the empty road - 8. the past

by bofa xesjum

part eight of forty

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hello. hello yourself. who are you? i am your employer. employer, what must i do? begin by filling out this form. um - it looks rather long and involved. don’t worry, nobody will actually look at it. i can’t remember anything about my so-called past life. that is because you do not in fact have one. so you are saying that i should just make something up? that is what i am saying so just get on with it. i do not want to make trouble, just to do the right thing. at that point, the employer got up and left the room without another word. the candidate began filling out the form, as he had done so many times before. once he began, the words and names and places flowed like raindrops over a deserted street.. my parents were named james and eileen prester, and they lived quiet lives in the american midwest. james was often out of work, and drank heavily, but eileen had a steady job at the bank. james was a dreamer, and he dreamed most often of being an outlaw like jesse james or john dillinger. at one point, eileen did not miss a day of work at the bank for sixteen years and three months. next