The Glow That Could Not Be Told

When Steven got older it became apparent that the green light had always been there. It was there when he was a child and he first began to crawl. It would come to him in a short, but vibrant flash. He would see it the most when he was alone; when he would crawl outside or it was just him and the creaking of his parents very old house. It would come to him when he did something good, or when he thought about the world. When he was in elementary school he would see it in when he answered a question right (or wrong). He would see it when he gazed out the window of his classroom and his classmates were focused on other things. When he was in High School he saw it when he kissed Rebecca Lindursky and every time he would walk out the doors at the end of the day. It was always there.

It wasn't until he was in college that he realized it wasn't something regular. It had disappeared for several weeks; which made it's constant presence throughout his life readily apparent. The absence of it made it obvious.

"Hey Steven, what are you thinking about?" Steven's roommate Jared asked as he passed him a marijuana joint in traditional fashion.

"I was...," Steven began to say, but it was too late; Jared interrupted as he always did during such conversations.

"Never mind that man," Jared insisted, forcing the burning combustible closer to Steven's lips.

Steven put up his right hand in protest; which had become a habit with him in the last week. That's when the green flash returned; a brief but solid hue formed in Steven's range of vision for a fraction of a second and then faded.

"You've been acting differently," Jared said.

"I'm gonna' take a walk right now," Steven replied.

"Okay man," said Jared. "You do you."

Jared leaned away from Steven and re-engaged in a conversation with the attractive co ed that was sitting on Jared's other side. Steven walked out the door of their apartment, down it's ancient marble stairs and to the exit at the apartment's foyer. Steven and Jared had enough money to live off of campus for their senior year; and ended up living in a 80 year old complex with far more history than they knew. He reached the exit door of the building, which was propped open with a beam of promising light coming through. He saw the green light again as he opened it (this time it blended with the white light of the city outside).

"There it is again," he thought, feeling a mixture of excitement and confusion. "How long has it been with me?"

Steven gazed out at the Milwaukee streets with a hand covering his eyes to shield the sunlight. It would be sunset soon, which was a time he never managed to walk at. He knew if he crossed the street and moved in a straight line he would go from his neighborhood to an upscale block, through the heart of the city and into a poor neighborhood he felt strangely fascinated with. He decided to go straight.

He saw the green glow again as he crossed the street.

"What is it?!" He wondered intensely.

He looked around to see if anyone else could see the green light; and while doing so realized the prospect was misguided and unlikely. Despite his concerns, his feet continued to move forwards and took him all the way from his residence and into the upscale block. He noticed an intimidatingly beautiful woman across the street. She was talking to a man with two pieces of heavy musical equipment in his hands. He saw the green glow again. It was both in his range of vision and also formed around the two people; it seemed to be encouraging him.

He crossed the street, approached them and said "How are you two doing tonight?"

They both made a passive and dismissive glance at him before resuming their conversation.

"So like I was saying...," the man with the musical equipment said.

"Uh, huh?" Replied the beautiful woman.

"We need to be there at 7:40...no, 7:47..yeah."

At this point Steven would have walked away, feeling embarrassed; but the green glow continued to persist.

"Are you in a band sir?" Steven asked.

The man with the musical equipment looked at him as if he had been transgressed against, and said "yes, we are both in a band and we are playing tonight."

"We are called 'Kathryn and the Glows," the woman chimed in and explained. She finally looked at Steven, and appeared to have decided that he wasn't unimportant; which increased her interest in his presence.

"Are you guy's good?" Steven asked.

"We are alright," the woman replied.

The man with the equipment laughed to himself a little bit and then set down the two guitar amplifiers.

"We are playing at 'The Sound Tunnel' at 10 PM," he explained, changing gears.

"It's a dump," said the woman.

"Kathryn and the Glows' huh?" Said Steven. "That's interesting...hey you guy's haven't been seeing green glows around town at all?"

"No man," replied the man. "Besides us...I haven't seen any 'green glows' around here. What an odd thing to say."

