Sudden walls stood in four sided rooms that opened into each other with wide, door-less frames. The only light burst from the television and baked the walls and the towel around my waist. I stood in the dampness of the moment, just out of the bath and anxious to see any updates on the screen.

    I was aching for a singular tragedy. It had not occurred in quite some years and I figured time was coming…for someone; a murdered monarch in some once great nation, a favorite son of a wealthy family kidnapped, or maybe just the “accidental” overdose of a tragic artist well revered for her illumination of the human condition.

    The news was a cycle of repetition these days. When it had been regurgitated and received by the most eyes and ears deemed possible by the technicians in the control rooms a break was assigned—clever commercials produced by captains of industry to reach out into our homes to invite us to enjoy their products. We, the eager capitalists, paying for the wire to connect us to the information. Paying to have people suggest we spend more to get more.

    When just the news was not enough, heads started popping up. At first, they were a welcome change. The wildflower whose seed fell from the wind into our yards and brightened up the lawn as they matured. Insight was fed into the wire instead of just the observation of news happening. Then heads started multiplying. Permutations became obscene and they took over like raging weeds battling each other for the best spot in the light. The cacophony became a success. We took sides. I really think this guy is the smartest man on television. You prefer the guy on the other channel because he seems to be more grounded. This one’s an entertainer, that one’s a fink. I dig them all and I have my favorites.  A single man or woman would sit staring out at you with mighty pen in hand, the source of all authority, and spill a compiled list of viewpoints deemed necessary for cable subscribers, for us.

    I watched the news channels every chance I could. I hungered for a substance that never seemed to arrive. The news was the same. Somewhere a man clung to a tree in raging flood waters that stopped rising but rushed furiously. A crew in a helicopter, there for the rescue, arrives just in time for the crew in the helicopter who catches it on film. The man in the tree would be a boy tomorrow. The next day the boy would be a woman in a tree in the raging floodwater.