Children in Devils Lake, ND discover Abandoned Theatre

"It is actually much safer these days in the towns, most of the real maniacs left for the country as soon as possible."

She didnt want to hear things like this. A grimace passed over her face and I could feel the despair come down all over her.

"Dont you think about that. Dont you think about that now, fear and God cant exist in the same place." I kissed her on the mouth, my hands framed around her dirty face. I shot Teddy a look for him to be cool, and to be kind, for the last time. He fumbled around inside himself trying to find something genuine to hang on to, and chose silence.

"Heather works at a bar, in Devils Lake, North Dakota. That bar that serves burgers and root beer and nobody asks you what song you want to hear on the jukebox. A mile down the road at the gas station, Jakes standing around wondering what it would be like to smoke cigarettes. At home theres a dog barking at the TV every time a cat goes walks by singing a song."

"Thats funny," she says, smiling. "I heard somewhere. I guess I just took it as true, without thinking about it. I guess I heard dogs couldnt see the images on TV." The flicker of fire-light reflected on the pool of blood running from her leg. "My dad would always leave the TV on for the dogs to keep them company when he left for work. I always thought that it must drive them crazy to hear all that laughter and not know where it was coming from. People just staring at black boxes. How would they ever know that?" She gets real weak and her head dips a little. I part back her hair from her face and it doesnt feel dirty at all. Just delicate and alive. "How do they know if a dog is really color blind?"

And she meant it so much it didnt seem silly or futile. I folded her arms in and took the comb from her back pocket. As we were running away I remembered the ocean as it peeled back and, playing with it, I claimed a perfect sea shell from the sand and placed it in my wallet, where it cracked in half, but was never lost.

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