White Vest

White Vest
by Pat A Physics
The vest felt tight on my back.  I wanted to take it off, but for some reason, I knew
that my guts would fall out if I took it off at this moment.  When I thought about my
guts, a bunch of shivering warm flecks of feeling went flying around the places the
vest touched my skin. I turned on the vest instinctively and felt it’s strange power.
I had found a piece of paper inside the left breast pocket.  On it was listed the
places the vest had been:  church, the supermarket, the post office, the pharmacy,
the rodeo, and the museum.  I had to show it to somebody, but who would
understand? I wracked my brain trying to think of who I could share this strange
vest with.  I thought of my brother, but he would want to take it to the authorities.
My father would want to sell it.  My friends would make fun of it and ruin it.
My mother would never talk to me again if I showed her this vest.  I had to find
someone new. There had to be a person who would understand.  Certain measures
would have to be taken to find this person, and it would start with the list of
destinations.  Church was too creepy of a place to start.  The supermarket was a
brightly lit place that was sure to draw unwanted attention.  The post office would
take two or three buses to get to.  The pharmacy required a perscription.  The rodeo
was not happening today.  And the museum, where was that?  I didn’t even know
where the museum was.  I had been there before, but I had not paid attention to how
to get there.  Then I thought of where I had found the vest in the first place-
of course!  It was near some unfamiliar buildings, one of them had to be a museum.
And the museum was the  last place on the list.  Therefore, I started back the way
I had walked.  I didn’t get very far because I was invisible.  I ran into a crowd of
people who were in a rush and caused an accidental dogpile.  With the wind knocked
out of me and someone’s foot on my face, I pushed my way out of the pile of people
and ran into the road.  I got run over by a Volkswagon bug, but I didn’t die.  I was
flat and narrow like a pancake.  The vest was barely keeping my guts from spraying
all over the concrete.  My flattened finger switched off the vest, and I stood up.
The wind blew me up against a fence that I couldn’t get off of.  I would have to
wait until the wind died down, but there was no telling how long the wind would
keep blowing.  But once the weather permitted, I was going to meet someone at the
museum, no matter what.