NEVER REALLY SLEEP #4: Based On A True Story

DISCLAIMER:
Once upon a time someone in an apartment in Spring Street started throwing rocks at the Occupy Melbourne protests. OK, small rocks. Stones, even. I was sitting on the lawn at Treasury Gardens eating pasta at the time. I WAS STONED! It was pretty annoying, but, like, in some places they ["they!"] throw bullets, you hear what I'm saying? In Melbourne they throw stones. And bad vibes, man. I have no idea who it was or why they did it, but the following is my entirely fictional recreation of events, from the perspective of the courageous stone thrower.


1AM 19/11/2011

No sooner than you could say "history is bunk!" the massive crackling static 

filled up your head again and you knew something had changed in your park. 

Every night as you walked down Spring Street towards your building you would pass them 

crouching under their tarps and umbrellas and soggy cardboard placards 

and as you climbed up to your dark apartment after working all day and half the night 

to copulate with your indifferent partner on tired elbows before falling asleep 

for exactly five hours because you had to get up again before the sun rose 

and drink half a litre of coffee before you could face the next day

you thought how small and pathetic they looked down there with the rain stinging their faces

so lonely and futile that for a moment inside your body something squeezed your heart 

for secretly you could never resist a lost cause - who among us can?

And as you gazed down at them for some minutes you thought to yourself:

probably no one down there or anywhere has ever felt as alone as I feel alone 

for everyone down there worked together and loved each other.

And you remembered another night decades ago when you were leaving work with

your arms full of reports and reference books and you walked right into a crowd of young people 

their arms were linked together and they beckoned you over so you yielded to nature 

and stood with them and clapped and sang and chanted until you got tired and cold 

and there was nothing you could do about it for politics and love go hand in hand 

and I can prove this is true. 

And then a young man burnt a flag and your whole body shook 

and you moved closer to that little fire and your reports and reference books fell to the ground 

to your relief and even though you didn't know anyone there you couldn't help but love and admire them 

and be swept up along with them into limitless possibilities but then you heard the sound of sirens 

and they were getting closer and you remembered you had to work in the morning 

and if you were arrested you would lose your job and your poor mother's sisters 

would never let her forget for their sons never got arrested 

and would therefore be higher than you forever.

And as you stood at your window four decades and some dozens of wars later 

and looked down at your park the static filled up your head again 

and inside your body your heart grew cold because they looked so pathetic down there 

and you couldn't see their faces clearly from your height and there was a small rock in your hand 

and you threw it down with all your strength and as it fell your whole body shook 

and panic filled your heart - you changed your mind! - and it hit the ground about a meter away 

from a cluster of young protesters and you saw the small faces stare up at you 

with expressions of surprise and hurt and you could not be sure if you were glad it missed or not 

and when they made no move to retaliate you started to worry 

that this non-violence could lull a person into complacency 

and as you reached for another rock you thought to yourself:

they certainly are cunning down there 

the way they just mill about peacefully as you throw things at them...

MEMEWHILE...
The casually pepper spraying everything cop:

Previously:
1] NEVER REALLY SLEEP
2] NEVER REALLY SLEEP #2: The Occupy Melbourne Edition 
3] NEVER REALLY SLEEP #3: Too Light For Heavy Work