Beyond the cracked sidewalk, and the telephone pole with layers of flyers in a rainbow of colors, and the patch of dry brown grass there stood a ten-foot high concrete block wall, caked with dozens of coats of paint. There was a small shrine at the foot of it, with burnt out candles and dead flowers and a few soggy teddy bears. One word of graffiti filled the wall, red letters on a gold background: Rejoice!
The kid thought it odd to see the teddy bears lying next to the other items but in his world, nothing is truly odd any more. Little Jimmy was known as 'the kid' by the others and he did not mind. He thought the moniker was appropriate for his small stature and being nearly twenty five years old he liked looking young again.
He studied the dead flowers and the two teddy bears and thought of his family that had left the zone when he was a child. What the kid did not understand was the burned out candles. He had not seen candles for so long that he debated if he dared take them as he could use the wax. He left them alone.
Jimmy tried to read the many colorful flyers that were hanging on the telephone pole but he could only make out a few faded letters and words that did not really make much sense to him. He did manage to read most of one faded yellow flyer. It was a plea in search of a lost dog named Sally. The kid remembered when dogs were pets and people took care of them and loved them. They were thought of as family members. Then Jimmy looked at the wall again.
“Rejoice?” Jimmy said aloud as he looked at the word that filled such a large area of the wall. “Maybe someone wrote that after the riots ended.” Jimmy was talking out loud as if someone was listening. The kid thought he might be losing his mind. Then he laughed out loud. The kid felt good when he could laugh at himself. It took the reality of the world away and placed it in perspective. He said, “No silly, you’re not going crazy, the world is.” Then he laughed harder and began to see the meaning of the small makeshift shrine that he came upon and for a brief moment, the kid felt sadness.
After examining the little shrine that the kid discovered, he continued his journey through the empty streets of the zone. The kid walked past abandoned homes and burned out shops that lined the dirty trash filled streets. Once in a while the kid would hear strange animal sounds that would come from the shadows of the dilapidated homes. The kid thought of the little yellow sign he saw with the name of the lost dog. He thought of who may have placed the sign on the pole and thought of the sadness that they may have felt in the search for their pet. He thought of the many years that have passed and wondered if the little dog was ever found.
Seeing the many burned out shops in the zone showed signs of the riots that took place years before. The broken glass from the many windows of the shops and homes lined the dusty streets and sidewalks. Jimmy remembered what his father would tell him while the people rioted just blocks away from the safety of his home. His father would show him where to hide and what to do if the rioting made it to their house. His father told him that the rioters were trying to stop the fire wars and how the government would not listen. The people were angry but did not know how to end the wars but to riot.
When the first stone came crashing through a window at Jimmy’s home, his father gathered the family and fled from the danger zone leaving the then teenage Jimmy behind. Jimmy thought he could catch up to his family after setting traps in the house but when night fell that first night, it was too late. In the morning the rioters had begun burning all the homes and shops so the only thing that the kid...