prince

he was so alive and the world hadn't frighten him yet. as our plane was about to touch down on the tarmac in detroit, i found myself thinking i was only dreaming of him healthy and laughing. 'wait, just wait,' he whispered, 'these kids are going to blow your mind!' soon we were on the ground and then the long black limo that now held us was crawling down the darkest factory streets of the city. one by one, his young detroit tribe members seemed to appear out of nowhere. they were not surprised to see him and only smiled as they each climbed into the cool belly of the car. i heard someone say, 'tent and ela are still working...' and just like that we were expelled like baby seahorses into the wide world of some 3rd world warehouse. there was ugly florescent lighting and workers busy everywhere. the space itself was a labyrinth of corridors, but prince seemed to know exactly where he was going. i abandoned trying to orient myself and instead, as i blindly followed, tried to focus on discovering the purpose of the factory. we passed thousands of fed-ex boxes closed with red tape that had the word 'MEDICAL' stamped in black every few inches- then we were surrounded by scores of uniformed workers quickly rolling samsonite luggage in a crisscross pattern through an open space. i decided it must be a luggage factory but then the aroma of frying donuts suddenly blanketed our motley conga line. i could smell each flavor distinctly but i never saw the source of it.

we left the medical/luggage/donut factory with tent and ela in tow, but only after prince marveled at the wonder of how these people could be so beautiful under the pressures of such a bleak environment.