River of Dreams #25: Driving Into the Evening

Posted on October 25, 2010 by randomyriad

Chapter 13

Karen Wakes Up


Random glanced over at Karen, who had been in a dozing stupor next to him in the passenger seat for at least an hour of winding two-lane highway. Her almost serene expression of drowse had suddenly transformed into a yawning mask of horror and disgust. Quickly, Random pulled the car over in a turn out. Karen bolted out of car collapsed on her hands and knees, retching in great heaving gasps. Nothing much came out. Random, motioning to Steve in the back to stay with Lin, got out, and came around the front of the car careful not to look to close.
“Are you gonna be alright? Do you need any help?”
Karen looked up at him with big eyes blinking, looking comically pathetic and deranged in her Spanish dancer outfit and wild black hair tossing in the damp breeze.
“Where are you taking me? Who are you people?”
“I called your grandmother and got directions to her house in Mendocino,” Random said flatly, “We are the people you threatened with a toy pistol, or did you forget.”
Then she rolled over on her back in the dirt, the drizzle drifting into her face, and laughed, deep and hard.
“I am so sorry. It’s not really funny. I really am sorry.” she gasped out as she laughed around the words.
Her laughter was so genuine, Random found it hard not to join her, but thinking of Lin and how freaked out she must be already, it would be too much if she looked out and saw him joining Karen in a bout of hysterical laughter.

“Let’s get out of this rain and away from that so I don’t join you in hurling.” he gestured over at the small puddle of vomit without really looking at it.
He helped her up and back in the car.
“There’s some food back there if you think you can handle it. How often do you have to take those little pills of yours?”
“Once a day.” Karen answered, “I missed two days, I guess.”
“So you’re all right now? No more weirdness?”
“Where are we?” She asked.
“Just outside of Booneville about a coupla hours from your Grammy’s.
“Wow! I was in such a fog.”
Random pulled the car onto the road and took it easy on the turns.
“Do you remember how you got to Fairfax. Your grandmother tried your father’s house and got no answer.”
“That’s because he’s dead. Before I left, he had a collapsed.  They came and took him away.” Karen’s face closed down in a tight grimace, eyes closed, wrestling with the chaos in her mind. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and continued in a small quavering voice, like a scared child among strangers.

“I couldn’t handle it. All I remember is walking out to the highway. It all gets fuzzy after that.”
“That’s rough. Hopefully your grandmother can help you sort it out.”
“How ’bout some tunes, Man?” Steve suggested.
“Yeh, I’d like to hear some music,” Lin said.
Random fiddled with the buttons and dial and found an oldies rock station.
John Fogerty rang out.
“I see a bad moon risin.
I see trouble on the way . . .
They rode the highway without speaking what more was there to say.

On through the afternoon into the evening coming to the rugged cliffs of the Mendocino coast. The radio station faded out just past Philo before they reached the coast. Each rider stared out lost in there own worlds. Random’s world was the road and the line and the slow cars he came up on. Now he had the Moody Blues’ in his head.

“And you can fly high as a kite

If you want to

Faster than light if you want to

Speeding through the universe

Thinking is the best way to travel.”


Chapter 14

Rick and POS Bug


Essie and Maddie meandered up to the market, and stood in the pleasant coolness of the afternoon looking at clouds. Maddie showed Essie a little dance she did when all the world seemed to good to be true.

Rick, a fireplug of a kid, with a large head and peach fuzz framing his baby face, slumped out of the market and stood watching this demonstration, his hands buried in his pockets, shaking his head and smiling.

“Hey, Maddie, whazzup?”

“Weeelll! Thing iz we need a car tomorrow about 2:30ish and we were thinkin’ mebbe you could let us use yours. Jus’ for a few hours.” The last words were a combination of plea and demand with a little look how cute I am thrown in.

“You can’t drive.”

“I can,” Essie cut in, “an’ I can geev you some money?”

“Its and piece of shit. I don’t even know if it will get you anywhere. I ain’t even started the bastard in a week.”

“Let’s go see.” Maddie grabbed him by the arm and whirled him toward the crosswalk.

“Awright, If she starts you can take her, if you bring her back with a full tank.”

They went to his house up the hill and found a rusted 1960 something VW bug of indefinite color. He climbed and cranked the key. It groaned and clanked and turned over sputtering to life in a most inauspicious way.

