted overhead
and a dog barked somewhere
it was a hot night
and lightning lit up the sky
it was sydney allright
sydney back in the olde days
when you could still breathe it in
wow!
here it was
virtually perfect!

tomorrow
i lose interest in this story n start something new