Times are hard, I'll only pick them out, wish I was going back
Times are good, you'll be glad you ran away
~ Tindersticks ‘Travelling Light’ 1995
Times are good, you'll be glad you ran away
~ Tindersticks ‘Travelling Light’ 1995
| Max Ernst |
Having taken the tractor into the shelter of a deserted Warehouse, they remove their slicks and along with the shotguns, stuff them into the canvas bags which Daniel stows in the lockbox between the tractor’s rear wheels.
Alec’s 3 boys - Mark, their oldest, not really a boy anymore, neither are the twins, Theo and Kyle, who were babies when Alec and Megan adopted them during the collapse – have been manacled to the underside of the tractor.
Alec feels the spear of anxiety turn in his chest every time he catches memory glimpses of the dead Bigmarker on the warehouse floor.
He can rationalise it all with the tenets they’d adopted in ’36 but for Alec, ‘It-was-self-defence’ has never been a comfort after the fact.
Tonight’s victim is one more ghost whose face Alec will probably forget, but the act will remain, as the others do, to haunt him.
The generators vibrate beneath their feet.
“Fuckin hate this place” Daniel busies himself preparing food from the precious ration packs they’d purchased in the market, the aroma strange to five clave-adjusted appetites.
“I kinda miss it, actually” Alec rolls his shoulders to relieve the tension there.
“You’re joking right? You wanna go back to living with these fucking drones; buzzing to feed the Kulture, feed it or starve. Fuck that”
“Well they’re not knee deep in mud for a steady diet of hot potato dinners, are they?”
“You wanna stay here, be my guest - you forget why we left Bigmark in the first place?”
“I remember very well why we left and I might just stay actually, especially since you seem to feel it’s ok to punch my son in the face”
“Your sons are the reason we’re here right now”
“Yeah and we’ve ascertained which one of them killed Joe and I don’t believe Marty meant it, he’s always been easily led”
“Led by your eldest no doubt? I rest my case” says Daniel pointing thumb over shoulder at Mark.
“Your self-righteousness doesn’t usurp my responsibility to my offspring”
“Your offspring have put the whole clave into crisis; that makes them fair game”
“I wanna stay” says Mark from beneath the tractor.
“Shut it Mark”
Alec’s 3 boys - Mark, their oldest, not really a boy anymore, neither are the twins, Theo and Kyle, who were babies when Alec and Megan adopted them during the collapse – have been manacled to the underside of the tractor.
Alec feels the spear of anxiety turn in his chest every time he catches memory glimpses of the dead Bigmarker on the warehouse floor.
He can rationalise it all with the tenets they’d adopted in ’36 but for Alec, ‘It-was-self-defence’ has never been a comfort after the fact.
Tonight’s victim is one more ghost whose face Alec will probably forget, but the act will remain, as the others do, to haunt him.
The generators vibrate beneath their feet.
“Fuckin hate this place” Daniel busies himself preparing food from the precious ration packs they’d purchased in the market, the aroma strange to five clave-adjusted appetites.
“I kinda miss it, actually” Alec rolls his shoulders to relieve the tension there.
“You’re joking right? You wanna go back to living with these fucking drones; buzzing to feed the Kulture, feed it or starve. Fuck that”
“Well they’re not knee deep in mud for a steady diet of hot potato dinners, are they?”
“You wanna stay here, be my guest - you forget why we left Bigmark in the first place?”
“I remember very well why we left and I might just stay actually, especially since you seem to feel it’s ok to punch my son in the face”
“Your sons are the reason we’re here right now”
“Yeah and we’ve ascertained which one of them killed Joe and I don’t believe Marty meant it, he’s always been easily led”
“Led by your eldest no doubt? I rest my case” says Daniel pointing thumb over shoulder at Mark.
“Your self-righteousness doesn’t usurp my responsibility to my offspring”
“Your offspring have put the whole clave into crisis; that makes them fair game”
“I wanna stay” says Mark from beneath the tractor.
“Shut it Mark”
| Tindersticks | ||
| Travelling Light | ||
