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tamingthemuseTitle: Joy Ride
Fandom: Original
Prompt: Gentrification
Warnings: none
Rating: G
Summary: I live alone in a city that once housed millions, with the population growing all the time.
I remember thinking that this town was so small.
There hadn’t ever been anything to do that didn’t involve money. And even then, the selection was thin. There was a casino, but I didn’t gamble, nor did I drink, so that wasn’t really any fun for me. The arcade wasn’t much to hold my attention, save for the go-carts, but that was expensive and I could never get my thin group of friends to fork up the money for something that I enjoyed, but they didn’t.
Then there was the mall that, with every year, had less and less stores in it. The last time they lost stores, four of them left at once, leaving the city without a bookstore. That had been a hobby of mine, reading, and was quickly becoming a career. I spent most of my days at the library, book in my lap, in an uncomfortable chair, staring out at the river, at the bridge, waiting for something to come over it.
I liked to drive, in a car that was easy to drive. My car had been junk on wheels, and now I had my selection of whichever car I chose, so my ride was smooth and easy. I rolled down the windows and let the cool air thread through my hair as I raced down the interstate toward downtown, remembering how I drove this road everyday of my past life. To and from work.
As it was, I turned onto the off ramp and paused the car at the now dim traffic light. Habit, I suppose. I quickly sped the car around the turn, away from the mall and toward the collage and then the hospital. There was a place I hadn’t been to yet. I turned the car into the turning lane and moved into the parking lot, for the first time seeing a place that really looked normal. As if there were still hundreds of people hidden inside the building.
All the cars were lined up neatly in their allotted spaces and I let my new car idle for a bit, chewing my lip. If there were this many cars in the lot, how many bodies were rotting away inside the building?
It was a glass structure, blue and reflecting the clear sky. The fountain wasn’t sprinkling water into the air and a few ducks had settled in the lake further away, always careful to stay away from the building itself.
There was nothing I needed here. I quickly turned the car around and sped down my second favorite road, the one that made the tires make a weird noise. At the first cross, there was a left turn that lead back into the city, and two dirt roads that lead out. I smiled to myself as I remembered that, in the direction I had just come from, there was a sign that noted the city limits. I was out of the city right now.
I turned left and was quickly back within city limits, but this part of the city looked so different. Richer.
This is where the wealthy from Florida came to live. On a cul-du-sac called Park Place, with fancy cars and perfect landscapes. Every time my mother had driven by this place, she’d sneer and bemoan about how these rich people were moving up here and making life harder for the rest of us. They were mostly retired, wealthy people and we had to foot the bill for them.
On the other hand, there was the group of people from Chicago who came here to bring our crime and drug rate up. Go to the south part of town, you’ll likely be robbed, but go to the west of town, and you’ll find yourself a sow in the midst of silk purses. Little old ladies that couldn’t see over their steering wheels.
None of that mattered now. Every last one of them were gone. There was only me, a native of the city, driving at only the natives drive, smiling in the wind and singing along to a CD of my favorite music.
Which reminded me, maybe I should make my way to my brother’s house and press his collection of music into service.
After a bit long behind the wheel, of course.
Fandom: Original
Prompt: Gentrification
Warnings: none
Rating: G
Summary: I live alone in a city that once housed millions, with the population growing all the time.
I remember thinking that this town was so small.
There hadn’t ever been anything to do that didn’t involve money. And even then, the selection was thin. There was a casino, but I didn’t gamble, nor did I drink, so that wasn’t really any fun for me. The arcade wasn’t much to hold my attention, save for the go-carts, but that was expensive and I could never get my thin group of friends to fork up the money for something that I enjoyed, but they didn’t.
Then there was the mall that, with every year, had less and less stores in it. The last time they lost stores, four of them left at once, leaving the city without a bookstore. That had been a hobby of mine, reading, and was quickly becoming a career. I spent most of my days at the library, book in my lap, in an uncomfortable chair, staring out at the river, at the bridge, waiting for something to come over it.
I liked to drive, in a car that was easy to drive. My car had been junk on wheels, and now I had my selection of whichever car I chose, so my ride was smooth and easy. I rolled down the windows and let the cool air thread through my hair as I raced down the interstate toward downtown, remembering how I drove this road everyday of my past life. To and from work.
As it was, I turned onto the off ramp and paused the car at the now dim traffic light. Habit, I suppose. I quickly sped the car around the turn, away from the mall and toward the collage and then the hospital. There was a place I hadn’t been to yet. I turned the car into the turning lane and moved into the parking lot, for the first time seeing a place that really looked normal. As if there were still hundreds of people hidden inside the building.
All the cars were lined up neatly in their allotted spaces and I let my new car idle for a bit, chewing my lip. If there were this many cars in the lot, how many bodies were rotting away inside the building?
It was a glass structure, blue and reflecting the clear sky. The fountain wasn’t sprinkling water into the air and a few ducks had settled in the lake further away, always careful to stay away from the building itself.
There was nothing I needed here. I quickly turned the car around and sped down my second favorite road, the one that made the tires make a weird noise. At the first cross, there was a left turn that lead back into the city, and two dirt roads that lead out. I smiled to myself as I remembered that, in the direction I had just come from, there was a sign that noted the city limits. I was out of the city right now.
I turned left and was quickly back within city limits, but this part of the city looked so different. Richer.
This is where the wealthy from Florida came to live. On a cul-du-sac called Park Place, with fancy cars and perfect landscapes. Every time my mother had driven by this place, she’d sneer and bemoan about how these rich people were moving up here and making life harder for the rest of us. They were mostly retired, wealthy people and we had to foot the bill for them.
On the other hand, there was the group of people from Chicago who came here to bring our crime and drug rate up. Go to the south part of town, you’ll likely be robbed, but go to the west of town, and you’ll find yourself a sow in the midst of silk purses. Little old ladies that couldn’t see over their steering wheels.
None of that mattered now. Every last one of them were gone. There was only me, a native of the city, driving at only the natives drive, smiling in the wind and singing along to a CD of my favorite music.
Which reminded me, maybe I should make my way to my brother’s house and press his collection of music into service.
After a bit long behind the wheel, of course.
