Watching the shuffler out of the corner of my eye. Black pants. Black hoody. Head hung low. Feet don't seem to work right -- pain? Ten, twenty feet away. "Dagobert was killed on another damned day with a 23 in it--" I stand up.
In the beginning there was nothing but hardwood and open space. The passage of time brought with it gouts of sweat and layers of wax and thousands upon thousands of awkward pubescent feet, with all the attendant scuff marks. It was on this gymnasium floor that I found true love -- bruised, gasping, and caked in vomit.
More people, civilians probably, millions and millions of people in huge throngs flowing along like a massive river, being split into smaller streams, like the fingers of a delta. I became aware of my body floating, slowly rose to a shallow level of consciousness, and fell back asleep.
It was the eleventh day of November when the stranger arrived, and it was bitterly cold. He was thin and scraggly, with ribs like latex stretched tight over a broken garden rake, and his flaming orange-red hair was all strings and clumps, and knotted with bits of dirt and leaves. He was wet, and he was starving, and he was utterly rancid with plague.
Every time you stroll down the hall to your desk, and throw your jacket over a chair, and sit down, and log in. Every time you type your password. Every time you fire up your mail client. Welcome to the Apogee Meadows family! Whatever or whoever might have brought you here, we're thrilled to have you now. Expect your next few days to be a little crazy as you settle in, and then expect the fun to begin! We think you'll agree that there's plenty of things to do, plenty of things to see, and plenty of ways to stay active as you transition to this new and exciting stage of life!
