bad road up ahead

by horace p sternwall

illustrated by rhoda penmarq

people are bad they should be good i keep telling them but they won't listen i don't give up i keep being reborn but for every one of me there are billions of them acting bad finding new ways to be bad bad bad bad billions i don't give up i take to the road thumb out thirsty a car pulls up in this life i am a regular guy in the last one i was a babe but in this one i am a regular guy john garfield to be exact in the last one i was lana turner this time lana turner is behind the wheel and she says get in and i do "where you headed?" "anywhere" "so how are you?" "thirsty." "there's a bar right up ahead." the road unreels the endless road the road and the desert become one i look at the dashboard but there is no radio it hasn't been invented yet in this universe finally we come to a bar in the middle of this nowhere world a car is parked outside it and steve cochran is sitting on the running board to get a little shade and he says to lana turner "hi" (he ignores me) and she says "ready?" and he says "yeah" "then you might as well get going" "yeah" the door of the bar opens and rita hayworth comes out with a red suitcase not a word is spoken as she and steve cochran drive away and i am left alone with the desert and lana turner "still thirsty?' "sure" "let's go inside" a bird flies overhead and its shadow falls on her face i was wrong i thought there were billions of people in the universe but that is just something they tell you in school there are really only four people john garfield lana turner steve cochran and rita hayworth which one are you?