“Well, there ya’ go. An’ who says miracles never happen to the right people.” He walked around the back of the sputtering bug opened the little flap hood and peered in adjusting something and the rhythm smoothed a bit.

“So we can come by tomorrow and get it.” Maddie asked.

“You can take the key now and come and get anytime. I got school tomorrow and then work. In fact mebbe ya’ otta jes’ take her now. If my ol’ man seez ya’ he might let fly or call the cops or sumptin’”

“Thanks again Rick,” Maddie said leaning over and giving him a little kiss on the cheek, “Your like the brother I never had.”

“Jes’ bring her back in one piece,” He said and slumped of toward the sad little house.

Maddie practically jumped into Essie’s arms shouting, “See din’t I say he was the sweetest guy. Lets go for a drive.”

Posted in California, conversations, dancing, developing relationships, Family, Fiction, mindworks, music, NaNoWriMo, novel projects, Of the Road and The River, River of Dreams, Telling Stories | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dream on an October Night

Posted on October 24, 2010 by randomyriad

Ghost rides that whip

sprung from the blood of day

onto the back

of a long thin howl.

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River of Dreams #24: Black Lace Toy Pistol

Posted on October 24, 2010 by randomyriad
Unconstructed state highways in California

Image via Wikipedia

Chapter 12

Karen Masterson’s Brain

The old Subaru station wagon that cruised down Sir Francis Drake Boulevard through Fairfax was white but not shiny. A dirty sheen masked its purer nature. On the side of road stood a young woman dressed in a black Spanish dancer’s dress all lace and broad skirt. Her thumb was out. The look on her face was as vacant as store front behind her. There were “for lease” signs in the windows and all was dark inside.

Before Random even thought about what he was doing, he pulled up to the curb, which brought loud honking and a few choice words from the car behind him. He looked over just in time to catch the driver’s gesture, a visual critique of Random’s driving skills. Ignoring this, he turned his attention to the woman trying to open the passenger side door. Random reached over and pulled the little handle. The Spanish dancer flounced into the seat next to him, clumsily hauling the door in, barely clicking closed.

“Wow, smooth driving, Man, Steve said from the back where he and Lin sat dozing next to one another. It was early in the afternoon and clouds had rolled in making the day a little somber.

“Where ya headed?” Random asked the Spanish dancer, who was fiddling in her purse for something. Her hand came up with a shiny pistol, which she pointed at Random’s face.

His stomach flipped over, and his heart stopped for split second. The expression on his face however did not change.

“Give me some money,” she slurred sleepily.

“Sssure. But, I gotta stop the car,” Random stuttered and slowed the car down.

“Hey, Man’s, not like that. Just use your brain and a few words. He’s easy he’ll give you just about anything you want,” Steve’s calm low voice came from the backseat as his hand reached slowly for the gun.

“You won’t need this. Just use your head, Ok?” As he put his hand on the gun she let it go and turned to face out the window scrunching up her face in a parody of hard thinking.

“Please, give me money. Please, give me money,” she whispered urgently and just audibly still looking out the window.

Random looked back at Steve as if asking “What the F…”.

“It’s a toy, Man,” said Steve showing the pistol to Random from the side he could see it was shiny and metallic and made of plastic.

Random breathed after he realized he had been holding his breath. he pulled into the parking lot of a supermarket stopped the car and turned off the engine all with a blank expression.

The girl still had her eyes closed in concentration whispering her desperate litany.

Random breathed again consciously, this time with a little irritation, but yielding to concern.

“Hey you,” he said in calm firm voice, “Let’s start simple. What’s your name?”

She opened one eye and then the other and then said almost as if she was discovering it herself, “Karen Masterson?” there was a little question mark at the end of this.

“Good,” Random said slowly, “now where are you going?”

She put her hand up to her forehead and looked out the passenger window for 3 seconds, turned quickly and said with perfect innocence as if the gun pointing had never occurred, “I remember now, Mendicino, to my grammy’s”

“Grammy lives in Mendicino? Do you have a phone number?”

“Yes,” she said gaining enthusiasm as if she was on a quiz show winning prizes with each answer. She nodded her head in little palsied shakes.

“Can I see it?”

“Oh yeah.” She started to dig in the purse, but Random reached over and took the purse gently from her hands and checked inside. There was a small Chinese coin purse with pills in it, a pack of gum with one piece left, a little silver key ring with a kitty charm on it containing three keys, and a pink Velcro wallet with a state ID for Karen Masterson.

