[Facebook] California

So, it’s been a REALLY REALLY REALLY long time since I’ve done a story, so I stayed up to 3AM to bring you guys this one. I’m somewhat out of practice, although no one might notice since the noise in quality is so much more than the signal. Ha. Enjoy!

Edit: man, it’s really short, too. My bad.

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Status update: misses California

It hit her when she was doing the dishes, flying across years and piercing the veil of the mundane such that the plate jerked to a stop in midsplash.

Her kids would never understand California.

Ever.

Not in the way she knew it: no, they would only read about it in textbooks, hear stuffy teachers pontificate endlessly on the political leverage the different political parties sought to blah blah blah such that the impact on the revolution was blah blah now, let’s assess the validity blah blah blah blah BLAH.

That, and the networks had started carrying features that examined California in detail, alongside those that examined King Tut’s tomb, or King Charles’s left big toenail. It was really a shame, it had only been… well, it had been 9 years ago. She supposed she was getting old. But they would learn about it from there, too, history watered down and marketed to the lowest common factor.

And they had their own California, now, new cultural meccas where the weather was charming (to a point) and would-be-stars tried to make their name. She supposed she could tell them that their Peru was her California, and let that be that.

But they would know California better as a political cry, a cautionary tale, an unmitigated disaster before their time.

They wouldn’t know it like she did, the way lovers know each other. A chance employment, a passionate spark, and she had fallen in love, first with the place. But it wore on her in quiet ways, and the torrid love affair came to an abrupt end. Not a moment to soon, either…

When she heard the news, though, she still cared: still cared for California, now gone. The beaches, the cities, all the people deluded, talented, vain, and brilliant. She wouldn’t live there, and she now couldn’t, but…

She still misses California. Even now.

The screen door clattered open, and she blinked. Somehow, all the dishes had gotten done.