a letter in the post - pt 4 - Porcupine
I should be there by now
i should be at your house by now. At least near your town. But it's like i am still many kilometres away. big brown betty needs a rest, so i am at this hotel in some town called South Porcupine. The Carabel Inn. Named after a mine. hell the whole town was a mining camp before. It burned down once. long ago. up to 2000 people feared dead. including horses and ponies too. people doused themselves in the lake, to survive, as charred bodies floated past. this town has an oppressive feeling. maybe its haunted. i found "Dead Man's Point" this afternoon. There are all these graves of children. from the year of the fire. at least 2 dozen. young children. with epitaphs like "forever cherished"
the gold rush took many lives, and many to the brink of madness. for this is a mad town. even the crows do not act like regular crows. they caw with an odd cadence. they sound mechanical, robotic. programmed to flutter and flap to give the illusion of being a real crow. this is a mad town. there is a man who sleeps in phone booths, who thinks he is batman. there are men here who call themselves jesus.
i remember you once said madness was only a state of mind. and minds change all the time. but what if madness is more of a...thing.
anyway, you said you live on wren crescent. i must be getting close, all these streets have bird names. but it's been a long time since i've made the drive to your neck of the woods. i do not remember your town being this far up north, i thought i was travelling south. but apparently i am closer to james bay than i thought. maybe my TOMTOM is broken. you always thought it was silly that i had modern tech for my ancient car. i might get an analogue map. on paper. they got a drug store down the road from the hotel.
one of these cassettes i have in the car, isn't mine. it has smashing pumpkins on it but i never had that brand of cassette. there is something recorded ontop. i cant really hear it. it sounds muddled. its just over one track, Zero i think. sounds like murmurs. i think its a womans voice. maybe it is my own. sounds like she is singing. Twinkle Twinkle little star, maybe. i dont know. i need a better stereo system. my speakers crackle when i turn it up to 11.
maybe when i get to your house you can play it on your system and we can see what we hear. i am curious now. anyway i will see you soon. i havent had to stop for gas in a while. shes making good mileage.
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