a place:

moving,rocking,swaying,hard,dim gray light glowing through very low dark storm clouds quickly scudding above dark high rolling froth topped waves crashing over the wooden sides of the badly listing ship with a front mast cracked off about two thirds of the way up.The broken third swayed among the tattered remains of sails and the broken ends of streaming guide ropes spread like spiders webs stretched taut enough to appear near to being snapped like threads from the dangling weight being buffetted by the wind and swung around by the pitching ship.

sounds of:

roaring wind whistling through thrumming ropes,crashing waves thudding into the creaking,crackling sides of the ships rattling hull.Clanging medal and thumping wooden things bumping,banging into,off of other metal and wooden stuff.Amid and through the aural chaos,rising in waves,,echoing up out of the open holds fetid rank odored depths and reverberating through the wooden barrel of the hull,,the sound of many male,female,mature and young voices lifted in a melodiously sad,souful pleading chorus of slow sob filled harmony,,,,aggressive,loud male voices,different from the dirge singing multitude,,,thick,gruff words in an unintelligable tongue,,edged with chillingly hard tones interspersed with clanks from chains,soft,wet,sudden percussions and occasional hard cracking detonations timed with and horribly punctuated by agonizing individual screams,cries,ragged gurgling and splashy sounds of rushing fluids.Each episode of which reduced the individual tones comprising the angst filled melody by one untill very few continued and the holds fetid gaping mouths exhalations changed from parfum de sewage to eau de charnel,,allowing one to rise clearly through the dwindling chorus,defiantly chanting in a different tongue from the one shared by the aggressive gruff ones becoming lost amid the increase in the now increasing roaring whistling wind of the restrengthening storms fury increasing the frequency of thudding waves crashing into the wounded ship wresting even more splintery sounding creaks and cracks from the screeching,squeeking hull.

sudden darkness as a huge wash of water inundated the deck of the ship washing virtually everything off the now sharply angled surface leaving a set of huge weather bleached intwined trees laying partially on the deck between the masts. Successive waves,,almost as large as the one that deposited them washed over the deck,into the hold and jostled the enourmous logs around like they were twigs untill one slammed into the still whole mast and snapped it like a toothpick sending it crashing down onto the corner of the deck and hull breaking through the stressed planking creating a gaping jagged hole as the shifting weight from the gigantic pieces of driftwood outbalanced what was left of the ships designed buoyancy causing it to roll over onto it's side which allowed the turgid sea to flow into the holds open maw while exposing the freshly breached area to the full downward force of the monster breakers pummeling the weakened section until it began to crumble in a widening pattern,,planks cracking and snapping with each hammer blow of tons of turbulent sea water.

streams of color and light gradually darkening:

a place:

dark,sand and fresh clean storm scrubbed smelling salty spray laden frenzied wind,facing east,,velvety dark blue,purplish sky dotted by glittering jewellike stars with trailing edges of thick storm clouds traveling west allowing the beach and waves whipped by the now passed storms fury to become slowly illuminated by a full moon hanging almost right over head.

wind whipping,roaring,over the booming crashes of large waves slamming into the beach thudding like thunder made ground rumbles.

assorted debris,,a plank here,,some rope or sail fabric there,,came in on the storm angered waves.smaller pieces being followed soon by larger pieces and bigger items,,untill huge hunks and cargo items began to fly out of the churning surf to wash back and forth before slowly being left grounded on the beach by a gradual yet assuredly receeding storm surge combined with a retreating tide.

along with whole sections of decking and hull planking came a huge weather bleached tree floating with it's root system eastward being pushed by the waves like a collosal dart with it's broken top pointed straight at the beach.

riding in hard and fast on the storm energised rollers the tree seemed to leap out of the waves and drive itself over half of it's boles length into the ground well into the storm carved wall of the new dune escarpment line at an angle that left it's gnarled hand like root system suspended about eight feet above the crashing waves foamy tops leaving the male body tangled up in a cluster of ships rigging ropes caught in the roots dangling like a tassle blowing in the howling wind.

as more time went by more wreck flotsam floated in interspersed with dark skinned corpes drifting and bobbing among the stinking odiferous wood,rope and fabric of what remained of the ship and became illuminated by the predawn lightening that comes on an east facing beach.

the receeding tide stranded the reeking wreckage on the ever less surf covered sand making for a macabre yet eerily fascinating tableau backlit by the steadily brighteneing and ever more vividly colored sunrise that foretold a beautiful day for the slice of paradise on the tropics edge that the area was in store for.