He showed her the pills.

“Is it time for you to take one of these maybe, Karen?”

She looked at the pill and said, “No, I took one when I left the house.”

“Where is the house? What town?”

“Auburn,” she answered quickly, smiling her cleverness.

“Auburn is a long way from here,” Random said in a slow deliberate voice, “I’m thinkin’ you need one now.” And then he turned to Steve. “Hand me the water bottle, and Karen will take her pill. I’m going in to get something for us to eat and drink. I’m thinking Karen might want to take a little nap in the back.”

Karen took the pill and relaxed a bit.

“Ya know I am sleepy. I don’t know when I slept last. Long time no food, sleep.” She said groggily.

Random motioned with his head for Steve to come out of the car with him.

“I’m gonna call Grammy, and then we are gonna take Karen to the police station.”

“No, Man, no way. We gotta help this poor kid.”

“Excuse me! Pointed a gun at my head!”

“Toy gun,” Steve held up the shiny plastic toy. “Look Man, this is what you do.”

“What!?”

“People do crazy shit around you, and all this wild stuff happens to you, and you don’t freak out. I know you, Man,” Steve said in parental tones, “If that was me drivin’, Man, we woulda been off the road or slamming into some other car or shit.”

“You grabbed the fucking gun!”

“I could see it was a toy, and it wasn’t pointed at me at the time, if you recall,” Steve finished the argument. “And, look you got her whole story and got the pill in her. We’re half way home because you don’t freak out.”

“And you think taking her to the police is freaking out. I think their pretty good at taking care of lost girls.”

“Not as good as we could be, Man.”

Random looked uncertain.

“I’m goin’ in and calling Grammy. Get her in the backseat and lay her down. I think she’ll sleep for a while. Those are pretty heavy duty pills if they are what I think they are.”

“Right oh, Capitan!” Steve gave him a little mock salute.

“And check on Lin, my god what’s she thinkin’ about crazy Americans?”

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River of Dreams #23: Photography and Skipping Rocks

Posted on October 23, 2010 by randomyriad

Chapter 11

Down By the Stream on Sunday Afternoon

 

Maddie and Essie walked down to the store to get film for the camera, and then realized that it didn’t matter if the camera had film or not. But, finally, Maddie remembered that it wouldn’t even act like it was taking pictures without film in it, and they needed batteries for the flash. Essie also needed some food and things for the evening.

They wandered around the store gathering items. Maddie still had some of the twenty since Debbie had not asked for change. She bought some cheese and crackers and apple juice to add to the pasta salad and ham and plastic utensils that Essie bought.

“We can stash these in my fridge at home and take them to your room to eat later,” Maddie said twirling around Essie on the sidewalk outside of the store.

“Yes all of dat ees fine, but we steel do not know how we are goin’ to get to the ranch tomorrow.”

“Oh, we have to go to Rick’s and ask him if we can borrow his car for 10 bucks,” Maddie said as if it were already done.

Essie stopped and gave Maddie a “Why don’t we do that now” look.

“Oh, he doesn’t get off work until 5 today. That was him in the store checking us out. He won’t talk business while he’s at work. He gets super grumpy and uncooperative. Believe me I’ve tested the theory,” Maddie finished with a shrug of her shoulders as if to say, some people! “But I did ask him if he would be home after work and he said he would.” She said all of this rapid fire almost without taking a breath.

“So the plan ees to go to Rick’s after 5 and ask about the car.”

“That’s the plan,” Maddie shouted joyfully and spread her arms to the sky and smiled big at Essie.

“Your nuts,” Essie said quietly looking around to see if anyone was watching. The streets were pretty much empty.

They went back to Maddie’s house and put away the food. Debbie and Matt were still on the couch, the football game turned up loud. There were more beer bottles on the table.

“Did ya’ see that asshole!” Matt leaped up and motioned disgust and horror at the TV.

“Ahh, They shoulda traded him last year. I can’t believe their hanging on to that garbage,” Debbie said with less passion but sufficient emphasis to show that she knew what she was talking about.

“Hey Deb, Essie’s gonna show me how to use that camera Dad got me last year so we’ll be out for a while.’

“Djou finish your homework, liddle girl,” Debbie leaned her head back on the top of couch back and looked at Maddie lazily.

