Alejandro rode back with his Mom in their small sedan dating back to the 1990's. It was a red sedan, but the left door was grey. It was an unfortunate accident which led to the grey door establishing itself as the permanent left door. They were sitting in front of their house in their neighborhood, which was called Avalon Gardens.
His Mom stepped outside of the car, and a pick up truck barreled down the street. Alejandro's mom fell backwards into her seat, while the truck swerved away from their sedan at the last second. He didn't swerve fast enough to miss their door. A drunk driver. Alejandro's mom was thankful to God for escaping with her life. It was hard, but they found a grey door from the same model that could replace the door that the truck attacked with all its weight and momentum.
Anyway, today, three years later, they were driving home from the hospital--after Alejandro miraculously escaped with his life. His left arm and shoulder were now in a cast, and he unlocked the front door to their home. It was public housing, and the city had all sorts of rules. He remembered one woman complaining that she couldn't drink outside of her house anymore, as she was walking down the sidewalk.
She told his Mom, "Janet, you know how it is, getting to do stuff you want to do when you want to."
Alejandro thought that was a mouthful at the time.
Janet, his Mom, said, "Now look. I know you got a right to do what you wanna do, but the fact of the matter is we don't really know what freedom is, now do we?"
"Well I sure as hell ain't their slave."
"Lonny, we ain't slaves, but I've been thinking..." Janet said with a deep and somber face: "The only difference between a slave and getting paid under fifteen dollars an hour is that we aren't as oppressed. We own land. We get paid and stuff, but then I feel like God was showing me something. He showed me when Billy died."
"What about it?" Lonny said; Lonny also adopted a stern face.
She no longer had unbridled anger on her face. She was thinking, pondering what her friend was telling her. Slavery. Underpaid work. Poverty. a lack of hope, and then the way the police killed Billy. Billy didn't need to die.
"Billy didn't need to die," Lonny said.
"No, he didn't..." Janet said.
They stood there in silence while Alejandro listened.... It was rare for Alejandro to hear these types of conversations. Sometimes, Alejandro wondered if his Mom was in denial. At first, this caused him to look down on her. But, he always had this memory. His mom was not stupid , nor willfully ignorant. She was suppressed by the powerful. She didn't know how to get out of her current social class of poverty. But, one thing was for sure, she was intelligent. Alejandro always thought, 'She just needs an opportunity.' He considered her to be on par with Hillary Clinton in terms of intellect. In fact, he knew she was smarter... wiser too.
Alejandro looked at the numbers that indicated their house, and the numbers that blurred in front of his eyes, and he wondered, 'What did Lonny say next.
He entered the house, and he moved toward his room. It was eight pm in the afternoon, and the moon had not appeared just yet.
He was eager for power. He was anxious with hope. He was with hope, because of his newfound power. He was anxious, because he didn't know if the power would leave him.
He was also confused about reality. He thought, 'I'm not dreaming in that dumpster.... Am I?'
'No, you're not.'
He heard a voice in his head. It sounded like his voice, but it felt divine. 'Is it my imagination?' he thought.
Multiple thoughts ran through his head. He wondered again if he truly was dreaming in that dumpster at the house of death. He wondered if he was awake and truly did receive supernatural powers that would change his and his Mom's life forever.
But, he wasn't sure.
If he knew of this story, Alejandro would immediately think of it, but he didn't. The story goes like this:
["Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things."]
This is a Taoist parable, that the author did not write, but I will inform you of the significance in the next sentence.
Indeed, Alejandro did not know if he was a delusional man who thought he had hope, or if he was a man with hope that wondered if he was delusional. But, the most troubling thing to him was the fact that he could actually be boy in a coma laying in a dumpster, dreaming he had hope, or a boy in a coma laying in a dumpster who knew he had no hope.
The distinction is this: only the author knows which is true, because he is the most important aspect of this story...
But, enough of my prattling. Though, I am not the author, I know how the author thinks. I need only observe my character and the characters around me, and I will tell the reader what the author makes me say.
I am an angel--a self-aware angel that the author allowed to retain his awareness of reality. If you were to ask me: "Who is the God of the author?" I would not know. Or: "Who is the angel protecting the author?" Again, I would not know.... But, I do know this simple, powerful truth:
Alejandro represents the Author. Alejandro's flaws are the author's flaws, and the author's flaws are Alejandro's flaws. No matter how hard the Author may try to deny it, he is subconsciously making Alejandro himself.
It's himself in different circumstances.
But, enough of my prattling... Really! I'm serious! Let's return to Alejandro's bedroom!
Alejandro paced in his room. This was a habit of his... He couldn't bear to sit still. He hated sitting still in class. He hated falling sleep, though he very much loved sleep itself. Why? All because he was restless.
He had much to worry about, and no one who could give him substantial help regarding his bullies. He knew he didn't want to be bullied. He almost died! He knew he didn't want to die. He almost died! 'I almost died!' he thought.
This caused Alejandro to crave power. He sought a way to not only break free of his bullies, but he also wanted to break free from his social class. He wanted to go to college. He wanted to own a company. He wanted to give his mom a better life.
Of course, would power truly solve all of his problems? Would power really make him happy? Who knows? All Alejandro knew was that after pacing for a few hours since his mom went back to work after dropping him off, he wanted to know. He wanted to know what power could do for him. He waited for the moon.
He waited for the moon.