A man named Ake sits on a bench on a bridge in the middle of Nowhere. Yes, the town's name is Nowhere. Yes, the town's name is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Nowhere is a quaint little town. It has a grocery store and a car repair shop and not much else. It also has a forest near the city limits, which is funny because the forest is precisely why Ake is sitting on a bench on a bridge. Or rather, he's sitting on a bench on a bridge because of what happened in the forest. Not that that matters, because he's working on forgetting. Not just the forest, but everything.
On a nearby road, a teacher sits in his car, frustrated by the apparent traffic. There's no use honking, he knows. Everyone in this town is too nice to respond. He sits back. Sighs. Wonders what the world is coming to. He's old for his profession, close to that age where they force retirement. He knows this. He also knows that they'll never do that to him, that he's too good at cramming information into student's brains and that there aren't enough people to replace him anyways. School has never been a priority for his students anyways. They always forget everything by summer.
The cars move, finally. Life goes on.
Ake is still on the bench. He's old, older than the teacher, and probably wiser too. He knows that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's always nice to have something to flaunt above everyone else. Even if they don't realize you're the one doing the flaunting.
He stands up, brushes off his trousers, and walks away. He's not done forgetting. No one ever is. There's always tomorrow.
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A Town Called Nowhere
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