Lost in the Canvas

I stood there holding the lamp that I carried all night. My arm was tired, but then so was I. Civilization had to be near, didn’t it? Where could the world have gone?

When I woke in the burning, blistering sun of the desert, I wondered how I got there. The last thing I remembered was going to bed safe in sound in my home. Yet, when I woke, my life was turned upside down. Everything I knew was gone. Life no longer had the same meaning. What I thought was guaranteed was suddenly not important. When I closed my eyes, I thought about the presentation I had to make. This was the one that was going to nail that promotion. There was no way around it. Yet, now no one would ever hear me present it and I was sure to lose out on that job. Yea, those were my waking thoughts as I started to walk the vast canvas of sand. Now that concern has faded.

The only concern I have is how I will survive. I was lucky enough to find an abandoned shed a few yards away from what appeared to be a burned out home. The shed offered me shelter and this lamp, but I knew I couldn’t stay. No one was coming back there, so I knew if I stayed, I would die. So with just enough fuel in my newfound friend the lamp, I set out on my journey as the sun began to rise. It has been at least twenty-four hours since I met the lamp and his light has helped, but like me, he is fading. I will put him out of his misery and offer him life once more for a brief time tonight if I have to. Hopefully, the day will provide me with the gift of finding my world, where everything is normal and guaranteed.

Hopefully, my friend will find a new home on my mantel and not next to my rotting corpse in the sand.

©2017 D.M. Needom