before the sun actually broke through the purplish lavender clouds outlined by the golden sunlight streaming at their backs a form began to stir among a pile of wreckage piled around one of the larger sections of ship left by the waves that destroyed,,then delivered it to it's final port.

a young man,,barely more than a child strugled out from among the various pieces of ship and items cluttered around and over him to walk a few staggering steps to the beach before seeing the form suspending between heaven and shore upon which a strangled sounding exclamation of obvious anguish and misery apparently yanked straight out of the young mans very soul through,up and out of a raw throat that seemed to deflate him like a balloon whos tied end came loose letting all supportive air or energy out of him causing him to collapse onto the wet sand exposed by the vanishing waves.

a shift in time and view:

the young man was digging a hole with a piece of plank by the place where the trees bole entered the ground as the now more clear golden,,but not more than barely broke days sunlight shone on his dark skinned back above the tattered remains of a pair of pocket shorts.

the body of the man who had been caught up by the tangle of roots and ropes laid next to the hole along with a gunnysak containing a lead chest in which the young man had placed items into that belonged to the man and intended to bury it with the rather large well muscled corpse in the sand of the beach the storm delivered them to.

A shift in time:

A group of very primitvely dressed reddish brown people came up the beach from south poking and perusing the man made riches delivered by the fickle sea to the shores of their land.

As they discovered the bodies of the darker skinned folks,,they dragged them up to the beach clearly intending to collect them as they were the various items and pieces of ship they also removed from the area to be reclaimed by water and waves when the tide reversed itself later.

Having seen this scattered group coming long before he thought they could have seen him,,the young black man had slunk up and over the edge of the bank and watched them from behind the few clumps of sea grapes and sparse sea oats still left after the storms fury attempted to denude the vegetation.He seemed to be concerned they may find and show too much curiosity about the obviously fresh turned wet earth by the tree bole.

a quick jerky flash of black,over as soon as it started like the world blinked and a number of the crudely attired people were disappearing up the dune bank and running after the young man who had a good headstart in the dash through the veritable forest of wind thinned sea grapes to the trees further inland.Several climbed up the freshly scooped wall by using the tree trunk as a step effectively obscuring the fresh turned sand with their feets frantic scuffing before any notice was apparently taken.

The ones not joining in the chase continued to either placidly poke through,assess and began sorting items into piles or start collecting the wooden planks and hunks,,using saome to improvise dragsleds on which the sorted scavenged loot was piled to be taken to the shore to stacked and piled on and around the enourmous bole beginning to dry out and display an even paler appearence hinting at the stark whiteness to come.

Sevearal large sections of still intacy deck was arranged to make a flat area by scooping holes with planks in the sand for the pieces protruding from the bottom to stick into.

The corpses whose dark brown skin had an ashy blueish cast to them were seperated from the others and piled further down the beach while the others were placed on the ships sections arranged on the sand.

The scene slowly began to brighten and lose contrast like an aerial broadcast television signal fading onto a scintillatingly bright white,blue and two tones of grey fuzz while the smell of burning wood and roasting meat wafted briefly throught the lingering scent of sea,surf and the ubiquitus fishy aroma one can't escape near a shoreline anywhere.

a rushing forward,,time passing,,lots of time,,swirling colors,images,aging,,,changing,,

a place:

sunny,breezy,sandy,salty,happy,peaceful,,looking east into a sky that will be darkening in about two hours or so.A gently sloping beach,,becoming low tide flats rippling with very small foam topped rollers that turned into tiny hardly noticable miniature wavelets before flattening totally out across the smooth greyish sand of the exposed beach shorebed. Clumps of sea tossed piles of seaweed scattered the beach along with assorted pieces of flotsam from the sea here and there.A huge ancient driftwood trees obviously axe hacked end protruded about 8 foot above the sand at it's base where old and not so old fishy spinach like smelling seaweed lay piled around it about 3 feet from where the beach jutted upward becoming the bank cut into the dunes by the hightide waters.

A girl:

a young woman,almost nude,,a friend, comfortable, arousing, intelligent, warm, sexy,smelling like flowers,sunlight,healthy woman and a little booze.

Laying next to me on a towel cushioned surf board:

passing me a doob that smelled like some really good weed,smiling at me with beautiful bright green eyes glittering in the sun.

