The Kestrel's Dreams

November 02, 2014

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I was interning in a new classroom, at a new school... it was right next to a strip mall of sorts. During the lunch break on my second or third day there, I realized I'd forgotten to pack a lunch, and so I went to the strip mall to try and find some food. I decided to stop by a clothing store since I needed a new shirt, but when I asked the floor helper about a simple shirt, she just pointed at my stomach and chin and scoffed that there would be NOTHING in my size in this store. I left that place, but first I looked around the bottom floor and passive-aggressively fucked with some stuff.

I couldn't find a fast food place, but there did end up being a little steampunk-y Japanese place inside the Target or something. I went there, and ordered something called a Haru Dish (hah, one of my students' names is Haru). The chef who was putting my dish on the tray was messing with me, pretending "that was all" with each little added ingredient. I was in a hurry to get back to class because my break was almost over, but the guy did make me feel better about what had happened at the clothing store, because he was trying to make me smile.

By the time I did have my food and was able to start walking back to the school, apparently not only was lunch break over, but the bell was ringing for everyone to go home; I'd missed the entire afternoon... I tried to find someone to tell that I was sorry, but no one was there. I did find a bike, though. I got on the bike and rode it far down the main street the school was on. I rode the bike all the way out of town (apparently most of the town was in that strip mall) and into a sprawling, flat desert-like place. It got dark, and I met my little brother, who had my car. I put the bike in the trunk, and we both started driving back to the small town. Apparently I had sunglasses on that was making my vision all wonky; I could only see in a horizontal line and I couldn't drive this way, so I asked my brother to find my normal glasses and give them to me.

I stopped the car at the side of the road still a few miles out of the town, and we decided to walk the rest of the way. There were mountains with shrubs and trees to our right, and a bike trail led out into those mountains. I decided to take that trail (and apparently it was somehow sunset again, not night like it had been a little bit ago).

I rode the bike through the mountains for what seemed like a long time, and hope I wouldn't get lost... eventually I came out of the mountains and came back to that main street just outside of town. My brother was at the trail-head with my car again, and we drove back to the school.