Reflections

Sinner's Rest. Churchill described it best: "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." This town makes no sense. I've walked it from end to end, and as I walked, I found more questions than answers. Something is going on here, I don't know what it is and I'm not sure I want to know. The people here are eccentric and uniformly apathetic. Hopelessness is epidemic. I've visited third world nations that have more going for it than Sinner's Rest.

What is going on here? Why does this place attract despair like honey attracts flies? Yesterday I found an abysmal little bar. The bartender was truly the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. But there were bruises all over her and her right index finger was broken. All she said was that she was in an accident. I wanted to ask her how many she had but didn't. She seemed very sweet and had the most amazing smile, but I got the very clear impression that she did not want to get close to anyone and preferred to suffer in silence.

But why? All it takes to get help in this country is a phone call. But she seemingly doesn't want to. Part of me wants to take her hand, get her on the bus and go somewhere, anywhere as long as it's far from here. But would she be any safer with me that she is here? After what I did a few days ago, I'm not sure. The more time I spend here, the less sure I am of anything.

Is this town affecting me too?

Re: Reflections:

The longer I stay here, the more confused I become. I've managed to carve a niche for myself at a bar. I've befriended the bouncer, a bartender and fallen in love with another bartender who has more secrets than the CIA. Today I was sitting in the bar when a woman walked in. She looked familiar but it wasn't till she spoke that I recognized her as the woman that I had a very, very bad meeting with my first night here. She stared at me, remembering who I was and what I did. I expected her to kill me, was surprised that she didn't.

It seems like Sinners Rest is attacking itself. Some egghead is predicting an earthquake greater than magnitude 9 or 10 on the Richter Scale. Granted, something is going on, fumaroles are opening up all over the place. The powers that be (whomever they may be) have established shelters by the bay. If there is a big quake, a tsunami is almost guaranteed. If that happens, then the bay is the last place you want to be.

Somehow, all this doesn't surprise me.