The sounds of:

waves,,steady,not strident,comfortingly rythymic,like a heartbeat,cries of seabirds from above and around.Laughter and high pitched girly squeels nearby,,

people:

a dark skinned man throwing and chasing a skim board in the rain puddle depth of the receeded tides soon to turn rippled waters surface,chasing it in order to jump on it and ride like a hot skurling iron across ice.A lighter dark skinned girl standing nearby wearing barely enough bright green fabric to cover her voluptuous figure watching him and saying endearing things while trying to throw a frizbee to him as he spun and skittered on the round piece of plywood,both laughing when physics overcame his struggles to remain vertical,stay on the board and catch the spinning disc she flipped toward him.Four white folks,,two girls and two guys playing volleyball with a multicolored beachball and a rope strung about six feet high between two rough australian pine limbs sticking up out of the sand about thirty feet apart.

a fade,,quickly becoming an almost right overhead bright full moon lit version of the same scene but with an odor like road kill whipping around on the electricly charged beach wind and battling another equally rotten yet different smell battling for dominance over each other and the seas usual super salty cat food soup aroma.

a figure kneeling at the base of the ancient driftwood tree trunk,,with a wild tangle of hair floating around their head was digging frantically into the beach sand made up of tiny shards and bits of seashells that caught the blueish white rays of the lunar light and threw it back out at the world in glittering scintillating twinkling flashes which mimicked the true stars scattered in their bed of feltlike deep blue black sky dusted by the lighter blue where the moons brightness washed through and into the more dark purply hues.

clawing spasmodically with bare hands untill a hole about half the figures arms length deep and wide around enough to get both arms into was excavated.The jerky movements abruptly ceased and the form went stock still,,both hands deep in the hole head cocked slightly askew like the RCA Victor pup as a fetid,disgusting,old nasty odor infused the breezy beach environment like an infectious creeping oozing pestilence.

As sudden as it stopped,,the frantic digging resumed,widening the hole toward the surf until a desired location was acheived after which the seeker stuck its hair haloed head down into the hole beyond its shoulders.after a bit of time passed during which the form twitched and jerked from whatever exertions it head and arms went through untill it extracted itself slowly and somehow oozing triumphant satisfaction over the grisly skeletal hand and forearm with a heavy metal cuff dangling a short links of chain off it's heavy thick circumference it pulled out of the hole and held high in the moonlight while spitting out small bits of matter from it's mouth with ptooing sounds.

After a few moments of muttering,giggling and nodding of it's head while clasping the macabre treasure to its loose dark cotton tunic like robe covered bosom it suddenly let out a gleeful shriek and dove back into the whole and began scattering sand evidently seeking another souvenier from the dark hole in the sand.

Eventually one hand stretched out to one side in order to lay a skull with several patches of short sort of wooly kinky black hair and a few strips of face flesh still stuck to it on the sand.A few minutes later amid squeals of delight the figure stood up with a long slightly curved thin bone in one hand and staring at a small pouch that dangled out of the other hand held up level with what now could be seen was a womans crazed odd appearing eyes.

Cackling like a movie crone she stooped to pick up the skull and iron fettered skeletal forearm.Scooping them into the hem of the long dark colored robe like tunic she headed off as,,

The eastern sky seemed to simply pull all things visible into a vanishing point in the middle of the horizon where the vaulted velvety bruse purple night sky met the darker farthest visible point somewhere below the clouds visible hanging low in the far sky.The colors delineated by the bright silvery blue white light pouring down from the full moon seemed to liquify in a slow instant and become elongated strings streaking to that singular point low,low under the far clouds that emptied the view of all color draining it to a flat,,grayish black shot through with small lavenderish flashes like sparks in black light color that,,

Swirled,pulsated and then coalesced into,,,

a place:

with walls that look like grass,,a dirt floor,,a hut.Glistening yellow and brown snakes writhing along the rough support poles and branches and stiks obviously placed for them to do just that as they pleased.Scattered in no apparent order were strips of cloth and string or rope or hair or vine or braided palm fronds hanging from roof walls sticks twigs.Some had little bags or pouches made of fur,hide,skins,scales,paper,small glass bottles with cork stoppers,,on them.Mainly only one per each,,yet a few had two or more.A door was in view,,the glow of a large fire glittered and scattered red-yellow light through a narrow tall doorway with what looked like spiderwebs strung across the upper portion,,sillouetting,,,,

A man;

smeared from head to toe with gray colored goop but for a few shapes,squiggly lines,dots of assorted colors on his face along with red rimmed white outlines around his eyes,,wearing a head cap that looked like it was made from owls feathers.flies crawled around it and his head,looking like animated watermelon seeds,a furry bag bound with bright copper wire to what appeared to be a dead green garter snake looped around his neck like a necklace.

