Someone Remembered

Someone broken. Someone fixed.
It seems funny when you think.
He thought. But it wasn't funny.
He wasn't fixed. He was broken.
Trying to fix someone else.
A lot of someone elses.
Broken. Now they're fixed.
He was broken.
And nobody remembered.

She wheeled him away.
The names. The memories.
And nobody remembered them.
Except him. She wouldn't understand.
Young. Naive. Sent to help.
A strawberry caught in the eclipse.
She wheeled him back. To his home.
He thanked her. Then she left. Said goodbye.
And he was forgotten. Until next time.

The butterfly had told her. About him.
She had been told by her friend in her dreams.
How he'd been broken. His friends lost.
Gone. Fixing someone else.
A lot of someone elses. Fixed.
When it was done. He was forgotten.
The bullet that found him didn't forget.
It found his spine. Broken but not fixed.
On that fateful day. The forgotten day.
When his friends disappeared. Gone.
Forgotten. Fixing someone else.
Fixing a lot of someone elses.
Did they forget? Those who were fixed?

Another delay. Too many hurdles.
Was Zek right? Too futile to try.
The miracle. Caught in red tape.
Maybe the one way. Many.
Fixed.
Norler's frustration. He'd tried.
Approval had died. The miracle blocked.
Voted down. The study was perfect.
Norler had fought with words. Defeated by red tape.
Alicia rubbed his shoulders. At their home.
They made love, but no miracles.
Their dream. Because someone had forgotten.
Nobody fixed.

The butterfly remembered. Her grandmother.
The story. Given her by someone who was fixed.
A long time ago. Many gone.
Forgotten while fixing them. Their freedom.
Her grandmother from a different place.
Her friend from somewhere fixed.
Many people came back broken.
And then forgotten.
Her grandmother's friend remembered.
Their family too.
For they had been fixed by the forgotten.
They'd been free ever since.
Her grandmother's friend had a grandson.
He a daughter and a son.
They remembered.

Norler gave it one more try.
He never gave up. Or in.
The miracle was worth it.
They were worth it.
The day the vote came.
The butterfly's family friends.
Those who'd been fixed.
By those who'd been forgotten.
Were there on the committee.
Their daughter. All grown up.
Her family free. Fixed.
While those who'd fixed them.
Broken. Forgotten.
She spoke to the committee.
Told her story. The story of the family.
Free. The one that had given them the story of the butterfly.
And their family before.
Because someone had given their life.
To fix what was broken.
Becoming broken themselves.
Then forgotten.

Monique sat with him. The forgotten.
They watched it live. Television.
The butterfly too.
Alicia with Norler.
Valerie behind her own desk and feeling very Valkyra.

Many in the nation.
When the vote came through.
The miracle had won.

Maybe the forgotten would once again walk.

Maybe.

They cheered.
The broken one cried. 

Monique hugged him. Kissed his cheek.
The butterfly too.
Her tear fell while Weltherwithsp watched from inside it.
She thought of her grandmother.

Her grandmother's best friend.

Both from different places.

Where there were butterflies. And dragons.
Her grandmother's best friend.

Freed by the efforts of the forgotten.

Before they had left seeking a new life here.
Her grandmother's friend thought of their son.
Their son thought of their daughter.
And their daughter on that day worked for the committee.
She'd told the committee the story of their freedom.

Those who'd fought for them to be free.

The vote went through and they might walk.
Because someone had remembered.

Copyright © 2014 Brian Joseph Johns