The Young Immigrant

[edsiejka]

The Young Immigrant
by Edmund Siejka

Every night he had the same dream
There would be a soft knock on the door
Like a friend or neighbor would do
But no one was home
His parents left for work
Peeking through the window
He saw men in bulletproof vets
Frightened
He ran back to his room
And hid.

Time slipped by
Twenty minutes
Then a half hour
There was another soft knock on the door
His mother always told him
Bad things only come to bad people
Telling himself not to be afraid
He opened the door
One of the men asked for his name
And told him they had a warrant for his arrest
Stunned he stood still as they cuffed his hands behind his back
A neighbor watched from behind closed curtains
But no one came to help.

The cruel dreams always came back
Like shadows slipping into his room
Rough hands pressing down on his chest
So hard that he couldn’t breathe.

The next morning
Like always
His parents left for work
The house was quiet
And he was alone
When there was a soft knock on the door
Like a friend or neighbor would do
But no one was home
Peeking through the window
He saw men in bulletproof vets
Frightened
He ran back to his room
And hid.

With innocence
Comes a fear of the unknown
If he remained still and didn’t make a sound
The bad men
Might go away
But what if this wasn’t a dream?

[Doreen Peri]

But what if this wasn’t a dream?

Yeah.. what if? Very vivid piece, Ed!

[theirishsea]

Reminds me of a lot----one far out thing is the overall plot structure of the 1953 movie Invaders from Mars.

Closer to contemporary truth is the plight of the undocumented immigrant.

And maybe---in more general terms----the fear in a monstrous state ruled by sociopaths and leaders that always look like they are pouting or sneering.