Pandemic Feature: Star wars

Mostly, the invaders don’t come.  Life is hard because life is hard.  Especially here in the desert provinces.  The suns never go down, then the suns never come up.  Everything is the color of work.  The gruel is seasoned with grit.  But I do have family.  I mean, we have each other.  Family is the meaning of life.   That is, the reason for work.  When I need to roam, they tell me to stay.  When I need to die, they tell me to live.  That’s what a family does.  Someday I’ll do the same, perhaps, if I can have one of my own.  Like anyone, I want what can’t be taken from me. 

I thought I knew the invaders.  I’d heard they masked their faces, and announced themselves with explosions.  I’d heard the only danger was resistance.  I’d seen the clips of interstellar cruisers spiked with cannons.  Their purpose was unmistakable.  Their trouble was for others.  When my father knocked at the door, and kissed my cheek, and came inside, and shared his mind, he wore his own face.