The Wanderings and Thoughts of Kip Kellogg

by Vincent Spada

part 1

Kip Kellogg had trouble sleeping. Kip could never fall asleep. He'd lay there for a spell, just thinking, then Kip would get right up. He'd pull on his pants, find his dirty sneakers, and go wandering into the night. Trying to find that something, that something that would make real sense.

Kip liked the back alleys. It was dangerous, but Kip didn't care. So often he'd see stray cats, and Kip always waved to them. He figured it was better that way, since nobody probably ever showed them any respect. It's like that with stray cats. Everyone just brushes them aside.

Kip also saw garbage cans. They were silver, just like on TV. Kip wondered if there was more garbage in the world than garbage cans, but that was pretty easy to answer. That was too bad, thought Kip. Maybe that was why there was so much garbage all around the street. Not enough cans to put it in. But no, that wasn't it. You can't blame the cans for that.

Maybe you can't blame anyone, thought Kip. After all, who could stop any of it?

Kip saw some bums on the corner. Kip tried to talk to them. But they kept asking him for money. No matter what Kip said, they wanted a dollar. Kip gave one of them a dollar, then the other bums wanted a dollar, too. Kip didn't have any more money, but he still wanted to talk to them. But finally they just pushed him away. Kip was pretty disappointed. He figured they could tell him something. Maybe they had, in a way.

Kip was in the park now, and he stood against a wall. He liked to do that, and watch the people walking by. The people looked kinda' neat to Kip, with different-colored hair and skin. Kip wondered if space aliens really existed, and if they did, would they like all different-colored people?

Probably, thought Kip. All one of anything seems too boring, and Kip figured that aliens would be smart, and therefore like a nice mix. Like a space salad or something. Kip thought that was funny, and laughed to himself.

Kip wandered some more for a while, and passed a bunch of bars. Kip thought about bars, and figured maybe they were so popular just because no one wanted to be alone. Kip realized that if a person wanted a drink, they could just go get some cheaper beer at a store and drink at home. But no, they went to a bar, and it was because they were lonely, and wanted to see other people. That seemed good to Kip.

That thought made some real good sense.

Finally Kip went home, undressed and went to bed. He closed his eyes against his pillow, and tried to sleep like the rest of the world. But sadly, Kip couldn't sleep. Like always, he was wide awake.

Continued next issue.