"Look," the woman began to say, looking much more mysterious than before. "If you want things to 'glow,' why don't you keep walking straight for the next ten blocks. Maybe you'll find what you need."

"What's tha-

It was too late. Steven was cut off mid sentence. The two musicians resumed their conversation as if Steven was never there.

Steven continued straight down the street as the woman advised. He looked around again for the green glow, hoping for some kind of clue; but nothing was there.

"What happened?" he worried.

He kept a steady pace as the upscale neighborhood seamlessly blended into downtown Milwaukee. The sun was going down and pedestrians began to increase dramatically. He saw a woman holding more grocery bags than any person should hold, and wondered what her life was like. A group of teenagers blasted directly through him; yelling about something, but Steven was undeterred. He looked up at the sun as it's colors became dense and melted into the horizon. He swore it took on a shade of green for a moment.

"Crazy weather we are having," he thought to himself.

The tone of downtown Milwaukee was slowly shifting from business to pleasure. Businessmen and other employed people became scarce and were replaced by people going to clubs, people who loved the night and some questionable figures. Steven thought about a hundred different things he could do or places he could go, but decided he should keep moving straight as advised. He suddenly realized he had crossed the street without thinking about it and looked back to see if he had gone through a red light. When he turned back around he was greeted with a harsh impact and a woman shouting at him.

"Hey bro! Watch out!" Said the woman, who was half his size.

She had gone flying back into the side walk while her groceries and purse exploded into every direction.

"What the hell!" She said.

After some improvised gymnastics, Steven managed to catch her body just close enough to the sidewalk to prevent a serious impact. She stood up quickly, angered and unmoved by his gesture.

"How did you not-" she began to say, dusting off her black polka doted dress.

"Steven?" She said as she fixed her hair, realizing she was yelling at someone she already knew.

It was Jessica Dunn, a woman he had dated when he was a college freshman. She looked as attractive as she did four years ago; and Steven didn't know what to do. He thought of ten thousand things he could say to her.

"My mistake," he replied. "I got distracted."

He was hoping a green glow would emerge somewhere in her vicinity.

"Well...," she replied, looking less upset.

It was obvious she was experiencing the same life re-evaluating moment he was.

"I..am...in...a hurry," she said, collecting up her groceries and the contents of her purse at an exceptional rate. She dusted herself off again and then looked at Steven in a very genuine manner.

"Goodbye!" She said.

She disappeared as quickly as she had emerged; leaving Steven to his own devices again. He would have typically felt spiritually rearranged by something like that; but his optimism for the night seemed invincible. He thought about what had happened for a moment and then continued down the next street. He thought about Jessica Dunn for a long time, walking straight, before he realized where he was. The impoverished part of town was very close...

After another four city blocks; the dense and towering feel of urban sprawl gave way to severely cracked sidewalks and dilapidated houses. The tension of the inner city had become more prevalent, and he was greeted with looks that said he didn't belong there (which was something he actually liked). He passed two men and a woman, who said something to him about "watching out" as they walked by briskly. There was a large group of unattended children riding bikes in circles and bragging to each other like adults. He walked by an endless line of houses down a strangely long city block. Many residents were sitting outside in lawn chairs while talking loudly and grilling food.

Steven reached what always seemed like the heart of the area (which was what he always did) and was surprised to find something completely new. A playground had been built under a highway overpass he had walked under a hundred times. He was completely stunned at it seemingly springing up over night, and the whole place glowed an obvious shade of green. What was once a lair of broken bottles and other questionable and dangerous things had been retrofitted with swing sets, play structures, cement and monkey bars.

"What is this?" Steven wondered.

A couple of children were still playing in the moonlight while their parents talked far off, about something mysterious and indiscernible. Steven looked up at the moon again to check for any hint of green.

"Hmm...," he wondered.

He walked further into the new playground, as he listened to the children continue to play in the background. There was a giant piece of aluminum sitting on the ground that looked especially clear and reflective.

"What's this?" He wondered.

He bent down and gazed into it. What he saw was the handsome, glowing green face of a young man who loved his city.

"Of course," he thought happily.