the soggy patriot
i’m a special kind of smart since i run all my errands during a downpour. but after heading downtown to pick up my Viking tickets, i decided to forgo my trip to bed, bath & beyond and head home. about a block from my house i noticed something in the middle of the road. the car ahead of me ran over it and by the time i could really see it, i only had enough time to swerve before running over it myself. then i realized what it was. it was a flag, still on the pole, blown over from someone’s yard.
i pulled over and made a dash for it, thinking my ex-marine father would be so proud. i had a bad experience with a flag once, while i was marching in a protest a few years ago (back when the war was new and we thought we could stop it), someone had a huge flag they were holding and a redneck in a truck drove by and said “don’t use my flag!” sorry pal, this flag gives me the right to do with it whatever i want. i convinced my dad to put a flag emblem on his grave marker. so i felt very compelled to go pick up this flag in the middle of the road. how bizarre i thought, getting soaked. why hasn’t anyone else done this? why do people keep driving over it. i mean, rockets red glare right? don’t let a little rain stop you.
when i got over to it, i simply picked it up and got it off to the side of the road, it was a pretty good size. when i unfurled it i noticed it wasn’t really the stars and stripes. the stars were gone, and in their place, a peace symbol. and in a very unpatriotic moment, i thought about stealing it since it was so fucking cool. i propped it up on a street sign and vowed to come back tomorrow and take it then if no one had claimed it.
when i got home and told hubbin the story, he was shocked that people would drive over a US flag, when i explained about the peace symbol he said, that’s even better than a flag. i couldn’t agree more.