created by andrew chung

intermezzo

imagine life was an infinite musical ballad. every instant - a heightened state of emotion. every waking moment - a reassurance that you were still alive. oh, how i use to miss the musicals of my past.

i used to love musicals when i was a boy. when my mom brought me to watch my first musical, the only thought running through my mind after it was over was, "that's how life should be!" we devoured as many of the spectacles as our pockets would allow. i was intent on creating my own personal infinite musical ballad.

until mom lost her job at the sweatshop. at first she would tell me that she couldn't take me to the shows because our car broke down. i asked if we could walk, and she told me that the idea was silly. i begged her until she suddenly screamed, "money doesn't grow on trees!" the truth was at the time i didn't know where money came from. but i now knew they didn't grow on trees. maybe they came from the ground, i thought.

i didn't understand why we couldn't see any more shows. the shows weren't the only things we were losing though. winters were bitingly cold and summers were boiling hot. food was scarce and we grew accustomed to eating bread with the leftover meats that the local deli next door used to throw away in the dingy crevices of the narrow passage between the buildings. we had little water to make sure any of it was sanitary. i grew sad as time passed and mom noticed. the infinite music that raced through my head was evapourating and mom knew it. it was as if the fuse that lit the energy inside me had burnt out.

one night, before mom tucked me into my dilapidated but still comfortable little bed, she looked at me funny and kissed me on the forehead. she stood up, turned her back towards me and suddenly shot back around and burst into song. she flailed her arms and legs around in a strange attempt at dance, jumped onto the chairs in the corner of my room, and rolled on the ground - all while continuing in song. i laughed and laughed. harder than i did even in those musicals. eventually the song was stopped short when she bumped into my night table knocking over my lamp. it smashed into a million pieces on the ground. we looked at it, and laughed again. mom then looked at me and said, "i know we can't see our shows anymore, but we can always make them ourselves."

i don't miss the musicals so much anymore.

epoch 2 chapter 7 | joe dreamer