It all ends here
She was only twenty one years old, she loved being a mothe. She had three little boys and one on the way. She didn’t look it but she was seven months pregnant and still not wearing maternity clothes. Her boyfriend and father of the younger boys worked nights at the local liquor store.
He came home late that night, drunk and angry and talking loud. The children were asleep and the more she tried to ask him to be quiet the more belligerent he became. The next thing she knew he was knocking her down to the floor and after that she couldn’t remember anything.
EXCEPT
She was in a beautiful garden bright, and happy feeling love all around as if she were back in her granny’s lap.
She was given a choice to stay or go back, but she knew she had to fight for her children so they could have a life,
“and that is why she is no longer dead.”
They were brothers
They were 18 to 64
Boys made into men
Men made into boys
They were brothers, fighting together
Amongst the trees, besides the embers
Beneath the smoke, beyond the fires
They did their job, they held the line
The helicopter came, the first bunch left
No one said anything, it wasn't abnormal
Who would have guessed, what happened next?
They were 18 to 64
Boys made into men
Men made into boys
The second bunch, their luck ran out
The helicopter, it clipped the trees
It hit the ground, rolled down the hill
Into the boulder, the boulder moved
The crew they screamed, they moaned and groaned
The cabin filled with smoke, the fire exploded
Nine now dead, four somehow alive
They couldn't escape, they could only die
Mothers weeped, wives cried
Fathers sat in silence, everyone wondered why
Two pilots, seven firefighters
Who would have guessed, what happened next?
They were 18 to 64
Once men, now nine coffins
They became, the Iron 44
No more men, no more boys
The company, knew they were wrong
Flew the helicopters, for the money
Forged the documents, hid and lied
Jail time, but only a short time
Hold the memories, celebrate the birthdays
Walk the path, hold true to their beliefs
A cousin of mine, just 21
Supposed to on the vacation, didn't want to leave his brothers
Hold the memories, celebrate the birthdays
Remember the day, August 5th 2008
Talk to him everyday, ask him for help
And that is why, he, they are no longer dead
Need to skip work for a concert? Say a grandmother died. It’s the perfect excuse.
"Didn't you say that your great grandmother Anna died a few weeks ago? In August, that is why you needed to get a few days off work," John's boss said. "Now you are saying that she is just sick and needs help." His boss was onto him, he might not be able to go to the concert.
"Oh," he paused trying to think of what he needed to say to get out of this bind he was in. "When I told you that, I did actually think she had died, I had gotten a call from my mom saying as much, but she was wrong. Grandma Anna is alive now, but she is getting sicker every day now. You know how being old and sick often go hand in hand." It was not likely that he would be getting out of this. He would have to work this weekend. No rock concert "My mom needs a break, she has been taking care of her nonstop since I, we, no longer have grandpa or dad with us anymore."
His boss, Janene, stared at him. "Right, I will have to see if it is possible to get you have the schedule this weekend," she said as she looked at the work schedule on her ipad. "We need someone covering the pharmacy counter at all times, and we are short staffed with Ralph and Amy quitting."
"That's right," said Alice, John's coworker. The tech who would have to be covering the pharmacy counter if John skipped out of work. Again. "We need you to work this weekend. I have been covering every weekend for the last 2 months. This weekend was going to be my first day off for ten days."
"Its not my fault that Ralph and Amy quit two weeks ago," said John, getting defensive. "You just don't pay us enough," he told Janene. "We care for and sell at least a million dollars worth of drugs here, and we only get paid what!? $16 an hour? Where does all the money go? I didn't get a college degree to get stuck in this pit of dispair so that you could get rich of my work."
There was utter silence in the pharmacy, besides the beeping of the fridges and registers. An older customer who had come to the counter stood in silence, waiting to see what happened. "Hmm" went both Janene and Alice as John realized what he said. "I don't think a associate's degree in drama counts as a degree," said Alice.
"A college degree is still a degree"
"Fat lot of good it's done you, probably should have done something useful like computer stuff, or business," murmured Alice.
"Sorry," John told Janene, ignoring Alice. "It is just getting really stressful working here, just the three of us. My mom says grandma wants to see me before its too late, that God is keeping her alive until I see her. And that is why she is no longer dead.
im so dead
She's always laughing at something someone says. "I'm so dead," she always manages to sputter in the middle of her chortles. She grips onto the desk for stability as someone tells a joke or an outrageous story about their weekend. She's always "so dead" at everything. Until one day, I had enough and shot her in the chest. And that is why she is no longer dead.