Escape Pod

Honeycomb Girls
by Erin Cashier

Those were the days Geo couldn't walk through the market without stepping on someone else's shoe. If money wasn't tied to waist it was zipped, and anything dropped -- paper, panks, crumbs -- zipped too. Geo sold junk there: stripped wires, sharp green-squares, transistors like pills. "Someone junk, someone treasure!" Geo call. Men come over to see what Geo had, comb over findings, and Geo with stick, ready to slap at zippers. Stand all day, stand half night, then walk home to hard mat shared on second floor. Kick junk man out, eat food, sleep, till day begin again.

Geo hunt for junk at old places when junk run low. Sometimes old posters hidden from rain. Posters show things that not there. Happy men, metal cages. Men touching screens. Men smiling. Like said, old posters. No smiles now.

And sometimes, girls. Some cut out, but see where shape was left. Cut here, tear there. Reach out and feel where maybe curve had been. Hold nothing in hand. Imagine, if no one watching. Geo knew girls. There, but not there, like the sun, Never touch the sun, and never touch the girls, neither.