01-03 - Amblin'

A day or three in the life... - CH

I'd caught a ride from the western border and the driver dropped me in pLeytown.  Stepping out into the building 

heat of the day I saw Sidd's Bar & Grill in the shimmery light.  I hadn't eaten since home so it looked pretty

good.   Dusty and parched I stepped in for coffee and the all day breakfast special.  Elbowing a seat on the far

side of the room, I settled in.  There was a cluster of friends celebrating the founding of pLeytown.  Voices

hummed like a soft machine.  The hum of friends in close talk. The hum of the town's good character and  many

accomplishments that led to this founding day birthday party. A plate of migas and some coffee later I sat

listening, offering little bits here and there with folks I knew and those I came to meet.  The day wore on and so

did the party with rounds of beer, champagne and abysnthe flowing freely amid laughter and  dancing the

 onigokko.  The festive group grew to merry intensity, dancing crazily while shouting "Tarzan drank

Absynthe!" and "Absynthe makes the heart grow fonder!" From the back booth I woozily listened to stories of

volcano plumbing and mountain retreats.  It must have been sometime around then I had an absythne dream

 about my forgotten dreams in the lost and found bin.  It was lost again as I awoke with my head on the table and

Sidd sweeping up strewn hats and broken glasses. 

A whole day had passed to the founding celebration.  Light was slipping pink under the clouds as I made my way

down the street to the train station.  Two old timers sat near the  store playing catch, back and forth;

"Marking time, virtual time, no time, stop time, good timing, time on my paws, time out".... I kept walking with

their game behind me now, tossing words back and forth, "time out, time of my life, time flies, pass time,

overtime, two time, night time, half time." Twenty bucks of supplies later I left the store and heard them like it

 never stopped, "record time, fine time, spring time, on time, meantime."  One foot in front of the other to the

train station, almost walking double time, I heard their voices lifting on the wind, "spend time, lose time, find

time, dinner time" and then I was just in time to catch that train.

The coffee is usually pretty good on this run so I headed for the dining car.  From my window seat I notice a

couple of friends talking about gifts and profiteering.  They share openly and freely and part with hugs.  Coffee

in hand I watch the windowscape and drift in the clackety clack when I hear a small accompanist melody, the one

I've been hearing many weeks loudly then softly then clackety loudly ..... RrwaaaaccKK, RrwaaaaccKK, the song of

the gecko.  Mile after mile, unbidden, the gecko occasionally RrwaaaaccKKs with the tracks.  My dulled gaze

shifts to a group of Dutchmen trouping into the car with plain Ruth and the talk ebbs and flows around beer and

wine.  I doze to the rhythym and sometimes a jolt.... RrwaaaaccKK. 

The stars shine brightly as I stand to stretch and amble to the plush seating car ahead.  A poker game in one

corner and a pair of nightowls in the other.  The nightowls have the time to be timeless and explore that maybe

the perception of time is not true, that time is not perceived at all, that things wouldn't be necessary if time

didn't exist, that perceived change occurs in time, that there is a linear flowing of directional time, time is a

construct, that time evolved after the big bang, and time to ask is Being's time the same before and after the

big bang?, or can someone convince you of timelesness, or can you step to a right angle of time, like stepping

off the conveyor belt as time continues to roll, like non-linear memory, non-linear dreams as clues to reality

with attachments entwined with time... and then my time ran out ... the train was at my stop.

The night had passed to morning in an opalescent dawning, drawing me to wander so I walked and then walked

some more.  I walked through a open pasture and found a friendly shepherd with his flock and several friends

discussing ideas of faith.  I tipped my hat and as I passed heard them say the theories behind religious

teachings don't mesh with everyday life so how can we extract what is valuable for daily life? Perhaps through

experiment and theory, perhaps a more scientific attitude in spirituality would help.  Perhaps a fresh

hypothesis, maybe a combination of faith, critique and hypothesis.  I rambled along, walking farther stretching

my thoughts to the sky about faith, doubt, critique, hypothesis, love and devotion. 

I came to a stream and pulled out the bread and cheese I got at the store.  I imagined those old fellows still

playing catch while eating and lazily watching the water. I remembered a talk about the nature of things and that

seeing the nature of things is enough.  I remember and then I see that seeing.  I can be in the stream and not

get wet.  I can be in the stream and go swimming.  It has grown into a fine warm day so I take off my shoes and

socks and wade in.  I walk a long way down the stream, thinking and daydreaming and then cross to the other

bank.  I hear laughter in the pasture along the western sky.  I turn that way and walk some more.