The Name is Dalton

Gladiators

A few birds flew overhead.

These were the first animals they had seen in over a month.

Things are looking up, he thought.

The price of gasoline dropped a few cents and as a result they could go to the movies.

The problem was that few movies were worth seeing, let alone the price of admission.

Most of the plots followed a simple formula:

Act 1 - they meet.

Act 2 - they fall in love.

Act 3 - things don’t work out.

Act 4 - somebody dies.

If it was a risky film that “took chances,” both died.

If it was a drama, the love interest became ill and still died but had a baby first.

If it was a comedy, somebody still died but in a hilarious way.

Predictable.

The point was reached where whenever gas was affordable they both got depressed.

The Name Is Dalton is a punk rock bass player with too many beers in his fridge and too many Bukowski books on his shelves. His work has appeared in Culture Freak, Socket Shocker, Fall of Autumn, The 2nd Hand, Flash Flooding, Flash Forward, Flashes of Speculation, Flashing in the Gutters, Acme Shorts, Barfing Frog, and Unlikely Stories. He occasionally reviews records for Diskant.net.