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Sunday, May 2, 2021

the rebel and the dreamer


by nick nelson



there were two guys named bob and bill.

bob was a rebel, and bill was a dreamer.

the rebels and the dreamers had lived side by side for a long time.

sometimes one group was on top, sometimes the other.

bob and bill worked side by side in the old mill.

the old mill was owned by mr brown, who also owned the town.

bob and bill stayed out of each other’s way, except when working side by side in the old mill.

this seemed to be a good plan.

one night a rowdy group of young rebels walked down a street in the dreamer neighborhood singing loud songs.

a dreamer appeared in his doorway and asked them to stop. one of the young rebels threw something at the dreamer. another young rebel threw another object and broke the dreamer’s window.

the next day, at the mill, bill said, these rebels think they own the earth.

bob punched bill in the face. they grabbed each other and started rolling on the floor. the assembly line backed up, spilling a number of boxes on the ground.

the foreman, buck brady, fired bob and bill . he told them he had no interest in the so-called rights and wrongs of the incident, and could not care less who had started the fight.

bob and bill were forced to leave town, and assume new identities.

bob became dan foster, and got a job stocking shelves in a supermarket in eau claire wisconsin.

bill became rick jones, a wino living in the streets of salt lake city utah.

many years later, their paths crossed. but neither recognized the other.



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