Excerpt from "Home"

Excerpt from "Home"
Brandon Figliolino
2012

Scene: Kyle Jackson, a young man, glances out his kitchen window down at children playing in the snow. His cat, Electra, is beside him, pining for attention. He's home alone--at least he thinks so. It's some time in December.

             Through the windows, Kyle spots two children playing in the snow. He stands up and gets a closer look. Snow descends from the heavens. The sky is pallid. There’s no sun. The two boys are building a snowman on the golf course. They’ve assembled everything but the head, which both boys secure atop it together. They decorate the head with black rocks for eyes and a mouth, and a carrot for a nose. They’ve brought two hefty branches with them on a red vintage sled. They use them as the snowman’s arms. One of the branches curves in a 90-degree angle. From a backpack on the sled, one of the boys takes out a light brown wig and sticks it atop the snowman, now a smowwoman. Then, both boys remove a jacket from the same backpack. It’s a white ski jacket with a purple stripe running along the bottom. It reminds Kyle of his mother’s coat.

            The boys carefully insert the snowwoman’s arms into the sleeves of the coat. On boy zips the coat while the other one lifts the angled branch of the snowwoman’s arm up as if she’s
waving. The end of the branch has a long stem that touches the snowwoman’s head. The only other stem on the branch points upward, perpendicular to the long stem. The boys finish the snowwoman’s ensemble with a pair of black gloves. They give up fitting one on the angled branch. A boy stuffs it in his pocket.

            It’s then that they notice Kyle watching him. One starts pointing and screaming, though Kyle can’t hear him do so. The other stares up at Kyle, smiling. He raises his tiny arm and waves. Behind him, Kyle can feel icy breath breathe on his neck and a low whirling in his ear, like the cogs of a machine. His eyes remain focused on the little boys. The screaming boy goes to his comrade and drags him to the sled. Much bigger than him, he picks up the boy and sets him down onto the sled before pulling the sled away, mouth still open in a scream. The boy on the sled continues to watch Kyle until he is out of sight. The snowwoman’s head tilts in the opposite direction of her waving hand. It’s neck cranes at an impossible position, falls and splatters against the nearby snow. Her wig blows in the wind. Her waving arm goes limp.

          There is a crash from somewhere in the house. Electra growls. Kyle turns to see what it is, thinking his family has come home. They haven't. His father has long been dead; his brother, far away; and his mother still missing. He stands alone. He turns back to the window. The boys are gone, but Kyle waves goodbye anyway.

Jefferson County Commissioners to Vote on Revised Streets Plan

Brandon Figliolino

Call to Action: Jefferson County Streets Plan

November 14, 2015

This past year, engineers of the Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Department have been working on revising the standard used when resurfacing county streets and paving new ones— arterial in size. The current, longstanding plan is outdated, and in need of adjusting to accommodate the increasing cyclist traffic on county roadways. This new plan has an amendment in it that resolves this issue by adding four-foot bike lanes, where feasible.

Implementing this policy has numerous benefits for Jefferson County residents. It promotes healthy lifestyles, by giving people the opportunity to ride their bicycles in lieu of automobiles, helping them actively travel to destinations instead of passively. Including bicycle lanes also alleviates congestion on recreational trail systems. With more bike lanes on streets, there will be fewer cyclists using the trails to get around, giving more space on the trails for walkers, runners, and the like.

The revised plan also significantly improves the safety of both automobile and bicycle users. With the current lack of bike lanes, accidents are more likely to happen as drivers and cyclists drive and ride close to one another; there’s very little buffer to deter collisions. Adding bike lanes greatly reduces the likelihood of fatal crashes.

Lastly, local cities are already implementing similar policies on their maintained streets. If Jeffco refuses to adopt this plan, there will be gaps in the bike lane system that will make it more difficult for cyclists to get around. It may discourage them from riding altogether, which undermines the initiatives of the cities within Jefferson County.

I ask that everyone who is willing and able to attend the final vote for this plan, which will be held at 8:00AM on Tuesday, November 24^th at the County Admin Building (100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO).

You can also show your support by writing to the Jefferson County Commissioners at the email addresses below:

               
 commish1@jeffco.us; commish2@jeffco.us; commish3@jeffco.us

The modes of transportation we utilize in our cities are shifting, and we need the support of our county to help us complete streets and give everyone the opportunity to safety and effectively get to where they want to go. It’s time to act.

Learn more by clicking HERE.