CHAPTER 41 The Dark Side Of The Moon
My job at Data Documents got easier and easier as I refined the delivery methods. On the weeks that I got things running smoothly, I could "kick ass" and finish it up with just under 40 hours on the time sheet. By reading old time sheets filled out by my predecessors, I was able to determine that the job had been averaging 54 hours per week and more, even with outside trucking help. I felt good about my success.
In the process of all this hard work, I made it a point to eat well also. In a few months, my physical appearance began to turn some heads in the offices where I delivered my orders.
SOMETHING FOR YOUR NOTEBOOK:
Good, hard physical work makes one a more attractive person.
In the summer I was treated to some celestially choreographed events, two were eclipses. One was a partial eclipse of the sun. The other was an incredible, full eclipse of the moon, the only one I have ever seen. On a hot summer night, the moon began its disappearing act just to the west. It took what seemed like a long time, but was really just an hour or so. The hills around me were full of people in cars, trucks and on foot. All had come to get away from the city lights and to see the eclipse more clearly. I could hear their hushed conversations up to a half-mile or more away. Sound carries wonderfully in the desert. I as usual, was alone at my hill house and the trampoline made a perfect observation platform.
Just as the moon began to grow seriously dark, I turned on the outside speakers and softly, played side two of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album. It finished just minutes before the moon became completely dark, save for a red halo. I could feel the appreciation of my spontaneous DJ work, from the people around me. The phenomenon was spectacular generating an ancient, oppressive feeling akin to fear. It seemed fitting, so I sent up a little prayer, asking God to send me someone. I was lonely, and tired of being lonely. At that moment as in answer, a fantastic shooting star traced a huge streak almost exactly from one side of the darkened moon to the other. A quarter mile away in the silence of the hills, I heard someone moan; "God".
Amen.
Within a few days I began to have a long string of one night stands and brief love affairs that were totally out of character with my normal lifestyle. Another Cathy. This one was a nurse and had kids. Another Barbara. This one was a student at Arizona State. Even River's girl Suzie had gotten into the act earlier, seducing me while Rivers was out of town. She certainly wasn't pretty or clean but biker chicks don't need to be. The list goes on. I even found a strange woman sitting on my steps late one night. She wouldn't even speak, but it was obvious romance was on her mind. I wondered if she were the person who had been burglarizing my place. I have no idea who she was, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. None of these relationships were satisfying. I was ready for some kind of major change in my life.
As June gave way to July, several strange things happened. First at the same time I was busy with Barbara, I rediscovered Sandy. I was in the neighborhood making a small delivery, and remembered her and Mitch's house in the cul-de-sac near 51st Avenue. I picked up a phone book, made a call and invited myself for coffee. It was pleasant and innocent enough. The coffee was weak, the conversation was uninteresting, and I got to meet Sandy's little five year old boy, Todd. That was nice. That was that. Nice to see you again, have a nice day.
What I did not expect, happened a couple of nights later. I was getting in from a date and perched up on my hill was a dark, sleek Ford LTD sedan. Perched on my trampoline next to the Ford, was Sandy and a girlfriend. Deep rumblings of the old passion I had held for her, began to stir in my soul. I was taken completely by surprise. Had I blinked my eyes, I would have fallen over.
We humans have various states of consciousness and awareness, depending on God's needs (or maybe our own) for the moment. By that I mean to say that we are limited to experiencing only what we are allowed. Our eyes, our ears, our very destiny is controlled by what God (or whatever you want to call it that is more powerful than ourselves), thinks we can handle.
"You see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear" - Harry Nillson from "The Point". Thanks, Harry.
I had discovered this dramatically some five years earlier, when I tried to do a late-night rock show at KSPN in Aspen. My morning show was doing fine but I was in the mood to do some rock & roll. I played one or two songs, answered one request twice, went blank and literally passed out on the floor. No drugs, no booze, plenty of sleep. Somebody somewhere was doing something that God agreed, needed their full attention and privacy. I and the radio station were simply removed from the picture for a few hours. I woke up on the studio floor the following morning. The automation was not on. I had zonked.
In the case of Sandy and her girlfriend, I simply took Sandy in my arms and confessed my old feelings for her. When I looked around, the girlfriend was laying on the other end of the trampoline, out cold. I could tell from that, something major was about to happen involving Sandy and I. I was right. We had, for most of a month, the most torrid love affair of my life, or hers I think, up to that point.
