Friday, October 1, 2010

Lone Ranger

He's an Eastern Lone Ranger. The way his voice ends on an awkward tilt up when the word requires a down gives it away. He sits on his not-so faithful steed for hours a day, delivering yogurt and Little Debbies to who knows where. It seems like he gets sent to the border a lot, and I contemplate whether in the trailer sits a family of fugitives, cringing in stark anticipation. Of course not, but that's where this mind wanders.

Maybe he says he likes to travel. But I hear a wistfulness in his tone when he speaks of little nephews, a dog who eats twenties, and clam chowder. He truly belongs in a world I have never seen. A place where the coast sends cool breezes into the fall atmosphere. A place where the most brilliant of reds and orange and yellow are found on the trees. Where summers are mild and winters are harsh, and all of the people know how to prepare for a nor'easter. That is his culture, and he seems out of place in this harsh prairie desert.

I know that he has issues. But I'm pretty messed up too. Between us, our texts could be published into a 348-page book that would lead you in circles, bewildered, laughing, crying, and leave you confused as to whether you'd really traveled anywhere. But whether we've gone miles or ended up right back where we started, we share a camaraderie that pulls two souls into a bind. It threatens to weave us intermittently throughout one another's lives, and yet as Destiny attempts to connect, the fates seek to rend.

He is drawn, ever steadily, back to his roots. He travels near and far, seeking a nomadic dwelling, but finding a restless spirit at every angle. A lonely desperado, riding the long distance to what is to be? And I am established, a solid foundation beneath my feet, a set future before me. To when end did we meet? And yet, here we are, and as we struggle to understand, I long for simple reality. My life would suck without him. That's the truth of the matter. He may be a lone ranger, but he's got a home, somewhere deep in my heart, that will always be open to the weary traveler that he is.

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