Table Of ContentA Bard’s Folktale:
Dustland Requiem
Aramis Barron
Copyright © 2013 Aramis Barron
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0-9895709-1-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-9895709-1-6
To R. M., who taught me the importance of pursuing a
dream even after waking.
Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................... 1
1. El Sur Salvaje .................................................................. 3
2. Back Home ................................................................... 12
3. Sketchy Stories .............................................................. 18
4. A Vagrant’s Story .......................................................... 23
5. The Brothers Romero ................................................... 28
6. The Desert Vanguard.................................................... 32
7. Shutters and Boards ...................................................... 37
8. Arrested Development .................................................. 43
9. Birds of a Feather .......................................................... 49
10.Living the Dream ......................................................... 54
11. Dog Saw God ............................................................. 59
12. Adakias’ Shadow ......................................................... 64
13. A Quiet Mind ............................................................. 68
14. Nothing Gold Can Stay .............................................. 72
15. The Value of a Miracle Is… ........................................ 80
16. (The Worst Day Since) Yesterday ............................... 86
17. His Forgotten Seat of Innocence ................................. 91
18. Your Ex-Lover is Dead ................................................ 96
19. Mad World ............................................................... 101
20. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie ............................................... 105
21. The Night Will Go As Follows ................................. 109
22. Down by the River ................................................... 117
23. Bittersweet ................................................................ 122
24. The Red Cliffs Exercise ............................................. 125
25. Remains .................................................................... 130
26. Between Dead Men .................................................. 134
27. Rising of the Midnight Sun ...................................... 138
28. Ms. Brightside .......................................................... 144
29. Confederates ............................................................. 152
30. Chasing Skirts ........................................................... 156
31. The Hacienda Anciana ............................................. 161
32. Bag of Blue Horses ................................................... 167
33. Sparking the Fire ...................................................... 173
34. Firm Believer ............................................................ 178
35. Karma Payment Plan ................................................ 182
36. The Apostate’s Rebellion .......................................... 189
37. …A Woman Scorned ............................................... 194
38. Fools Rush in (Where Angels Fear to Tread) ............ 200
39. Black Autumn Snow ................................................. 206
40. The King of the Dark and Forgot ............................. 210
Introduction
Heeey! Well look who it is! Didja miss your friendly neighborhood
narrator, the fantastic Mr. Geroge Evans? I bet ya missed me, didn’t you?
Of course you did. S’okay, there’s no need to be shy. I’ll admit it: I missed
you too.
I bet you’re all amped to know what’s happening with some of our
favorite people, huh? I’m not gonna keep you waiting, ‘cause, after all, you
know me—I’m a crowd pleaser. Also, I recently took up a side gig as a
purveyor of spoilers, so you don’t wanna know all the goodness I shared
before (or remember it just fine) feel free to skip ahead. Otherwise, I’ma
cover everything we went over before, so here goes.
Last we left off, our trio of high school grads and their resident college
drop-out, Glenn, took a little road trip across country, ending up in a mess
of trouble down in El Paso. The sweethearts Kody Lehane and Alma Grey
found their love nest left a mess by their bestie of best friends, Cris-Don’t-
Call-Me-Charisma Roberts.
See Kody and Alma were in one of those relationships…yeah, ya’ know
what I mean, and during one of their down times, little miss Crissy found
herself with something of a fancy for the bad poet, Mr. Lehane. Being more
than a bit of a romantic himself, Kody did what most teenage boys would
do, and created some sort of funky love triangle with angles too crazy to
imagine. Long and short, he broke his sweetie’s heart, and so his lovebird,
Alma, flew away.
Mr. Glenn Redcliffe, infatuated with the lady Grey, took her flight
pretty hard. Being the slightly psychotic philosopher he was, he did some
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ARAMIS BARRON
less-than-stellar things to himself and was left OD’ed in a mess of his own
blood by none other than Cris and Kody. They fled the scene to avoid
getting arrested, even though they hadn’t done a thing (to poor Glenn,
anyway).
