Dirt Road Tales

                                               A Siren on the Sea    It was a light he sought, and it was a light he saw. Faint it was through the fog, a small halo of gold shining upon a finger of land. The man was drawn by the light as a moth is drawn, for where a light shines a soul dwells, and the man had long been rowing the dinghy upon a soulless sea. The light beckoned him to accept its shelter, and to know its people, for a light needs its people, as they need it. The man started for it as he must, the light being his only map through the black swells. He pulled hard at the oars, driving them deep, feeling the muscles ripple through his shoulders and back. The ripple was good. He called on the strength, and it came. There was life in the old dog yet. The dinghy jumped to his will, but soon the sound of waves upon the beach quitted his oars. It would be tricky for a weary man to try a beach landing through the breakers.     His fingers ached upon the oars. He arched his

                                    Adolescence: The End of Dreams    It began with a pig, and it ended with a horse. He was city-born, and knew nothing of pigs, or of barnyard animals. Back in grade school his class had ridden the bus to a farm once. The farm had smelled and felt dirty. Even the ground was dirty with mud, shit and straw. The animals had all been dirty, even the white of the sheep had been dirty, so that he no longer cared to count them at night. The animals had all stared at him from black, frightening eyes, especially the squinting pigs. The pigs with their blank, hard, and unfeeling gaze. It was the pigs' eyes that had left the most fearful impression.    It was only a dream, but a realistic dream, and a haunting one. He was not old enough to drive yet, but the dream was of a car crash. It was a dream of speed that would not  b rake, and of a wheel that would not steer. The dream was of an impact  w ith another car, a driverless car. It was strange th