brand new you

promises promises.
the way he explained it sounded easy.
another city another name
a fresh start away
no more of the snake eating its tail

billy, he don’t ask questions
too young I expect
to miss any of this

but the kid surprised me
with his memory
called us by our old name
more than once after I told him
he must never ever

he missed the old apartment
he said
missed his old room and toy cars

I’ll get you new cars I said
better than those old ones
you can play all day and not even miss them

Friday Fictioneers

14 thoughts on “brand new you

  1. A touching story of life on the edge, life in hiding. Poor Billy. New cars (if indeed he receives them) are no substitute for a stable loving family. I like the stream of consciousness narrative achieved by eliminating punctuation.

  2. Firstly I am with Penny on this narrative, in this case it was good to see no punctuation…Is someone fleeing a misdemeanour, or has mother stolen the mobs cash..

  3. Yes I got the feeling it was a family who had assumed new identities, whether to flee violence, abuse, or the hit man. You can change the name but you can’t change the memories. Love the voice, or the wondering parent, worried the kid might give it all away…

  4. Oh boy. You’ve stirred some memories. My parents weren’t hiding, but we did move a lot when I was a kid. Something I treasured seemed to disappear with each move.Being “the new girl” so often was NOT exciting and romantic.

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