A Tribute to Insignificance:
On a rooftop of a twelve floor abandoned building, in a long abandoned city, he found, craved upon the cement of one of the low side-walls, the name ‘’George Keller’’. He did not mind it at first: another remnant of a civilization, long forgotten, now, and very distant in time. More precisely, a remnant of some no one from the past.
He sitted and settled down for the transmission of the day. It was mid-day now and the world’s sun lighted the greenish atmospherere, but Cesil, the big red moon, was about to appear in the horizon, with allways it’s little sister around: Vera, a little yellow version of itself. About 10 minutes after its first appearence, of Cesil, the random, looping, automated list of music of his portable solar radio would flick a mili-second, and then give place to the beautiful voice of a girl who called herself Sibelle. The signal would be re-established once more, and for another 3 hours there would be nothing stoping him from hearing the tales, memories, despairs and hopes of the Girl Who Didn’t Quite Know That Was Being Heard, and that lived somewhere in the red distant moon. ‘’I don’t know if anybody’s hearing this but my name is Sibelle and --’’, she would start, every single time.
He sitted and settled down for the transmission of the day. It was mid-day now and the world’s sun lighted the greenish atmospherere, but Cesil, the big red moon, was about to appear in the horizon, with allways it’s little sister around: Vera, a little yellow version of itself. About 10 minutes after its first appearence, of Cesil, the random, looping, automated list of music of his portable solar radio would flick a mili-second, and then give place to the beautiful voice of a girl who called herself Sibelle. The signal would be re-established once more, and for another 3 hours there would be nothing stoping him from hearing the tales, memories, despairs and hopes of the Girl Who Didn’t Quite Know That Was Being Heard, and that lived somewhere in the red distant moon. ‘’I don’t know if anybody’s hearing this but my name is Sibelle and --’’, she would start, every single time.
After the end of it, 12 hours would pass, The moons would travel around the world, and he would do little but wait for the next transmission. But for now, he had 10 minutes.
He rolled a joint, lighted it up and smoked the hot air. The sun hited hard on his face and he felt an calming urge to close his eyes.
He thought about the voice that he would never be able to reach. To save. To show that had been heard. It was not only the concern about the girl. It was about himself, also. He did not only wanted to tell her ‘’ You’re not Alone’’; he wanted to say ‘’We, together, are alone’’, and, like no other thing, there is nothing less lonely then that.
The boy felt a sudden anxiety about not being able to reach someone who was reaching him. About not being able to reach anybody at all, for that matter.
The moment he was starting to weep, he looked ahead, to the clear-clouds, two circle ornated horizon, but on the far wall on the other side of the rooftop, something stole his attention and made him smile. The most humble and understanding smile he ever managed to smile.
‘’George Keller, I will remember that you’re gone’’ he said, knowing himself to be a no-one from the future. The radio flickered.
Based on Philip K. Dick’s Dr. Bloodmoney and the music Harlem Roulette by The Mountain Goats
