The Pharaohs

She had a quiet understanding of the world around her and the words we shared. She slowly began to drift asleep. In the light of the new morning everything was still. There were a few cars which twinkled their way through the lanes to get to wherever they were going. The highway we were on was small but the further we continued down the road, more exits appeared which gave us more options.

In the distance were skyscrapers and through the Illinois land Chicago looked even more clear. They were doing construction on a railway bridge off to my left which at one point in time must’ve been the route of wealth and a promise for a greater dream.

I’ve been up all night and seeing the sun slowly rise high into the sky made everything come into light. I looked over on my left towards the bridge as the team of construction workers backed far away from the work site. In my rearview mirror I learned that they were a demolition team as the bridge was blown into millions of pieces of dust and rubble. I watched the cloud of smoke rise and dance in the mirror then I turned my head over to Jody. She was still asleep and hadn’t moved a muscle. Dreaming I wondered what was on her mind and thought about where she had come from. In the small town on the corner of nowhere with a crowd who balanced alone on ugliness. Jody’s face stayed clear of all that and was full of compassion and sympathy. How a face so clean with compassion could come from a dirty old town I’d never come to understand. Even a king wouldn’t be able to turn her away and I, a pauper could do no less. Under the sun I realized that no matter how big or small we place ourselves we’ll always dream to the size of an emperor.