By J Brown (copyrighted 1999)

"It is possible," he said, "to hide, to hide where the most visible things shine."

"How though?" The younger man flicked his cigarette in the well that held other people’s dreams.

"It cannot be bright, everywhere, all the time." It was bright then and the two men, leanding against someone else’s red barn, squinted; one of them jumped up and sat on the bales of yellow hay.

"How do you know where those places are?" The younger man asked from the hay. He was young and it was in his eyes, but he was old enough to ask questions he wanted answers to.

"Can you see right now?"

"Sure," the younger said. He still had the impatience of youth, and wanted the truth now and without hesitation.

"Well so can things without eyes."

"How?"

"Look up into the sun now," the older, red-skinned man said. He was gnawing on a piece of hay and his overalls used to blue, just like he used to be young.

"It is too bright, and it hurts my eyes," he said. He rubbed his eyes and for a moment it was dark with purple patches.

"I know." The older man looked across the flat land, its yellow fields, and the green ones, and the large pieces of American machinery. They looked like small dinosaurs against the low sky.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where did you go?" the young man asked.

"I’m right here," he replied from the other side of the haystack.

"But," the young man began.

"It’s like that for things that cannot see also. Sometimes it is so bright that no one can see. The shadows are black and cool and things can hide or move for a moment or two."

"A moment or two? That’s not enough to hide," he retorted, incredulous.

"Maybe you’re hiding from the wrong things," the older man said.

"Come on," he said to the younger man, "it’s time to get back to work."

He began climbing down the haystack. "But I want to learn more about hiding."

"Maybe after work."

"When is that?"

The old man chuckled to himself. He had difficulty remembering when he was that young. Had he been that young or had he always known more? The young man answered his thought.

"When is that?" he asked again. They were walking deliberately to the old, paint-chipped dinosaurs.

"When it is dark, you know that."

"Oh yeah, I can’t wait for that. Will we have beers after work like we did last time?" He was always thirsty for beer and so in a way he never tasted them.

"Maybe. It depends on how hard we work this afternoon." It was hot and the blue sky was hot everywhere. It’s hard to believe I used to see an ocean everyday, he thought. It doesn’t look like there are any oceans in this world. It was hot.

"I’m thirsty."

"I know," the older one said, "so am I."

"Well, let’s grab a beer and drink a cool one while we work."

"We would only drink then, you know that."

"But the work will always be there," the young one said. He was old enough to know that and the older man did too.

"All right," he said, but just one." They turned back towards the shade of the red barn where their cooler hid. It was there and waiting.