The invisibility of the dark ages made it virtually impossible to connect-the-dots in those last 15 minutes of my dream as my eyes started to flip flop and flutter at the splendor of colors that flooded through the escape hatch of my silhouetted reality, which alone was enough to move your soul into the lap of eternity and turn cartwheels into wings with no harness. As I woke I heaved a sigh of relief knowing that I finally had flying under wraps!

“Greta, I schwear, he zaid dat if vee pile all zah hay as high as vee kan before zah sun goes down, den vee all vill get extra day to sit vonderink about zah boys who roll vis dah girls in dah hay, and dat vee might even get to see vone of dem.” Ach Hilda, you dream susch schtupit schtuff. No vone gets to si dah boys who roll vis dah girls in dah hay. Dat is schtory to make us look schtupit.” “Vait a moment, vait a moment” exclaimed Edeltraut, “I saw vone of dem vone time and ever sins I saw dat boy I’ve gotten zo fat!” “Edeltraut, yu mean yu met si boys dat roll vis dah girls in dah hay?” “Jah, jah, it vas fantastisch!”

Cowboy Cody Kelley squinted his black beady eyes, took a long drag off his stumpy self rolled cigarette and slapped his flaps against his chaps! He gazed intently out onto the prairie. No eagle, buffalo nor prairie dog was safe when Cody Kelley was on the lookout. His four inch stature would fill the plain with an ear-piercing screech like the squeal of locomotive wheels braking on the tracks and the eagle would flee, the buffalo bolt and the prairie dog dash into his burrow. That was the magnitude of Cowboy Cody Kelley. All, except his Mom, feared him.

In my world of inner independence there is never a fence, never a boarder, never a rim to the horizon. The edges are blurred and faded. There are holes in the cloth, tears in the fabric, leaks in the bucket and slits in the wood. There is a way, a path, a road, and a highway; an option, a choice, an opportunity, and a possibility. There is: light dark joy grief tears laughter and love. There is you and I, they and we no one and everyone all at once. Vulnerability reigns silence sings, dancing rules piano strings ring, freedom shouts and I am queen in my world of inner independence.

W.C. Fields knew it was not going to be his day when Ms. Badonsky, his 4th grade teacher had put the assignment of describing a field on the board. Now what was a kid, with the last name of Field’s supposed to do with this? She told them they had to somehow describe it, but then she said it was o.k. if they made up anything they wanted… he never could quite understand Ms. Badonsky. She never could make up her mind. It was hard to know what she really wanted at all. Actually, he secretly knew she wanted a man. Not just any old man. She wanted “the ONE”. You know, the kind that gives you everything but wants nothing from you and leaves you alone. The kind that is your best friend, is loyal, follows you everywhere (only when you want him to), never complains and is happy when he gets burnt meatloaf. She wants the kind of man that can describe a beautiful, expansive green field, luring you in with an array for bright adjectives that describe a realm beyond reality and makes you want to disappear beyond the blue horizon where that field seems to disappear, but perhaps goes on forever. The kind of man that can write about what is happening beyond the horizon with words that express the vastness of that natural tectonic wonderment; a man who knows how to use the words wispy and delicate and fragile. Yes, that’s it. She wants a man who is fragile. But not physically – no that’s a whole other topic. She wants a man who is fragile as in sensitive and intuitive and strong; one that will carry her across that field whispering into her ear how much he loves her and how he’ll take care of her and that he will always pay when then go out to eat. W.C. found himself drifting further and further into this spinning fantasy about Ms. Badonsky that he didn’t even notice that the lunch bell had rung and he was left sitting alone, in the classroom, daydreaming, while Ms. Badonsky simply smiled from her desk, calling him gently back.

