The Future

"So our hope lies in a world without hope,
governed by Satan."
        Ake Edwardson, Sun and Shadow

"Neighborhood girl, 8, killed
by stray bullet while riding
her new bicycle."
The news article said.

Police canvassed neighborhood
looking for leads but no one saw
anything, though everyone seemed
to have heard the shots. Were on
the street seconds later, and were glad
to appear on local TV offering
opinions about all the things they
didn't see.

Weeks later a thirteen year old
boy was arrested for the crime.
Said he felt bad about the little
girl. " I wasn't trying to shoot
no little girl. I was trying to off
someone else. She just be in the way."

Asked where he got the gun,
he confessed it wasn't his, was,
in fact, a community gun that anyone
could use, if they had to, as long as
they put it back where it was to be
hid when they were done.