Decades passed
As far as I could tell
My head pounding from a journey
That I hadn’t asked for
To the base of a mountain,
Capped with dirty wet snow
Teeming with moose, wolves, and beasts of all kind
They’re not scared, I wonder why?
I pull up my jacket, hoping for any kind of ride
Disheveled roads, no upkeep,
DOT budgets are probably tight
Until I arrive at a signpost
Route 16; with a silhouette in the mountain
“Live Free or Die,”
It looks like some populace made its choice
As a car approached from behind
Camouflaged, dark, certainly unwelcome to any visitors
Suddenly, with a muzzle in my gut, he yells,
“State your business now!”
“I’m just a mere traveler, unaware
Of the time, the date, or even the year
“Liar!”
He’s careful not to cause a stir in wood
“Embarking on these lands unwarranted
Could be, for you, extremely costly”
He ruffles through my billfold
Each card expired, expired, expired
“What kind of cheap forgeries are these?
You do realize these companies cease to exist?”
“Sir I beg you, where I am I do not know
Pinch me, kick me, smack me
Anything to wake me from this dream,
This nightmare”
Suddenly convinced, he begins to change his tune
“I see it now, you’re one of those,
Your clothes and your belongings,
Are all from a far-gone era”
“An era you may be wont to know
delivered our continent into hysteria
Come, get in, you have no business here
Your journey lies south
In the continental land
From which we in New Hampshire seceded”
“Ghost stories some call them
But too frequent for that
Talk of pilgrims like you
Haunting us in the moonlight”
“You’re the first I have met, I trust your business is your own
I’ll take you to the rail that leads to Boston
As you begin to weave a narrative
On the events that have caused this current state”
“Be cautious, yet hasty, use your gut on who to trust
But be open to the lost souls
Their stories paint our landscape”
“I leave you here
The coast calls me for international supplies
Mind the barbed wire at the border
And the guards will cause you no harm
Godspeed, he declares
I hope you find what you need
Often these journeys are internal
So from me to you, let your mind and spirit be freed”
End of Chapter 1