While on the Gallia County Farm, I decided to roam up into the hills and be among the trees. After strolling down into the field behind the Farmhouse, I headed toward the hill at the west end of the field. When I reached the foot of the hill, I was dismayed to discover someone had chopped down the trees which had been growing on the hill, and apparently had sold them for timber. I thought whoever had sold the trees had probably made quite a bit of money.
I was concerned the hill would erode, now that all the trees had been felled. I recalled the many deep gullies which gutted the hill directly behind the Farmhouse. That hill must also have been covered by trees at one time. When the hill had been cleared off, the deep trenches must have formed.
My attention was distracted by something I saw on the ground – a cellophane baggie which appeared to contain marijuana. I picked up the baggie and looked more closely at the content. Seeing the substance inside had a lighter color than marijuana, I concluded it probably wasn't marijuana. Other baggies also lay scattered around on the ground, one of which had the corner torn off as if someone had twisted the baggie to extract the last little bit of marijuana.
I wondered who might have left the baggies there and although unsure, thought perhaps the person had been my brother-in-law James. I knew he smoked a lot of pot.
Kneeling down behind a large log, I opened the baggie with the substance inside to take a closer look at it. The contents were quite damp. When I saw some seeds which clearly resembled marijuana seeds, I thought perhaps the substance actually was marijuana. Raising the stuff to my nose, I detected an odor resembling marijuana.
When I had finished, I closed the baggie and stood up. Suddenly I noticed several people standing nearby. Since two of them had walked past me while I had been looking inside the baggie, I figured they had probably seen me.
I paid them little mind. Instead I turned back toward the Farmhouse and began walking along the small creek which flowed through the field. The creek had quite a bit of water in it, apparently from a recent rain. Some people were trying to cross the creek at a ford; but I decided to walk on down to the old hay barn and cross over there at the little bridge. My only concern was that the ground might be muddy near the barn, and that I might become stuck in the mud.
One of the people trying to cross the creek resembled my first cousin Alan. Although I didn't focus on the fellow, I did begin having images of Alan in my mind, imagining he had become a movie producer who was going to need someone to be in one of his movies. Suddenly I envisioned myself as that very person.
I also had images of Leo Alonzo, a fellow whom I had once met on a trip to Mexico City, Mexico. In my imagination, this Mexican fellow and I had been sent to Mexico City to be in the movie which Alan was producing.
***
The Mexican fellow and I were walking along a street in Mexico City. At least the place seemed like Mexico City, although I thought it was possible the street had just been created for the movie to resemble a street in Mexico City. The street was crowded with people screaming and shouting. Amid the hustle and bustle, a red car suddenly came ripping down the street and jumped onto the sidewalk. People scurried out of the way as fast as they could to avoid being run over.
As the Mexican man and I walked past a store front, a man bowed over so a large billfold was visible in his back pocket. Abruptly, a young boy grabbed the billfold, and tried to run off with it, but the boy was unsuccessful because the billfold was attached by a chain to the man's belt. The man immediately grabbed the billfold and thrust it back into his pocket. The man didn't seem angry – he just seemed to think it was natural for someone to try to steal his billfold.
Sitting next to the man were a number of tin cans stuffed with money. I imagined the cans were used for contributions to a church, and I even thought I saw the word "Baptist" written on them.
***
The Mexican man and I were walking down a country road. I was still thinking about the movie, realizing I knew nothing about it. But something took my mind away from the movie: on the ground ahead of us, an old bi-wing airplane was taking off. Once the plane attained the air, it flew briskly across the horizon and then straight up into the sky. But suddenly the plane began smoking, turned into a nose dive and headed straight toward the ground. Just as the plane was about to smash into the earth, it pulled out of the dive, and lifted back into the sky. Finally the plane headed in for a landing and safely touched down.
My companion and I hurried toward the plane. As soon as we reached it, I realized we were looking at a stunt plane. Apparently the pilot was taking people on rides, and once he was in the air, he would pretend to crash, only to pull out of the dive at the last second.
With little thought, the Mexican man and I decided we wanted to take a ride on the stunt plane, and after paying the pilot some money, climbed aboard. As soon as we were in the plane, I took off my shoes and sat down in the seat, which resembled a seat in a car. But unlike a car, the plane had no top – our upper bodies were completely exposed to the elements and we didn't have any seat belts; instead, we were given a couple pieces of wood, which we were supposed to stick into some hooks, and then hang onto for dear life. The pilot revved up the motor and we began taxiing down what appeared to be a city street. I immediately became apprehensive; I was afraid this time, when the pilot began his stunt dive, he would be unable to pull out, and we would crash. Thinking I might need to put my shoes back on, I asked the pilot if anyone ever jumped out when the plane spun into a nose dive. He answered, "Yea." I asked him what happened to those people and he responded, "Oh they just break their leg or they lose it."
"Lose it?!" I answered incredulously. That sounded quite ominous to me. I said, "This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life."
Still holding the two pieces of wood in my hands, I handed one to my companion and advised him to stick it in something and try to brace himself with it. I also pulled on my shoes, thinking that if I did decide to jump out of the plane, I would need to be wearing them. But I also thought staying in the plane might be safer, even if it did look as if the plane were going to crash. If I stayed in the plane, there would still be a chance the plane would pull out of the dive.
I asked my companion what he thought. When he responded that he was unafraid, I said, "Judgment day is near."
He responded, "Praise the Lord."
It sounded as if he were also beginning to feel a little apprehensive about the whole matter.
Copyright 2010 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