Seeing as they had no means to make it right, Cris and Kody figured
they may as well finish what Glenn had secretly started: finding Alma’s
surprisingly not-dead brother. Guess they figured there was an off chance
they’d find Alma and could head home. Anywho, just a bit too late, they
got there to find Glenn’s associate instead, who offered Kody an
opportunity to catch up to the lady Alma by taking on a mission down
Mexico way. And so he went, leaving little Miss Cris behind, ‘cause really—
hormones and reason just don’t mix.
So all by her lonesome, Cris waited in Nevada for her sister to pick her
out up. When the elder Roberts daughter finally arrived, she came with a
familiar little feline: Glenn’s cat, Mr. Allister Theodore Bixby III, Esq., who
had been with him right up until his incident in El Paso. With nothing else
left, Cris headed home and time kept moving along.
Personally, much as he’s screwed things up, I owe it to my boy to show
him some love after leaving him out of last season’s finale, so let’s add about
a couple months to the clock and get started where he left off.
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1. El Sur Salvaje
“The problem with doin’ things the way you’re taught is that you accept things
the way they are. Makes it all kinds of hard to see the things that need to
change.”
– The Memory Book of Siggy Martinez
A Few Months Since Graduation: Outer Region of Los Tios, Mexico.
A youth with stormy hair and wild eyes sat waiting on the back porch of the
bar on the outskirts of the desolate desert town, not too far south of the
U.S.–Mexico border. He was young in years but old at heart, the boy
named Sigurd Martinez. He gazed out across the barren landscape, scuffing
his leather boots against the desert’s dirty floor. He waited for his brother to
pick him up, finally allowed to go out on his first mission as part of the
newly established trio. After all, he was the one who had done the legwork
to put this operation together.
Only a few days past his fifteenth birthday, his maturity and mannerisms
far outshined those of his unrefined older brother, Adelais. Siggy recounted
all the factors and variables he might need to consider—all of the things he
might need to know, although he himself was unfamiliar with such
elaborate terms as “factors” and “variables.” A hard, quick life was all most
of the townsfolk ever knew. But he was determined: he’d be the one to set
the record straight.
“He—y, Siggy! Are ya’ nervous?”
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ARAMIS BARRON
A brazen, sometimes ugly, sometimes lovely dark-eyed girl knelt
playfully behind him, leaning over him. A pastel blue sundress hung off her
lean, hardened frame, deflecting the heat. Her sunburnt hair draped over
Siggy, blocking all but her face from view.
“Lorena, hey. Me, nervous?” he chuckled, “Maybe just a little.”
“It’s all right little brother, everything’s gonna be jes’ fine. Adelais won’t
let anything happen ta’ ya’. But here’s a little somethin’ for luck. Jes’ in
case.”
She tied a blue kerchief around his neck as she took a seat next to him,
sliding a comforting hand over his shoulder. Her feet dangled merrily in the
sand beside his own. He let out a small breath, clenching his fist. Like she
said, everything was going to be just fine. He cracked a smile, turning to
her.
“I ain’t your brother, ya’ know.”
She stopped and cocked an eyebrow at him, to which he couldn’t help
but laugh. She pulled him close and kissed his forehead.
“Close enough.”
He watched her as she stood and swayed back inside, each step
whimsical yet graceful. The heat of her touch left him warmer than he
liked, thoughts lingering to the flourishing hips of his adoptive, slightly
older sister. She disappeared behind the thin sheet veiling the back doorway.
“Gonna build a better life fer all of us.”
Siggy scratched his head, his repose cut short by the sound of a rundown
pickup truck barreling along the gritty path behind the bar. He rose slowly,
anxiousness unwilling to relinquish its grasp on his limbs as beads of sweat
trickled down his back. The truck’s driver slammed on the brakes, bringing
the vehicle to a halt before him. His brother’s voice broke whatever spell
anxiety held over Siggy.
“Sig, the hell you doin’ standin’ around? Get in!”
Siggy jumped into the back of the truck, holding on to the ledge as his
brother floored the pedal. The red pickup hauled off as quickly as it had
come. Siggy sat close to the rear window, dust flying up all around. A tan
but relatively pale hand slid the glass partition separating him from the
truck as a shaggy blond head poked out of the cabin to check on him.
“What’s going on, buddy?”
Siggy looked the man over, not overly fond of the new guy. Although, as
usual, he couldn’t help but examine the man’s face. Something about those
green eyes always stood out. Siggy shook his head.
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