Living in Utopia
A man, his pig, a bar, and the little girl from number 13, and a cop.
Part 1: The Walk: Town
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A warm spring night, 1986, 11:30 pm,
Content warning: several good kisses, a bunch of hand holding, and a drunk pig.
And what the cop saw, It's a long story, because it was a long night.
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As I have said before, the units at the Utopia were super small, real small.
The kitchen table was only big enough for a plate and a cup, not homework.
I started to just leave the Murphy bed out, here was a space that I could work with.
So I had a dozen books out, and note books for every class, and reference books.
And then the knock came on my door, 3 taps, pause ,2 pause 1, It's open I said.
It was not that we had a "Secret Knock" doors were being knocked on day and night.
Old people would lock their keys in their unit, and seem to think the door would open.
If they just banged a little harder, it might also turn off the smoke detector.
But I digress.
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When the little girl from number 13 came in, she saw books everywhere.
"Dude" she said, You need a break, let's go get a burger at the Side Track Bar and Grill.
What is the Side Track I ask... well she said, it was here before the Civil war, and still is.
You have lived here for 3 months, and you don't know this town yet?
She looped her arm in mine and we set off down the sidewalk.
We got to the corner and she pointed west, it's down there two blocks.
But we are going South I said... what about the burgers ?
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She stopped and looked at me and said " turn right for a burger"
Or turn left with a girl on your arm who will tell the history of this town, and a burger later.
Well, we turned left.. it was midnight by now, and there were no cars on the road.
As we went down the street, she would stop and say "smell that"
It was that time of year when things were still blooming, and the air was rich.
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The first thing that hit me on main street was all the buildings were made of red brick.
And they were the same style as if you said "build me a 1920's town"
Well, she said after the tornado of 1925 the town was flat, only 3 buildings were standing.
Hundreds were killed, they used front yards as make shift morgues.
They found bodies three states over, it was that bad.
You would think people would move away, the town was flat.
But they just started picking up the bricks, and just like that there was a new town.
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At the back of the court house she grabbed my hand and pulled me up a little rise.
At the top, she said in a low voice... this is where the Gallows were.
This place is haunted by the ghost of all who died here.
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Think about it she said, here you were on a high platform, at the top of the hill.
And the lawn was filled with people from miles around, it was packed.
And they were all here to watch you swing by a rope.
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I don't know if the place was haunted, but we were not alone.
About a block away there was that same cop car that had tailed our walk.
That is Bobby the cop she said, trying to figure out who the boy on my arm is.
They say if a girl kisses a boy here, she will have his heart as tight as a hangman's noose.
She pushed me against the courthouse wall and kissed me real hard.
She stepped back and said "now your heart belongs to me"
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She grabbed my hand and began to run down the little hill.
The problem was the grass was wet, and next we were rolling down the hill.
When we came to a stop, the little girl from number 13 was on top of me.
She gave me a quick kiss, and said that was fun, let's do it again.
I said let's do it on a night where my butt will not land in a cold mud puddle.
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We were there on the ground when the flood light from the cop car lit us up.
The little girl jumped up, threw her hands in the air, and yelled "I surrender"
Not sure what to do, I stood up and put my hands in the air too.
Bobby said "are you two drunk and disorderly, you are covered with mud".
Well, the little girl said, not yet, but I bet if you come back later,
we will be indecently exposed.
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