Rock Bottom For Decades But Showing Signs Of Life

The title of today's post is actually taken from an article I read online from the New York Times about the small town in which I was born. I happened to be perusing IMDB.com yesterday and at the bottom of the main page are featured links relating to movies...much to my surprise, I saw something about Braddock, PA and its connection to the movie, The Road, based on the post apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy novel.

I couldn't think of a better place to film anything post-apocalyptic than that area, ravaged for years in poverty thanks to the closing of the steel mills and certain elements moving in and taking over.

It wasn't always like that. I can recall walking from one end of the town to the other when I was a small boy and never worrying about anything. Of course, that was back in the late 70s and early 80s. Now I wouldn't walk (nor drive) through there in broad daylight without some sort of armed guards! I used to frequent a used bookstore there, reading away as my family shopped in the once thriving town; now the only reading materials present are whatever pamphlets drift past the dilapidated, boarded up ghetto...lol.

But I started to think of the title of the article and how sometimes I feel that way...in terms of how things are cyclical about life. There are times when I feel like that old town, left behind in the past while life around it seems to be thriving...when the best parts seem to have withered and died, just waiting for something to come along and revitalize it (me).

Then there are those days when it appears those sometimes elusive signs of life offer a glimmer of hope.

Today was one of those days...in a way.

On Saturday, I finally was able to get my title transfer on the car completed and just one thing lay ahead...the archaic method of the auto inspection done here in PA.

I dreaded today for two reasons. One, I had to get up early and drive clear across town to BFE to a trusted family mechanic and two, my uncle pestered the living hell out of me to accompany me on the journey because he wanted to get out of the house (i.e. in the hopes of getting a beer which he's not allowed to have).

The first of the two was unavoidable as I'd rather go to an honest mechanic anyday over a dealership where they'll rob you blind. The second? Well, thankfully I circumvented having to take him out anywhere without looking like a bad guy due to other family members deciding to meet me there.

So off we went. What is normally a short ride (maybe 20 minutes at the most) took nearly an hour as construction is everywhere in Pittsburgh. Christ, in the amount of time it took me to drive there, I could have gone to Youngstown, OH (if I truly wanted to see another post-apocalyptic nightmare).

Speaking of Christ, I saw a sign for those running for upcoming elections and chuckled over the first name on the list--Marian Joseph. I couldn't help but wondering if (assuming she's Christian and is going to heaven when she dies) Jesus will experience a moment of deja vu when the two are introduced.

Angel: "Jesus...Marian Joseph."

Jesus (taken aback): "No way! That's just plain weird!"

But I digress...

So I reach the garage and park the car in what turns out to be a jammed lot. Yep, all signs pointed to them being abnormally busy. I get out and start walking toward the front when one of the mechanics stops me.

Mechanic: "You'll have to move that because I have to get this other car into the garage."

Me (looking around at the complete lack of spaces): "Where do you want me to put it?"

Mechanic: "I don't know."

Not a problem solver, I garner immediately.

So I maneuver into another spot after he takes the car in and go inside. Yes, they are abnormally busy and let me know that it might be a while. As I was originally planning on waiting, I inquired as to how long. The guy behind the counter said he wasn't sure. I asked if he had a general idea.

"Sometime today."

Thanks for ballparking that one for me!

At that point, I was pretty glad that the rest of the family decided to meet me as I would have been stuck there for hours (about 5 as it turned out). So we went to the local mall to grab some lunch.

The place is huge. I had forgotten how big it was since I hadn't been there in years. What I noticed immediately about the inside was how many stores had closed. What I noticed not soon after that was the lack of people milling about. The third notion to hit me was the time tested theory of "cause and effect"...lol.

This wasn't the mall that the horror classic Dawn of the Dead was filmed in. However, they could have shot it easily today and wouldn't have had to close the mall to do so. For one thing, it would have been a long time before shoppers walked by a camera...for another, most of the shoppers that were there had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel.

After that adventure, I went back home for a bit, relaxed, and then had to head back out to pick up my car. My aunt took me in her car with my uncle in tow. I sat in the back seat where I felt like a giant squeezed into a clown car thanks to the less than spacious interior and the child's seat which my little cousin uses.

Then something strange happened.

Me: "Did you guys hear that?"

My aunt: "Hear what?"

Me: "That voice."

No one replied since they thought I was demented. I asked if the radio was on and they said no.

Well, there was a voice coming from somewhere! It almost sounded like that guy's voice and the tinny radio effect Starship used for the song "We Built This City" ("This is your favorite radio station, your favorite radio city, the city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps").



I looked down and spied a little James T. Kirk action figure. When I pressed the button, it repeated the phrase "Kirk to Enterprise".

That wasn't what I heard, but I chalked it up to it being that since there was nothing else around. I figured it might have been muffled by the seat or something. (In fact, I thought it might have been something in the child seat so I started pushing on everything I thought might make noise.) Nope, nothing there. Must have just been imagination...

Until I heard it again...

At this point, I wasn't really frightened because although I knew it wasn't the Kirk doll, the voice wasn't telling me to kill either. So I had that going for me...which was nice!

It wasn't until I got out of the clown car that I noticed I was sitting on another Star Trek toy that spoke when you pressed the button. Whew! At least I'm not completely insane as of yet.

But I'm getting there...

And, like the title of the post, there are days that show signs of life...when I show signs of life and am just able to laugh and twist even the most mundane things into something funny to me and hopefully at least slightly humorous to you.

Those are the days that I need more of...