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Space Jesus

A Bart Wilby Story

By Alex RyanPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Chapter 1 The Plan is Hatched

It was a seemingly normal day for Bart Wilby as he ate his breakfast. He had a hard time coming up with new and exciting meal items for his breakfast, so mostly, he made do with an unexciting bowl of cereal. He was halfway through his daily pot of coffee and his mind was wandering off as usual.

The world really is quite a mess nowadays. We still have all these military actions going on. We still fight silly imaginary wars on our own people. There is so much suffering, so much poverty. Even in the US, my buddy was telling me how gang violence is on the rise. He works for the gang task unit for the Denver Police Department and he worries every day about coming home alive. Not to mention the racial tensions of the Aurora Police Department. My other buddy that works there says there's so much blowback for Elijah's death. Four officers got fired for posting social media joke posts about it. Now, we have all these protests, all this tension. Racial tension the likes we haven't seen since the civil rights movements with Martin Luther King. Someone aught to do something to reunite the people. Someone...someone just ought to

It was about this time that Bart had, shall we say, a vision. This was the mother of all visions. Nobody knows, to this day, why or how Bart had this vision. However, it was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It could've been related to the job he was working. Bart worked long, 12 hour night shifts at a wind turbine blade factory. Vestas was its name, and they focused on producing as many wind turbine blades as humanly possible out of their factory in Windsor, Colorado. These massive structures were produced at 6 blades a day. Or, two wind turbines worth of blades.

It is also possibly important to mention that Bart was usually only running on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. He shared custody of two kiddos, and spent his weekends watching the kids. As of late, he was also helping out on his work days as well. He did this by going to his ex's house and hanging out until his ex also got off work. They both worked night shifts and it was a pretty decent setup. Well, until it wasn't. Bart tried to take naps there until she returned, but she guilt tripped Bart real quick on that being weird.

It is also possibly important to mention that Bart was smoking quite a bit of bud. This was a two prong pass time. Bart wasn't much of a drinker anymore, as it wasted too much time for him. There was the sloppy, incapacitating effect during the drinking, as well as the sluggish next day. No, Bart preferred the ganja to drinking. It was relaxing and a nice way to wind down after a 12 hour shift of constructing wind turbine blades. It was also a nice counter part to the use of his prescribed Adderall. Bart was prescribed the highest dose of Adderall possible to combat his ADHD. It was a very productive combination that allowed Bart to help build many turbine blades.

It isn't as important to mention that Bart built only part of the wind turbine blades. He was on the V110 Webs team. This meant that he and his team constructed the inner structure of the V110 wind turbine blades. There were separate teams for constructing the outer shell of the V110 wind turbine blade, as well as other teams for finishing and transporting said V110 wind turbine blades. Bart was able to do the work of three "operators" as they were called. He had the stamina and energy to push hard the whole 12 hours every night. He was constantly going above and beyond, doing the processes that other operators shied away from. The most frustrating process was when the web parts were completed, someone had to manually drag a cart holding the parts all the way to the other side of the factory. This was grueling to most, but Bart loved being able to deliver the parts to the next team.

It is very important to mention that Bart got along with just about anyone and everyone. Unless they gave him something to hold a grudge about or betrayed his trust, he was one of the friendliest persons around. Over his years of dabbling in various jobs and ventures, he had quite the bank of friends. These friends came from all walks of life, especially his friends he made in college. He knew active police officers, gang members, foreign students, and everything in between. He was often trusted by all these people, as Bart didn't care for taking advantage of people. Bart was raised in a small mountain town that taught accountability. So much so, that one of his ideas was an Accountability Club. This was similar to the Fight Club of the popular movie and book, but was where people could hash out their differences through verbal altercation or even MMA style physical altercations. Needless to say, it didn't take off, but that's for another story.

If only there was something I could do. I'm worried about my cop friends, but I'm also sad for my black friends. This whole situation reeks of injustice. Tookie Williams, the leader of the Crips gang, writes children's books to prevent joining up with the gangs. There's gotta be something I could put together to help fix this situation, at least for Aurora.

As it was, there was something Bart could do. He remembered his friend Ayisha. Ayisha was a friend from Bart's days working at a Subway restaurant. She was black and hailed from some pretty serious gangbangers in the Crips gang. She herself was quite removed from the life, but her poor brother had been murdered in a gang related shooting the previous year. She was a close friend of Bart's, they were even intimate from time to time. He saw the problems she faced and sympathized the best he could. She also recently bought a house. It was a beautiful house on the inside, but the outside was painted a horrible purple. It was nestled in the bowels of Montbello, Colorado. This was a heavy gang area that constantly had issues with gang problems. Now, purple can mean a couple things when it comes to gangs. It means even more when it comes specifically to the Crips and Bloods. Some say the color means a peace between the rival gangs, as purple is what you get when you blend red and blue. However, purple can sometimes just mean Crips. It's odd how that works, but makes sense as the Colorado Rockies' color is purple. It's much easier to shop for Rockies' gear than some other blue colored apparel. It's also more predominant than wearing Raider's gear, as the Raiders signify Oakland, California. Well, this is at least how Bart saw it, since he was far from a gangbanger himself. He just sympathized with people who happened to be affiliated one way or the other. He knew good people when he met them, and wasn't scared of the way they dressed or what they may represent.

So, I know I told Ayisha that I would help paint her house one day. But...how cool would it be if there was something more to it. What if, say, those four Aurora police officers were able to get their jobs back if they apologized. What better way for cops to apologize than by helping remove a symbol of the gang lifestyle from a suburb with significant gang activity? Ooh, this could be good. This could be a project worthy of my efforts for sure!

This was the start of a particularly trying time for Bart Wilby. His intentions were good, but then, the pathway to Hell is said to be paved with good intentions.

humanity
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