RDP Thursday: VAST

Zoltan Sepeshy

Have you ever heard of a town called Alsina?

Maybe you have  driven by it and wondered if anyone actually lived there because it looked so still and it looked so dusty. There were a few cars parked in front of a few houses and at the end of each gravel driveway was a mailbox with the names and addresses nearly worn away by the weather.

The unsettling thing is, even in a moving car you could feel the stillness- it seemed to creep up from the road into the car with you and you could feel it- that stillness, that quiet, that nothingness.

On the day I drove through Alsina, I saw a dog trotting down the sidewalk, it didn’t turn it’s head as I passed it- it just kept trotting along and when I looked into my rearview mirror I saw it.

It was still trotting along, it’s tail was wagging, it’s chin was up and even though it was trotting at a good clip, I could swear it hadn’t moved an inch.

I guessed my eyes were playing tricks on me.

A minute or so later  I drove into the heart of Alsina and there standing in front of the General Store I saw a man and a woman window shopping.

It wasn’t a very big window and the store itself wasn’t big either, but they were glued to the front of the window.

I saw the woman  raise  her hand and point at something and then the man next to her leaned forward,  peered into the window and nodded.

I don’t think they noticed me.

I glanced back up into my mirror and I saw that dog, still running, still not moving and then I saw the couple turn back to the window and I saw her raise her hand and point at something in the window .

He leaned forward, peered into the window and nodded.

I was in Alsina for five minutes tops, but I think that in Alsina- even after seeing the buildings, the window shoppers, the dog, I think that five minutes is the only thing that really lives in Alsina and I also think

if you can avoid it, you should.