Human Spines

Going on a Walk

Hans

        "That's you, my sweet. They're still looking for you."

        "Oh my holy geez! That is you!" The boy stares.

        "Why's it here? I lived in Washington. Where are we?" Emmeline whips her head around.

        "Denver, Colorado."

        "Did you know anyone who lives here?" Dumaine asks, smiling at the picture hanging at the front of the store.

        "No." Her head shakes

        "Are you certain?"

        Her head shakes again at my question.

        "Your Aunt Thena and Uncle Morbick! They must live here!"

        "That sounds most correct, my dear." I grin toward the boy.

        Big sparkling green eyes, nearly shoulder-length black hair, doll-like face. I can see her in the photo. I am watching her grow up. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, all the way to now. Her face doesn't change all that much, but her expression makes her almost unrecognizable. She was such a lost eight-year-old. An angry nine-year-old, a serious ten-year-old, nervous at eleven, insane at twelve, and she finally breaks at thirteen, staying the same electric girl for the last few years. She smiles at me in the photograph but the words beneath her plead that someone find and return this young girl.

        "There must be thousands of pictures of you posted all over the western half of the U.S. That's awesome, really." Dumaine is amazed. He doesn't get to see photographs of himself that often.

        "No, it isn't. Why did the bus break down? It did break down right? How did we get here so soon? We shouldn't be here yet. We still have at least twenty more hours until we arrive here. How are we here?" Emmeline is spinning in circles, trying to understand.

        "What do you mean? Did we break the Earth?" The boy worries.

        "We—I don't know—we did something wrong." She grasps for words.

        "I think the bus was broken the entire time." I point at it through the dusty gas station window. "Those aren't tires, are they?"

        "Oh my!" Emmeline is at the window, her palms pressed against the glass, her breath creating a circle of fog. "Those are-those-those-Goistaculk! There are funny-looking Goistaculks where the wheels should be! Look, they're wiggling! Why does our bus have Demons instead of wheels?" She's bouncing from one foot to the other while her hands squeeze into fists, but there's a silly smile on her face. The same smile the original seven-year-old Emmeline on the wall has.

        "Emmeline, the bathroom is over there." Dumaine is pointing to the back corner of the store. She spins and takes off so quickly I don't think Dumaine even sees her.

        "Yeah, that's what I thought." He smiles to himself, shaking his head at the bizarre little girl.

Dumaine

        I think Hans is looking at the air. And everything else around the air. And whatever's inside the air. He's staring off into nothing, but at least he isn't wandering away. I stare at all the different food choices, soda fountains, and bakery items. Why's there so much food in here? I've never been in a gas station before. I think I'll just wait for Emmeline to get back.