“Pretty much, I can finish up tonight after dinner.”

“Oh yeah, Matt and I are goin’ out, didja get stuff for you with the twenty I gave ya.”

“Yeah, I got stuff,” Maddie said sarcastically, “The way you take care of me jus’make my head spin right off.”

If Debbie heard she did not react, she was back into the game, Matt’s hand on her neck.

Maddie sighed and said, “Let’s get outta here.”

Outside Maddie looked up at the sky and yelled, “I hate fucking football! I hate pick-up truck driving assholes who fuck my mother!”

Essie put her hand on Maddie’s shoulder.

“Oh, I’m OK. I’m better’n Ok. I gotta place to sleep an food, right.’ She spit on the ground, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

And, Essie knew she would be just as surely as she knew that Debbie was making wrong choices.

They walked around and Maddie took pictures to get a feel for the camera. Maddie made Essie her model and had her climb a tree and gaze out at the horizon. She told Essie to walk toward her looking mean and sexy all the while saying things like:

“Yeah, baby make love to the camera, show me what you got, Ooh, baby make me want you.”

Essie would hold the look for a few seconds and then burst out in shrieks of laughter.

“You are the strangest girl. Really Iyam worried about you.”

“Don’t worry about this girl. I am the sanest person on the planet.” Maddie replied.

They walked down the creek and skipped rocks for a while. Maddie was very good at it and showed Essie.

“Din’t you have no rocks on the Orinoco when you was growin’ up.”

“I don’ remember. I remember making leetle boats from beets of wood and leaves and having races.”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun.”

So they hunted around for sticks that would work but were unsuccessful. Finally they sat down on a big rock. And looked at the sky. Which was mostly grey with a few blue lines and pools.

“What’s the time, Essie?” Maddie asked rolling over and propping herself up on her elbows.

“Four tirty, almost time to go.”

“We could wander up that way and catch him on his way home.”

“Alright, lez go,” Essie sat up with a little grunt. Maddie popped up and ran to the water and threw one more perfect skip. It skipped 7 times. She counted each one carefully.

“Hey, 7 that’s my record for this spot, swee’eet!”

Posted in California, capturing light, conversations, developing relationships, Family, Fiction, NaNoWriMo, novel projects, playing games, River of Dreams, Telling Stories | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

River of Dreams #22: Connections

Posted on October 22, 2010 by randomyriad

Chapter 10

Messages Answered: More Questions

Emmylou remembered the message as she came in about noon from the rest of her chores.  She was shaky and drained having had only coffee and some toast up to that point and ready for some lunch. She listened again and wrote down the number. She would call after lunch.

She cooked up some miso soup with tofu and green onions and had a salad she made from the greens she had gathered from the garden sprinkled with chopped roasted almonds and a hardboiled egg spread neatly on top and a glass of grapefruit juice to drink. Just the kind of lunch she liked. She ate slowly savoring all the flavors of bitter and sweet greens and salty soup. As she ate Emmylou looked out the window at the clouds moving like a blanket over the blue patches of sky. A huge black bird circled the cow pasture in the back.

“It’s that talking raven,” she thought. The bird had been squawking and gibbering around the ranch for a few days now, making the animals nervous. It was too large for a raven, more like eagle size and made sounds like language, but not English or any language Emmylou was familiar with.

“I wish it would just tell me what it wants and move on,” she thought as she got up to put her dishes in the sink and went into the living room and picked up the phone.

II

When Essie and Maddie got back to the house, Debbie and Matt were parked on the couch amid potato chips, dip and beer.

“Zat you, little one,” Debbie hollered when she heard the door open, never taking her eyes off the game.

“Ya, hey Matt, Deb this is Essie. I met her at church. Did we get any calls?”

“I dunno, I think the phone was ringin’ when we got up, but we din’t get it.”

“Cause we was getting’ sumptin else,” Matt said pinching Debbie’s thigh.
She slapped feebly at him and looked cross.

“Now none o’ that talk around the niblet, she don’t need to hear non of your dirty mind.”

Maddie turned to face Essie so they could not see her make a gesture of a finger down her throat, gagging. Essie shrieked with laughter involuntarily. Debbie looked up suspiciously finally getting a good look at her.

“Espider,” Essie said doing a tip toe dance and pointing at the floor. It was Maddie’s turn to laugh.

