They covered my head as the questions began.
I’m being kind.
Stripped and searched.
I had prayed my photos and recent musings on my phone had all been saved to the cloud.
Smart phone obsessions! Welcome!
Obviously oblivious to the brevity and my fate.

I had this vision of my mother years ago at an airport. She still had a port in her chest from her cancer treatment.
The Security wands were frantically screaming.
Her arms outstretched she calmly looked at me and shrugged. She – their Christ! Even smiled.
Cheap thrills to have such attention –  so many young men. The concern!
I can’t say I felt the same.
Their questions and tone were not kind.
I was no one, today or any time before.
A simple man. Quiet and stoic. I had become my father.

I do dream a lot, though. If this was time for confession – I am far from pure.

No stranger to pornography. But nothing twisted or too weird. I don’t think.
But they were not interested.
Convinced of something, perhaps anything far more sinister.
How ironic –  it was they that saved me?
The building quaked but I could not see.
I felt the tremors, the explosions were deafening.
I could hear their boots scurrying quickly away.
Walls collapsed – more screams. Crying. The sounds of death.

I waited anxiously for my own demise.
Regrets filled my mind, apologies never to be shared.
Would my wife and daughter know? Would they too meet a similar fate?

How does a young woman process such horror? If she survives – how does she continue.

How do you reconcile such hate from those so unfamiliar with our lives and our souls?

How do you willfully despise a stranger? And a neighbor?

Where only annihilation can be your viable solution?
Didn’t the Reich suggest the same?

It’s eerily quiet.
I sense I can hear smoke.
I smell death. Again. For weeks now. Years, actually.
It’s sadly too familiar.

My imagination is still intact.
Angels are watching.
They tell me I have been chosen.
I question their decision.
I am far too simple.
My skills are limited
I’m overweight and have prostrate issues.
The angels laugh – who knew?
They are undeterred.
I am bequeathed the gift of flight.
My new journey begins.