Iron Alexander, Iron Home

Iron Alexander was a lot like the Marvel superhero Iron Man, except he was poor, did not have a gorgeous assistant, had no weapons on his body and could not fly. But he could smash anything and he was strong and indestructible and he could beat anything in a fist to fist fight. Iron Alexander tried to fall in love with Iron Man once, but it didn’t work. No matter how Iron Alexander displayed his care and affection and was available and considerate and sweet and charming Iron Man could not shake his old habits of bad relationships. This was Iron Man’s fault, not Iron Alexander’s – Iron Alexander knew that, but it still hurt. When Iron Alexander confronted Iron Man about this they fought, and the battle was heard for miles and recorded on TMZ and the internet. Iron Alexander felt ashamed, he was the best he could be, but Iron Man still didn’t love him. Iron Alexander stopped taking vacations to war zones and private parties where he might see Iron Man. Iron Alexander threw himself into his work. He mostly got jobs digging tunnels in mountains, expanding railroads and such. “Oh my my my, my work is so hard, give me water…” always played in his head. Sam Cooke’s fantastic gentle, intense, heart wrenching and heartfelt rhythm and blues song “Chain Gang” moved him along always, except when he had time off to work on building his home. He built it of iron and the song in his head then was the song “To Build a Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra. He changed the words slightly to make them his own “This is a house built out of IRON/IRON floors, walls and window sills…This is a place I don’t feel alone/This is a place where I feel at home.” In his head was the only place he could escape the sounds of metallic clanging, the sounds of his joints creaking and squeaking, his body banging and clanging. His iron home would be indestructible too, like him. It would live forever, with him. It would always look like the day it was built, just like he always looked the same as the day his iron parents had left him on the doorstep of an orphanage. No other iron kids at the orphanage, no other iron kids anywhere – he looked, all over the world. He was special, unique; he was also alone. He finished his iron home after years, when most of the railroads were made and the mountains were tunneled. Now his sat and waited, on his front porch. He waited for all the wars to end so maybe Iron Man would come to him, although Iron Man was really a man and would never love Iron Alexander, who was really iron. He waited for other iron people, for his iron parents to come home. He waited for someone to truly break his iron heart. He waited for a sweet death he knew would never come.