Every Blade of Grass: An Existential Parable
Wayne Kyle Spitzer
- The
- medical
- rocket
- is
- wasted—its
- consoles
- smashed,
- its
- stores
- emptied—to
- the
- extent
- that
- we
- have
- collapsed
- outside
- its
- open
- hatch
- in
- total
- exhaustion
- and
- despair.
- Worse,
- the
- air
- is
- filled
- with
- the
- roar
- of
- machinery—a
- roar
- with
- a
- band-saw
- edge—one
- we
- know
- all
- too
- well
- for
- it
- is
- the
- sound
- of
- Cap’s
- Big
- Track
- coming
- closer
- every
- second.And
- then
- he
- has
- arrived,
- riding
- his
- tractor
- like
- a
- chariot,
- goading
- it
- forward
- into
- the
- clearing,
- motoring
- directly
- toward
- us
- until
- Taylor
- jumps
- up
- in
- a
- panic
- and
- sprints
- for
- the
- next
- bridge—his
- dark
- skin
- shining,
- his
- heels
- kicking
- up
- sod—as
- the
- Captain
- veers
- toward
- him
- suddenly
- and
- seems
- to
- gun
- the
- engine.And
- then
- I
- am
- running,
- shouting
- at
- him
- to
- stop,
- as
- Taylor
- vanishes
- beneath
- the
- blades
- and
- the
- Big
- Track
- jounces,
- once,
- twice,
- the
- Captain
- laughing
- and
- throwing
- back
- his
- head,
- the
- iron
- tracks
- seeming
- to
- catch—until
- blood
- begins
- spewing
- like
- grass
- clippings
- from
- the
- mulch-vents
- and
- all
- I
- can
- hear
- is
- my
- friend
- screaming—gargling—dying
- beneath
- the
- Cap’s
- iron beast.