Standing in front of a table with:

a cork stoppered bottle of rum,a worm eaten wooden bowl with odd disgusting bits in in,,,wooden,metallic and stone objects with cloth and feathers and fur stuck to or bound with wire,string or long hairs while,,,

The sounds of :

Drumming,voices chanting in an incomprehensible language,occasional outbursts of individual voices,,some alarming or hostile sounding others seemed ecstatic and still others sounding like they were in mortal agony wailing screaming laughter utterings mutterings whisperings screaming imploring intonations buttressing supporting framing lifting up,,

The chanting of,,

The man exuding sibilant and slithery pronunciations initially barely discernable even with out the din from outside that became slowly and yet in time with,some kind of rythym produced by the chanting drumming screaming wailing and moaning of human voices that sounded like they were not at all quite human that progressed into a steadily faster more manic tempo,a louder more strident intonation of what sounded more and more like a plea demand oration prayer yet was laced with fear parsed by awe and powered by base primal lust for power or sex or violence or satisfaction and glutton gorged torpor preceding the lightning attack to fill the soon enuff huge empty chasm within that produced,,,

A feeling:

Of loathing disgust a wipe it off get it out of here throw it away burn it total revulsion acst it into the depths of hell the abyss of space or the nuclear fire of the sun please ogod give me a stick a stone smash it crush it get a gun and shoot it overwhelming nuke it now spray it with raid beat it with a ball bat set it on fire push into the highway at rush hour want to kill it make sure no one is harmed by it gotta,,

Remember;

A name,,what is it?Whose is it?What is so important about it?Why can't it be recalled remembered remindable retainable repeatable were feeling questions that were suddenly arrested by,,

A voice;

Low loud slight large little huge miniscule enormous strident calm hard as diamond soft as the womb from behind beside inside outside above below between echoed settled rested darted flew crept pounced surrounded inundated infiltrated assaulted rescued restrained captured liberated while delivering producing creating understanding intoned inferred meant said,,

Be of good courage.Fear not.This will not overcome you but must come before that which births such can be made no more.Do what comes into your hand to do and it will be ended for a season.Be of good courage.Fear not.Have I not told you what you need to know?Will I not give you what you require?Have I called it and it will not come forth?Those who are wishful to help may not use my means.Their help is a reed though they are blessed for intent.Be gently understanding,offend not,prove their prescriptions with my proverbs.Their part is to contain,support,not fight,,they are to be protected by one of my little bright shining warriors so they may come into their place according to my will at their appointed times.Fashion your tools and weapons from what I give you through what they offer so you can,, declod,weed, break up run off clean out purge the fiery serpent,the deceitful worm from this field so the sowers of my crop may sow and the raver shall not lie in wait to corrupt infect destroy snatch away infest strangle turn those which are mine.You shall know them by their fruit as your heart knows my name and the name of my sent annointed begotten one that has been marked on you,,even though you have lost your view of My Anointed,, he whose you are and who which without nothing was made that was made and all things are given to him and placed under him on the right hand as he is my most beloved.You know,,have you not been told?,,fear not,,make your weapons as they come from the treasures hidden.Lean not to men whose hearts are decietfully decieved,,nor be fearful of Ob,the vassal of the prideful one,he who fell and wants to lead all flesh into living away from me with a tongue of deceit and a spirit of destruction.He who is the dead one and death.That ancient dragon whose time is short and whose wrath is fierce yet impotent against my words manifested will in a strong hearted vessel.Don,put on,,adorn yourself in me and my spirit.Whet your weapons with my stone and the oil of my people.Stand in my love,gird yourself with my light,go forth under my banner,,do,,accomplish,, succeed,,manifest my will.Bring,deliver my honor and my glory to me as I am He who caused it and He who provides all your need through my Sent Grace and Redeeming Spirit,,I will be with you.

