magnetic

There was about a half mile of magnetic tape strewn along the center median of 85, just past the Almaden Expressway. It was wide tape, VHS or even bigger, hard to say for sure even though traffic was crawling. You don’t see it like that anymore. Tape trash was a common thing to see on the side of the road, wrapped around and twisted and engrossing other bits of rubbish like seaweed. It’s been years, decades, since I’ve seen anything like this. The plastic-metal glinted in the road breeze and fluttered in some places, but mainly it held fast around the things it was wrapped. It stretched on and on while the congested traffic oozed forward. There was one boxy object, possibly the source, broken sheet metal enclosure mostly covered in the tape, and a green electronic board exposed. I didn’t see any broken VHS cases, large tape wheels, or any other tape holder; I don’t know what kind of tape this is or what information, video, audio, data, it might contain. Further up the highway I saw echoes, little bits more every now and then over the next couple of miles, more tape strewn along the center median but no more boxes, nor any other clue about the origin or contents despite my searching over every bit. The bits diminished, tapered out, ended, but I still wondered about it. Would it be there for weeks or only this morning? Was it video tape or audio masters, or just trash already on the way to the dump? It is unknowable.

jg

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