Go east of the moon down G St. and turn right between Lily and Thorn into the dead-end alley halfway down the block. Go past the blue recycle bins and black trash cans on the left and follow the mouse tail peaking out of the hole in the wall behind the abandoned lawn mower. Be sure you duck so you don’t hit your head on the hole’s header and as soon as you get through make a sharp right behind the drywall. There you’ll find a stud. Turn yourself into violet blue thought vapor, which will enable you to drift between the studs in the wall without being heard. Vapor past the electrical wiring and copper plumbing pipes till you get to the only lag screw at the bottom of the 9th stud. There’s a crack in the plywood there that you’ll be able to seep through to get into the mechanical shaft. Once you’re in the mechanical shaft you’ll waft upward. The shaft will take you through the vent pipe to the roof. Once you make it to the roof you’ll want to take control of your body again, because you’ve made it through the tightest part of these directions. Let your body start to materialize, and as you see your fingers and hands reappear in front of you, look to the right. Waiting on the roof for you is a black raven. He’s prepared to teach you how to soar in the middle of the night but you have to pay very close attention to his instructions. If you thought these directions were tough – his will be slightly more intricate. First, you must shed your cloths, and what that really means is that you have to shed your inhibitions. You see, you think you are naked, but in reality you’re just a body with no clothes and that shouldn’t stop you from flying. So, drop the inhibitions, it’s nighttime anyway. Next, you have to trust. This is the most difficult for humans standing naked on the roof with no clothes about to take instructions from a raven that is supposed to teach them how to fly at midnight. So, now that we have all of that out of the way, just relax, pay close attention and let the raven show you how it’s really done….“Your metamorphosis is at hand and many will think you are a trickster because you constantly change, but don’t let this stop you from leaping off this roof knowing that you will ascend and not fall. Look and you will see. Truth is not seen by physical eyes, and your transformation will make it possible for you to see what others cannot. Follow your visions because they are your magic and the harbinger of messages from the cosmos. Look, nestled in my wings are messages beyond time and space and they are coming to you because you are worthy of the knowledge. Shhh… you are now a keeper of secrets – heed your gift of knowing answers to hidden thoughts. Now, jump. Spread your wings and look in all directions because all directions are yours for the taking. Soar in freedom!”

Doris bought the blue tennis shoes on a whim. They were on sale for only $9.99:Thrifty Drug Store Bargain Bin Summer Specials. They were the imitation Ked kind of tennis shoes. Everyone was wearing the real Keds that summer but she thought she could get away with these. None of the other kids would know they weren’t real Keds. That was a big deal for her, because she wasn’t the kind of girl that could go to the mall and buy designer, brand named items, yet she had an eye for bargains that made her look like she’d been shopping in the expensive boutiques along with the rest of them. Only she shopped alone, in general. And usually at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, Goodwill or the bargain bins of the corner drug store. But she didn’t mind, because sometimes the real price tags were left on the donated items and this made her feel especially proud. Then, not only was the item a real deal, but also it was new. When she found her bargain for the day she had no idea that the simple pair of blue “Ked-like” tennis shoes she had put into her shopping cart weren’t ordinary tennis shoes. She was attracted to them because they were blue, new and looked like Keds: the vogue of the summer. All the way home she could smell the new odor of unworn rubber and canvas. It made her smile. When she got home, she drank a glass of cold lemonade and put on her new shoes. It was so hot that a nap in the meadow seemed like a good idea. But Doris wasn’t aware that the lemonade she had just drank was the very ingredient the blue tennis shoes required to trigger an aerodynamic levitation mechanism that once she was asleep would activate and transport her into a realm of big flowered dresses and long hair. Doris had blond, short hair, and was known to be a tomboy, always wearing shorts and t-shirts. She wore those tennis shoes out over the next three summers. They were full of holes by the time she threw them in the trash. Everyday she would put them on, drink a glass of cold lemonade and go nap in the meadow. To imagine those tennis shoes could be anything less than magical never crossed her mind, but little did she know it was the lemonade.

Summer memories…. Early morning sprinklers watering the lawn The smell of heat rising on asphalt Sage and wild buckwheat mixed with dirty jeans The smell of wet sandy earth under the grapefruit trees. Fresh peeled tangerines. Sweat. The smell of salty air The taste of salty water The foamy splash of salty waves against the skin Oil from the tractor Suntan lotion – coconut Lazy afternoons watching the Twilight Zone in the middle of the day because it was too hot. Baking sugar cookies The whirr of the swamp cooler The coolness of the adobe walled rooms Rocky road ice cream Cream soda and root beer Churning vanilla ice cream in my grandparent’s old wooden ice cream maker. The dog leash’s leathery smell Rattles of the rattlesnakes Chirping of the cicadas Hummingbirds humming Jeep cavalcade up the canyon Coyotes howling in the night