Four walls of tinted glass separate me from the rest of the world. From my leather throne, I can survey the world in all its dingy moral ruin. I can see the eyes of those who would scorn me, would persecute me. Though they may peer in, they may not recognize me, for here in my sanctuary of steel and iron, I am protected and appear to their wretched eyes only a dark shadow.
My hands rest on the wheel. Its mana infuses me with strength, energy, and peace. I look in the rear-view mirror. The eyes that return my steely stare are the only eyes that have ever seen my true self, for this is the only place I truly exist.
“Traffic school’s every Wednesday and Friday at seven at City Hall,” the police officer standing outside my window tells me. He returns to me my license and my registration, and with them is the citation I have received for the speed at which I live my life.
“Thank you, officer,” I tell him and receive these pieces of paper into my sanctuary. As the police officer returns to his vehicle, my left hand rolls up the window and my right turns the volume knob on my car stereo.
You got me shakin’, got me runnin’ away
You get me crawlin’ up to you everyday
With a satisfyingly plush noise, the window’s frame receives the glass and restores the division between myself and my seven billion antagonists.
Don’t bring me down
No no no no no
I turn the key in the ignition and I drive. When I arrive at my destination, I will be forced to leave my safe haven. When I return to that cesspit I call an apartment tonight, restlessly trying to sleep, this comfortable space will sit empty and cold beneath my floor.
I’ll tell you once more, before I get off the floor
Don’t bring me down.
And within sixty days, I will attend two hours of goddamned traffic school with twenty strange and filthy zombies. But now, in this moment, the road moves swiftly under my feet; now I drive; now I am secure.
Don’t bring me down–grroosss!
Don’t bring me down–grroosss!
Don’t bring me down–grroosss!
The world may even be able to stop my sanctuary, but so long as I am within it, I soar.
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This post is an installment in a continuing series of content coordinated by theme or motif with posts from Enoch Allred of Chiltingham, John Allred of clol Town, Jon Fairbanks of Funkadelic Freestylings of Another Sort, Eli Z. McCormick and Miriam Allred of Modern Revelation!, Joseph Schlegel of Sour Mayonnaise, Sven Patrick Svensson of Sadness? Euphoria?, William C. Stewart of Chide, Chode, Chidden, and WiL Whitlark of The Real McJesus. This week’s theme: ‘Sanctuary’.
True story, up ’till this point I always thought ELO was singing “Don’t bring me down, Bruce“
It’s a common misconception, as the word in the song is similar to a German greeting. Wikipedia tells me that this misconception is so common, in fact, that Jeff Lynne has taken to singing it as “Bruce” in concert.Bruce must be kind of a downer.