Colorado Springs, Colorado — October 19, 2024

A week or so out from that Saturday in Colorado Springs and what I keep coming back to is a pavement lot off the road, blue sky overhead, a yellow construction crane in the middle distance, and an Optimus Prime welded out of scrap vehicle parts standing there in red, blue, and silver like he had always been there. We wandered the lot one figure at a time. A yellow-and-black bot about my height, teal metal siding behind it, chain-link fence, a Private Property sign I noticed but did not mind. Around the corner, the Optimus again in harder light, sharp shadows across the asphalt. Then a dark green mech, gears and tubes welded together, small red cross emblems on the chest and shoulders, leaning weight you could rest against. The sun was bright enough to flatten the colors a little. I remember being quieter than I expected, just walking from one to the next, reading the seams where parts had been joined. Cars passed on the road. We did not stay long. The sky stayed that clean October blue the whole time.