Like someone once said, and many since have repeated; Watch out what you pray for. You might just get it.
In the process of all this hard work, I made it a point to eat well also. In a few months, my physical appearance began to turn some heads in the offices where I delivered my orders.
SOMETHING FOR YOUR NOTEBOOK:
Good, hard physical work makes one a more attractive person.
In the summer I was treated to some celestially choreographed events, two were eclipses. One was a partial eclipse of the sun. The other was an incredible, full eclipse of the moon, the only one I have ever seen. On a hot summer night, the moon began its disappearing act just to the west. It took what seemed like a long time, but was really just an hour or so. The hills around me were full of people in cars, trucks and on foot. All had come to get away from the city lights and to see the eclipse more clearly. I could hear their hushed conversations up to a half-mile or more away. Sound carries wonderfully in the desert. I as usual, was alone at my hill house and the trampoline made a perfect observation platform.
Just as the moon began to grow seriously dark, I turned on the outside speakers and softly, played side two of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album. It finished just minutes before the moon became completely dark, save for a red halo. I could feel the appreciation of my spontaneous DJ work, from the people around me. The phenomenon was spectacular generating an ancient, oppressive feeling akin to fear. It seemed fitting, so I sent up a little prayer, asking God to send me someone. I was lonely, and tired of being lonely. At that moment as in answer, a fantastic shooting star traced a huge streak almost exactly from one side of the darkened moon to the other. A quarter mile away in the silence of the hills, I heard someone moan; "God".
Amen.
Within a few days I began to have a long string of one night stands and brief love affairs that were totally out of character with my normal lifestyle. Another Cathy. This one was a nurse and had kids. Another Barbara. This one was a student at Arizona State. Even River's girl Suzie had gotten into the act earlier, seducing me while Rivers was out of town. She certainly wasn't pretty or clean but biker chicks don't need to be. The list goes on. I even found a strange woman sitting on my steps late one night. She wouldn't even speak, but it was obvious romance was on her mind. I wondered if she were the person who had been burglarizing my place. I have no idea who she was, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. None of these relationships were satisfying. I was ready for some kind of major change in my life.
As June gave way to July, several strange things happened. First at the same time I was busy with Barbara, I rediscovered Sandy. I was in the neighborhood making a small delivery, and remembered her and Mitch's house in the cul-de-sac near 51st Avenue. I picked up a phone book, made a call and invited myself for coffee. It was pleasant and innocent enough. The coffee was weak, the conversation was uninteresting, and I got to meet Sandy's little five year old boy, Todd. That was nice. That was that. Nice to see you again, have a nice day.
What I did not expect, happened a couple of nights later. I was getting in from a date and perched up on my hill was a dark, sleek Ford LTD sedan. Perched on my trampoline next to the Ford, was Sandy and a girlfriend. Deep rumblings of the old passion I had held for her, began to stir in my soul. I was taken completely by surprise. Had I blinked my eyes, I would have fallen over.
We humans have various states of consciousness and awareness, depending on God's needs (or maybe our own) for the moment. By that I mean to say that we are limited to experiencing only what we are allowed. Our eyes, our ears, our very destiny is controlled by what God (or whatever you want to call it that is more powerful than ourselves), thinks we can handle.
"You see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear" - Harry Nillson from "The Point". Thanks, Harry.
I had discovered this dramatically some five years earlier, when I tried to do a late-night rock show at KSPN in Aspen. My morning show was doing fine but I was in the mood to do some rock & roll. I played one or two songs, answered one request twice, went blank and literally passed out on the floor. No drugs, no booze, plenty of sleep. Somebody somewhere was doing something that God agreed, needed their full attention and privacy. I and the radio station were simply removed from the picture for a few hours. I woke up on the studio floor the following morning. The automation was not on. I had zonked.
In the case of Sandy and her girlfriend, I simply took Sandy in my arms and confessed my old feelings for her. When I looked around, the girlfriend was laying on the other end of the trampoline, out cold. I could tell from that, something major was about to happen involving Sandy and I. I was right. We had, for most of a month, the most torrid love affair of my life, or hers I think, up to that point.
Like someone once said, and many since have repeated; Watch out what you pray for. You might just get it.
posted by freespeak@gmail.com at 1:14 PM
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