Kill City

I am out shopping in this vicious and violent world. They say the streets are very unsafe these days. Stay off the streets and get where you have to go by car or taxi. However, I admit that lately, against the advice of family and friends, I have been making brief forays into the city, alone and on foot. The sunlight is too tempting and after all I need my vitamin D, that soluble vitamin that is found in food and can also be made in your body after exposure to solar radiation. The warm fresh air relaxes me but I cannot let my guard down and in this town I can trust almost no one. And as I wander away from the safety of the medical plaza and set further out of reach of its gravitational pull, I have a clear moment of doubt. I am concerned because I am carrying a sizable amount of cash.

Well, all I have to do is make it the three blocks to the next oasis of relative security, the Gallerias, the name of the local mall. These blocks are tree lined and have well appointed houses behind their thick razor wire topped walls. This is actually a good neighborhood but you can't be too careful these days. However, any one who lets their guard down is fair game. I hear stories all the time of strangers being followed and attacked, robbed or worse. It is hard to reconcile the glorious beauty of this day with the potential violence it holds.

Vanessa, the attractive young student who works as an assistant to Dr Machuca, was robbed on her way to the office the other day. She was on the bus during rush hour when the entire bus was hijacked. All were held at gunpoint and all were denuded of any valuables.

Rene the Pixel artist was late to visit a friend at his friend's parent's home. He rang the doorbell and was quickly let in. When his eyes adjusted to the cooler darker light of the salon, he saw the entire family sitting together on the couch surrounded by gunmen. No one was hurt but he lost his precious laptop, an item that in this economy will not be easily replaced.

These are small crimes and the victims can muster wry smiles because they walked away unhurt. In today's world they are hardly worth mentioning I suppose. And I walk, knowing that I am a prime victim and wondering if the D vitamins now synthesizing in my cells was really enough justification for this stroll. I walk and I feel eyes upon me. Most are curious and today none are menacing. Soon the guards of the mall are in sight. They were mushroom colored shirts with large numbers loosely stitched to their shirts. They look underpaid and expendable and I hardly think that any of them would take a bullet for me. On the corner an old man in a straw hat wanders from car to car begging for food money and waiting her turn is an Indian woman with a child in a makeshift sling. Behind this scene is a bill board that states that in fact, that this is a future location of a Staples office supply store. Coming soon...ah yes...it will be soon. Yes, I think to myself, something is coming but I‘ll be damned if I know what it is. I see all this out of the corner of my eye as the glass doors slide open and I step out of the glare and into the controlled atmosphere of the mall and somewhere in Greenland another huge chuck of glacier breaks off and falls into the sea.

Our planet is heating up much faster than any of our most knowledgeable scientists predicted. Just yesterday while wandering along the black sand beach of the Costa Azul I, in my coating of anti-ultraviolet ray lotion, came upon an enormous dying sea turtle. They are dying in large numbers and the reason is as yet unknown. Three buzzards circled in the air above me.

However now I am back in the cool, back in the familiar and though I have never been here before I have been here before. This place is one of those places that stand as a reminder to reread “The Air Conditioned Nightmare”.

I must admit that I do feel secure in the safety of the mall. Air-conditioned and safe surrounded by familiar brands and logos. Nothing is better than the taste of a brand name coffee while checking out the latest designs in jeans, sneakers and weaponry. New weapons… to assist me in protecting my synthetic realities. A weapon to level the playing field should I tip my hand in a careless moment. An arsenal to deal with anyone from the external mall reality, someone who might attempt to burst my bubble. These weapons are expensive and cost real money but if you buy those $250 sneakers you will increase your chances of provoking conflict with a have-not. Such is the price of high style and delusions of relevance.

That bullet proof vest is how much? Ouch…Do you have anything less pricy? Perhaps one that is just a bit less bullet resistant and in a darker shade?