Yeah, she was that kind of girl. The kind of girl who walked through the crowd with an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips just to see which of them would break away from their partners to offer her a light. And they always did, all but the most beaten of them.
They would smile the smile they practiced in the mirror. The one they found to be charming, and the flame was lifted to lick at the tip. They would speak words they thought impressive and she would turn and leave. She had no time for a soft man who found himself wonderful. They rarely offered anything to others. So she would turn and walk away, leaving them only a lingering moment of inexpensive perfume in her breeze as she retreated. So things had gone for her.
The less creative of those she shared a species with had called her a bitch and a tramp and a tease. Fortunately, the world was filled mostly with people who had very little capacity for thought. The lack of originality in those who insulted her did little to harm her. But there were others who were more creative. Those were the ones who had the power to hurt her. She would retaliate and things would get out of hand. She was the one who was always told to leave, who was walked to the door and courteously excused. That she was not behind bars was, she thought, privilege of being plaything to the wealthy.
There were those that had asked her why don't you settle down? Find a nice man and make a nice home and have nice children and do nice things for the community. As if she could. When you were bright enough to see that most men were selfish, that even the nicest of homes shone evil into the night through carefully scrubbed windows and that children were most often a burden, it was not to hard to see that to keep moving was best.
To keep things new and fresh and alive was the way to go. She imagined herself in the kitchen of some suburban hell. Cooking. Removing a Barney video from the VCR and replacing it with a Disney sing along for the kids. Waiting for a husband to come home.
She could see herself waiting for the look on his face, to know if he was satisfied. If he was, then she could feel like a good woman, like a good wife and mother. If she could read that he was not satisfied, then, damn it, she would try harder tomorrow. She would make her man happy. The thought always brought a secret smile to her face. More often, it brought a laugh. One of those laughs that makes others look around curiously, hoping to spot the source of the entertainment.
What would she do with a man? He couldn't run with her. Not for long, anyway.
Men got attached too easily and were more sentimental than they let on. They found a place or a thing or another of the silly creatures she shared a species with and decided it was time to stop running. She'd had them along before. For a while. She found that the road threw less burdens her way when she ran with a partner. But in the end, the burdens caught up with her. She left them with a smear of lipstick on their sleeping cheek as she kissed them one final time. Then she walked out on them forever. There was no need for a note. No need for long good-byes or explanations that were even longer. It was just a sad kiss on the cheek and a soft shutting of the door and she was on her way. It hurt sometimes. Hurt to go. The complacity that they would fall into always made her feel sad.
They were not like the other things she owned. She could not place them in her backpack and force them to continue. They would find happiness in the place she left them and she would find it where she could. And that was simply the way things had to be.
And she's here. With her backpack on her shoulders walking along the median again. She had been the attention of much obnoxious noise on her journey. Men showed their appreciation for her proportions by laying into the car horn. It was absurd. Or they would roll down the window to yell something at her. She puzzled at the point of it. Was it to confirm their manhood to their passengers? To herself? She was sure of only one thing, it was unnecessary. A person's character showed in their day-to-day behavior, not an occasional gesture of admiration or lust. Of course, this was another reason she kept running. If she stayed somewhere long enough, someone might discover what was behind the facade. Worse yet, they would show it to her, they would be her mirror, and she had no desire to see it. She had no interest in looking once again at the things she had blocked out for so long. She had no interest in crying those tears again. So she ran to where running would take her and she found herself here.
The structures were tall and modern, the new downtown of a very old city. The history of its coastline and ports disguised by a wall of business and neon lit restaurants.
She walked along the highway beside the end the earth. She looked out over the ocean and into the west to see the sun setting. Bright gold and amber shimmered on the surface of the waves. They carried the sparkles to the shore and abandoned them there. The next wave came and washed them back out again. The cycle went on and on, carrying the sparkles, leaving them on the sand to die, and then taking them by their golden arms and dragging them back to the ocean's unsteady dance floor to perform once again.
She left the road and opted for the softer surface. She took her shoes off and let her toes run in the wet sand, the tumbling water working it's way up to her calves, then receding, only to return when the next wave broke gently and reached for her again. She walked in the golden sand and breaking waves until sunset, toasting the last of the sparkles with an imaginary pint. As day turned to night in the city that hid its history, the gold and amber were replaced by the dull glow of the petroleum industry and the simple orange of street lamps. All were reflected in the landscape before her, but none matched the majesty of eternal fire extinguishing itself in the waters, which expanded out to the farthest horizon.
She turned her head to observe the scene behind her. She had walked far, and the highway could be observed in the distance. Orange streetlights burned a crazy roller coaster on the sky as they followed the asphalt's twists and turns and the concrete's rise and fall. She could see small rainbow like halos surrounding each of them. She looked again to the water. The reflection in the water showed no halos. So, the ugly lights of the city had no halos. The mirror said so and the mirror never lies. She hated mirrors. They always dashed her hopes.
She turned to make her way to the highway once again. Her shoes and socks bounced in one hand as her free hand clung to the single strap of her backpack. The sand gushed between her toes as she walked, sucking her in, then unwillingly releasing as she moved on, repeating with every footstep. Looking out over the unnatural reflections in the water, she felt a little sad for the passing of the sun. It was unusual for her. She had always been one with the night, an angel whose halo she was sure reflected on the water. But seeing the sun this way, with it's dancing sparkles, she was unsure. It must be signaling a change for her, but change was nothing new and she was not too afraid. It had only been a sunset, and sunset was evening's introduction. She could handle a thin ribbon gold in her wrappings of black. In fact she quite fancied it. .
Nearing the highway, she noticed a new kind of sparkle. These grabbed at her ankles, not at her calves. She looked to the west and the moon was rising where the sun had sat. Its face was silent awe and it's silver arm reached across the water for her. Low tide, of course. She looked behind her and judged her footsteps. They dipped gradually away from the expanding sand. It suddenly amazed her how man ever felt a sense of control. The moon simply rose and the tides receded. With no divine intervention, with no prayer to let my people pass, the tides receded and the seas were parted.