Rushing;

standing moving resting fading becoming feeling seeing,,

Books,,books on shelves piled on the floor on chairs tables to the ceiling some stacks with the top one wedged tight against the ceiling on windowsills window seats outside piled around the trees filling the yard to the woods paths between through and into walls of books in between the trees obscuring other than the piles poking up through the forests crowning canopy casting shadows by obscuring the light rays of a late afternoon sun,,

Beckoning referring directing indicating moving focusing revealing finding handling opening,,

One book;

Large,open,white cover corners showing past inclined page edges,a waterfall and brook splitting through bright colorful trees,flowers,animals,birds spread across pages above in front behind around a man and a woman producing,,

feelings;

Of pleasure joy fun hope love delight content curiousity satisfaction wonder awe yearning,,

Rushing;

Standing moving resting fading becoming feeling seeing hearing,,

A knock;

On a jalousy windowed door set into a short portico concrete and block porch,two forms silouetted through the frosted panes covering most of the way up,the tops of two close cropped male hair dos peeking through the three set at face level inside a white painted wood frame with a brass chain latch and deadbolt lock,topped by a pulled down roller shade,,walking across a slighty yellow mainly black and dark mottled patterned red hi-low shag past a long black leather couch with brown wood cushion cut shaped pomels on same type fabric covered arms,,opening the door,,yeah,what can I do for you to two? being looked at by two bright eyed young men with white sweaty short sleeve shirts,slender dark ties,slacks, slick leather bottom shoes,smelling of sweat,two bikes leaning on the silver oak by the gravel driveway visible behind their smiling flushed by afternoon in summer heat faces,,have you heard of -

Banging,,thudding,a voice yelling,,'Hey,,are you in there?,,Dale had an accident,, his van don't go no mo' and he needs a ride home and I can't pick him up on my unicycle,dude." Bang,bang,knock knock."Hellooo,,you're cars here,,,are you-oo?"

Springing up out of the chair I had been feuging in I said really loud,,"It's open man,,quit pounding and twist the handle!"

The door popped open while I bent down and gathered my shoes.Standing back up straight to look him in the face I asked,,"What happened?Is he okay,,what about Melissa?Was she still with him when it happened?,what happened?".In a suddenly tickled sounding tone Mike said,,"Ooh,,ya worried about Melissa?You two musta hit it off pretty good then."

Sitting down on the bed to get my feet into my Pumas the crabbiness that a sudden waking on a fatigued mind can easily produce placed it's ugly pincers on my concern and I said,,"Screw you,dude.What happened?Where is he?"

His reply had no trace of levity or teasing tones,,,"Next to that old graveyard in your old neighborhood that we used to hang out in.He ran his van off the road and into those woods south of it and now can't get it out."

Finishing with my foot wear I stood up and headed to the bathroom while asking,"Is Amanda still with him?"

I heard his reply from outside my room,,"I don't know.He was using someones phone that sounded like it was a nursery school or something.Kids hollering and all.He just asked if I could get you to come pick him up."

Flipping the door nearly shut I twisted the sinks cold water handle and scooped the cold liquid up in my two cupped hands to splash onto my face and neck while considering what Mike said and sifting through the memory of the dreams I was having when he woke me up with this apparently 'not terrible',,but definitely,,'not good' news.

The dreams had a clarity to them that rarely occured.Way more so than the one this morning when Dale woke me up.Vivid,,sharp,,with smells even.And what a bunch of weird stuff to dream about!

Dabbing my hands on my pants in order to to pat dry them a bit I took a quick whizz while my little nagger took over the job of asking the endless list of questions it and I both had about the dreams and crazy stuff happening in such a frantic, seemingly ever increasing in speed,non verbal crazy like cartoony voice it made me suddenly become concerned for my sanity.

Mentally telling it to,,'shut up and sit still!',,I zipped up and splashed more cold tap water on my face and neck,,enjoying the fresh chillyness and getting a little more than anticipated down the back of my collar which gave me a short quiver before I stepped out while wiping my face and hands dry with my shirt tails and partially rolled up sleeves.

Mike,who was now leaning against the far arch post asked as I came out,,"You gotta doob,man?" Stopping,,I remembered the sack in my pocket and smiled real big when my hands questioning tap assured me it was still there.

I looked him in the eyes and said,,"Yes,,Mike,,I do.More than one.Let's roll a few before we go get him." before I snap spun the quarter turn needed to aim myself at my rooms door and took big strides to my stash box then around to my little table and sat down in the chair on the far side.

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