Cold Metal

(Signs of the Times is a work of fiction based on true events. Views expressed are the characters’ own. Viewer discretion is advised.

They cannot move. They watch forever, looking on in horror. Fixed gaze cemented on building brought down by precision-guided destruction.

They are indifferent to it all. Unable to comprehend values. Is it just? Is it necessary? They stare.

My mother took me to a park when I was little. She led me to a bench occupied by a man cast in bronze. He sat there looking west. His outstretched arm pointed towards the horizon through cypress trees. His perpetual smile and wonder, captured in an artist’s eye for skin tensility.

“Go sit with him,” she said. “He could use the company.”

I sat beside the statue. I was unsure, uncomfortable. How does one communicate with the inanimate? The people who look like us but feel nothing?

“You must get cold,” I said. “I’m cold, too.”

I looked at my mother. She nodded.