Tom Eicher : Walking the Green Fields at Night

    "Did you ever notice", he asks in a conspiratorial voice,
"that when you get deeper into the country, the relation men
per sheep turns into sheep per men?" Astonished, I turn my head to
face him. In fact, I had come to the same conclusion. "Yeah, and the
sheep all look the same, just like with the people." He smiles, then
asks: "Where're you from?" I nervously pat my forehead, where a piece
of freshly sewn in skin hid my digital input socket. "I'm from
Galway." My newly acquired Irish accent seemed to work so far. Still
I fear his grabbing my head, reaching for the jack, calling his
friends to help him. But he just explains that his wife would be
furious about a late return and that he had to tell me goodbye.

    Dreams haunt me at night. I hadn't expected this. While my body
lies motionless in a wooden bed, my mind races down tunnels of light.
But no computer creates these patterns, it's just that my brain
misses it's daily stimulation via the digital input. It's hard to
sleep while your mind is busy cracking bank security and buying and
selling hot information. So I don't sleep. I wander the green fields
of Eire at night. I watch the sun, the moon and the stars. And the
sattelites. A long time ago people thought themselves granted a wish
when they spotted a falling meteorite at night. Then they switched to
sattelites. Now we're back with meteorites again.

    Whenever I spot a meteorite, I wish the whole world would be
beautiful like this. Then I would not have to disguise myself, live
in exile, just to be able to see natural grass, live sheep, real
flowers and to breathe air that does not hurt my lungs. But
meteorites come and go and I still have to live unable to put most
of my abilities to a use.

    The Irish claim there is no possible combination of technology
and an intact environment. This may sound stupid to us, but
history proved them right. While they can't shut out our polluted
air being blown to their island, our polluted water being washed onto
their shores, they can shut out us people from their island. I made
it over here and I made the right decision in doing so.

    I just have to get used to a few things.



    "And I scream to myself - What a wonderful country - But man is
    bringing it down" (4 non blondes)


    tom-10-08-95
	written by Tom Eicher, all rights reserved.