Jack Tait screamed but no one answered.

Jack Tait woke up sideways on the front lawn of a house he had never witnessed before.  it was in the middle of a cornfield.  it was very hot.  Jack was naked.  he had a pounding head from all the Jack Daniels he drank the night before.  his blue tricycle right beside him.  four empty beer bottles keeping Jack company.  he attempted to get up but decided that he would lay back down for ten minutes.  he was sweating.  he was dirty.  he was clammy.  he was lonely.  he slept for eleven more minutes and then woke up again.  it was now pouring rain.  Jack was soaked.  he wondered about life and lost friends but his headache interrupted his wondering.  he began to walk with his tricycle in his right arm.  he had nowhere to go but he had overstayed his welcome on someone’s front lawn he did or did not know.
  “GET BACK HERE YOU FUCKING ANIMAL.  YOU COME HERE RIGHT NOW YOU DIRTY OLD MAN.  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ARRIVING HERE DRUNK AND NAKED AND THEN PUKING ALL OVER MY BED???  I JUST WANT TO FUCK YOU.  DON’T LEAVE!!!”
  Jack turned around and saw a two hundred and fifty pound white woman with a rag on her head running towards him with a frying pan.  he put his tricycle down.  jumped on it.  and rode as fast as he could.  the lady waddled after him but it was a lost cause.  another man gone.  another disappointment.  some humans have disappointment after disappointment.   others have luck.  Jack didn’t know which side of the coin he was on.  he looked back once again at the pig and wondered why he was at a two hundred and fifty pound white woman’s house.  when he left the sleazy bar the night before he had been kissing a beautiful slim black woman.  “where did she go?”  Jack wondered.  he always wondered.  Jack’s life was filled with blackouts and disappointments but also filled with fucks and achievements.  the disappointments remained prevalent in his mind.  the achievements disappeared.  Jack contemplated meditation and yoga, psychiatry and pills.  he even contemplated praying but decided that everything cost money.  and money he did not have.  Jack struggled along.
  Jack rode from town to town from day to night.  he stopped for the odd shit.  the odd piss.  even the odd jerk off session in a “Johnny On The Spot” but he only wanted one thing.  LOVE.  he sat patiently by the side of the road and took a deep breath.  he was hungry.  he saw bluebirds fly by.  he also saw Raccoons.  he found a water fountain and took a big sip.  this reminded him of Little League Baseball.  Jack loved sports.  he loved his teammates.  he loved competition.  he was good in all sports.  he once thought he was going to be a professional hockey player.  he quit all sports at the age of twenty.  he discovered booze.  and fucking.  and sucking.  and fighting.  life changes quickly.  Jack looked for guidance but didn’t have anyone.  his parents died many years before in a tragic house fire.  he was ten.  his relatives looked after him but they couldn’t give to Jack what Jack needed.  his Dad.  Jack had a great bond with his Dad.  Jack was fucked up but his Dad understood him.  no one else did.  Jack went to the movies with his Dad.  he went to soccer with his Dad.  he played road hockey with his Dad.  he went out to restaurants with his Dad.  he even slept in the same bed as his Dad.  Dad’s are the best.  so are Mom’s.  Jack had neither.  he struggled.
  Jack continued to ride his tricycle along the barren roads of northern Ontario.  he continued to be naked.  he continued to sweat.  everything continuing except LOVE.  Jack knew that one day he would find his true love.  Jack Tait is now sixty years old.  lonely.
  the daytime turned to night and Jack continued along.  he was no longer afraid of coyotes.  he was attacked by a German Shepard and a Saint Bernard when he was younger and was terrified of animals for along time but life and people began to scare Jack more.  he saw the worst in people.  he once saw the best. 
  Jack continued to ride.  he had a burst of energy and went full force for the next twenty four kilometres.  he was passing dead deer on the side of the road.  dead raccoons.  dead skunks.  he even passed a dead squirrel.  the squiirel reminded him of his friend who had died of cancer many years before.  “HEY GOD IF YOU ARE UP THERE…WHY THE FUCK DO LITTLE KIDS AND BABIES GET CANCER???  WHY DOES ANYONE GET CANCER???  CAN’T YOU STOP IT?  AREN’T YOU THE ALMIGHTY?  CAN’T YOU PERFORM MIRACLES???  STOP IT.  STOP IT.  STOP IT FOR CHRIST SAKES!!!”  Jack couldn’t understand why anyone had to suffer.  he saw sad and lonely people everywhere.  Jack cried.
  Jack continued on his ride to somewhere he didn’t know.  he stopped on the side of the road to take a shit.  take a piss.  he jumped back up on his tricycle and stopped dead in his tracks.  lights shone at him.  he looked behind him.  nothingness.  he heard coyotes howling.  he heard cats screaching.  he heard dogs barking and finally he heard babies screaming.  “Who’s there?”  Jack asked timidly.  no answer.  “Hello?  anyone there?”  nothing but lights and sounds.  the baby sounds and screams intensified.  a pink pig ran across the road.  Jack looked behind him.  still nothing.  he looked to the moon.  he looked to the ground.  he looked to the right.  he looked to the left.  he put his head down and started sprinting as fast as he could toward the light.  he was screaming, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
  he went right through the light and on the other side he found a yellow and black school bus filled with bloodied little boys and girls.  the headlights were still on.  blood everywhere.  crying.  screaming.  torn apart.  ripped apart.  little baby eyes looking to Jack for help but he had nothing to offer.  no phone.  no water.  no bandages.  no vehicle.  Jack was frozen.  fear had returned.  “HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!!!!  HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP!!!!  HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLPPP!!!  HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLPPP!!!”  Jack screamed as loud as he could but nobody listened.  nobody answered.  Jack was helpless once again.  Jack sat on the side of the road and cried.  and cried.  and cried some more.  he thought of the parents of the dead kids.  rain started teeming down.. thunder.  lightning.  two more pigs crossed the road.  followed by a rabbit.  Jack closed his eyes.  silence.  he opened his eyes and looked at all the dying kids.   Jack Tait will turn sixty one next year.