Del stood in front of the Sputnik.
Here it was, returned from space in all its glory. The Sputnik. We didn't have NASA before it went up. We didn't even really have a space program. Science fiction dreams and decades of hope were before him.
And the Soviet Union had been first.
Del walked over to sign the guest book and waited behind an old woman who constantly glanced over her shoulder as she wrote her thoughts on the exhibit of art, science and Sputnik. Del spent his time gathering his thoughts. Why hadn't America accomplished this? Could our system ever catch up to the Soviets? Or would anti-communism, born of paranoia and a crazy drunk named McCarthy forever keep us a step behind?
Del stepped up to the book and stopped to read what the old woman had written.
PLEASE TELL MY HUSBAND, WHO FOUGHT HITLER IN STALINGRAD, I LOVE HIM STILL AND FOREVER. HE IS IN ONE OF YOUR LABOR CAMPS.
"Labor camps? What labor camps?", Del wondered. He stepped forward and picked up the pen and wrote in the book,
Thank you for making a little boys dream come true.
Del walked into the sun his head filled with thoughts. The Soviet Union had ended forever racism, sexual inequality, had a vibrant music and arts scene. Equality was the name of the Soviet Union. And all they had to do was pass a few laws, and it had all ended. He had read this in the New York Times, while reading on other pages of civil rights workers vanishing from the south, the Democrats fighting for segregation, the horrible noise of rockabilly and country music. The Soviets understood folk music. And Del loved folk music, with its songs of labor, fighting the bosses and the future where all would be equal and fair and one. Just by passing a few laws.
All over New York City he could hear this song:
IF I HAD A HAMMER (The Hammer Song)
words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
Del walked to the train and headed for The Village. THE VILLAGE. Home of folk, pot and heroin and booze and music and girls who liked to have sex and poets and life. He stepped into the world and headed for the newsstand. There was Leftie, old and grizzled a survivor of prohibition and seller of his magic cigarettes. 50 cents each, rolled on a machine he kept in the stand and a great buzz right before he went to hear music or poetry or sit in a bar and drink and argue the world.
" Hey I see your ex-partners made the papers today" Leftie said, holding up the paper.
All the color fell from Del's face. He could feel his feelings like waves- crashing from his head to his toes. He didn't think seeing a picture of the two of them would hurt him so. But it did. The act he had helped create, had moved on.
"No thanks", Del said, "Just the cigarette".
Del stood in the alley, remembering the abortion and watching the smoke float into the air.
"Del, man howdy!", came a voice breaking the wall Del was constructing in his mind.
"Hi", Del glanced up, "have a smoke?" and his friend stepped up and said sure and smiled and took a drag off the joint.
"You ever try heroin?", his friend asked.
Heroin. The drug of the village next to booze. Del had noticed how beautiful the women looked on it, heroin.
"Why the hell not", Del said.
"Why the hell not."