Path: hellgate.utah.edu!caen!sdd.hp.com!wupost!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!sybase!frith!fripp!fropp!lestat!chrisl
From: chrisl@lestat.sybase.com (Xian the Drive)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: Scavenger
Keywords: Failure
Message-ID: <21984@sybase.sybase.com>
Date: 4 Aug 92 23:59:20 GMT
Sender: news@Sybase.COM
Organization: Not a one.
Lines: 31


I found another one. 

It only looks like a discarded trash bag, there, by the side of the 
onramp.  Like the residue of some passing motorist who decided to recycle 
his bottles in a new and exciting way.  I sigh, biting my lip.

I've seen them before. 

Nowadays it's too hard to stop once you start.  Too hard to deal with
it when it's too late.  Too much goddamn trouble to bother with.  Who
needs it, in the land of disposable silverware, diapers, cameras?  Toss
it out!  Keep going!  Others behind you are waiting to consume!

Why do I care, if nobody else will?

Some kind of instinct, I suppose.  Nurturing to a fault, my ex-husband
used to say about me.  I don't really know... sometimes it makes me 
feel... whatever...

I walk up the ramp towards the plastic bag as cars shoot by me, chastizing
me for intruding on their private space.  When I reach the bag, halfway up
the slope, I kneel beside it and lift the edge slightly, peering into
the black.  Hoping it's not what I know it is.

I can feel my eyes filling with tears as the tiny pink hand reaches out.
A thin wail barely pierces the scream of traffic from the freeway.

"Don't worry, honey.  Mommy's here.  Everything's gonna be all right."

I found another one.