“I’m takin’ this upstairs.” Maddie grabbed the phone and fled with Essie right behind. Essie couldn’t believe Debbie would be so unconcerned about a 40 year old woman hanging out with her 13 year old daughter.

“Debbie is special,” was Maddie’s way of putting it as they got to the top of the stairs. “I’ll probly be all weird cusiv growin’ up with such a neglectful parent an all, but I still love her with all her faults at least as much as I hate her guts.”

They went to Maddie’s room. The walls were covered with seemingly random pictures. A perfume ad here, a movie poster there, a poster of Humphry Bogart and one of Ozzie Ozborne, Beastie Boys and Jim Morrison with arms open like an angel, Queen Letifah staring evilly, Avril Levine in a pink ensemble, Janis Joplin on a chopper, Marilyn Monroe on a piano, Elinore Roosevelt, Jane Goodall, Free Willy jumping over the boy and Albert Einstein looking like he had just got up from a nap.

Essie was overwhelmed. She turned slowly taking it all in. Maddie watched Essie’s face closely.

“Most people have that reaction when they come in here,” Maddie said with a shrug. She pointed to Albert Einstein and grinned. “I dig that man’s hair. With hair like that who can fuckin’ doubt yer a goddam genius.”

The phone rang and Essie picked it up.

“Hello I’m trying to reach Essie.”

“I’m Essie.”

“You called about a tour of the ranch,” Emmylou said and went quickly on. “I usually do those on Mondays from noon to three, and I think you would have to share your tour with a Boy Scout troop and a sixth grade class.”

“I was thinking of doin’ an eenterview for an article Iyam writing for a food magazine.”

“Well I could do that over the phone. But did you want pictures as well?”

“Yes, peectures. I haf a photographer.” Essie gave Maddie a questioning look as she said this.

Maddie did a celebration dance in the middle of the room that involved a lot of pumping arm gestures to both encourage the lie and celebrate being included in the madness.

“Can you get out here this afternoon or it will have to be tomorrow after 3:00.”

Maddie mouthed “tomorrow” at Maddie with exaggerated lips.

“Howabout tomorrow at 3:30, den we weel haf enough light for de pictures weethout too much flash.”

“All right then 3:30 tomorrow,” Emmylou breathed an audible sigh of relief on the phone started to hang up.

“Wait I weel need directions, please.”

Emmylou gave the directions in a shaky voice and hung up quickly.

Essie looked at Maddie, “do you haf a camera?”

Maddie nodded her head.

“A real nice SLR Canon my daddy got me last year as a guilt present, for runnin’ off with his girlfriend to Mexico. We haven’t heard from him since thank god. What a pain in keester he is. Always drunk and disorderly as far as I recall. But at least I got this bitchin’ camera. Trouble is I got no money for film, and I think it needs batteries.”

“I’ll buy the film and batteries. Do you know how to make eet work?”

“You bet. I can look like a real pro. Besides I had this dream about the farm.”

Maddie told Essie her dream of the field of grass, the spreading tree and the black bird.

“So I’m pretty sure I’m sposed to be there with you,” Maddie finished.

“I guess so, but you hafta clear it with Debbie. I don’ wan’ any trouble.”

“Oh, leave Debbie ta me. She’ll be fine.”

Maddie flopped on the bed and did some more happy dancing horizontally. Essie sighed and shook her head. She felt caught in something big like a net made of time and dreams and forgotten spirits.

III

Emmylou was shaking. She had been able to put her name out there locally and did alright, but a food magazine! Which one did she say? She couldn’t think of it. She had a busy afternoon ahead of her she would get the crew together to help her put everything in order.

Suddenly she thought that Random had something to do with this. He must’ve because the calls came so close together. She looked in the San Francisco phone book under Anderson. There were two R. Andersons and no Random Anderson. She decided to just go ahead and dial the first one and got Raymond Anderson.

She called the second number and got the answering machine.

“Hello you have reached Random and Essie. Just leave a message, and we might call you back. No, really, we’re not good at the call back thing, but you might get lucky.” She laughed because it was so like him to joke about things most people fretted over like answering machines.

“Hi, Rand it’s Emmy, I guess you set me up with Essie thanks for promo, though I don’t know how you knew I was still out here at the farm. Give me a call anytime. By the way she’s coming tomorrow at 3:30 maybe you could come too. I would love to see you.”

She hung up and smiled. The nerves had faded now that she knew Random was involved.

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