A.G.E's Joint

Monday night and it's late. The Busch cans are stacked on the table in front of me and the last thing  I remember is  a fast food law commercial before drifting off. "Over $1 Billion recovered. Call today to get your best settlement..." ******************************************************** I find myself in a large room, maybe a warehouse. A stack of storage containers sits in the corner of the room, each contains a dream.  Eenie, Meenie, meinie, moe. I choose a pink one, the second one from the top. The effort it takes to pull it out is exhausting. I hesitate briefly. Is it showtime in my dreams? Will it be comedy or tragedy? The room goes dark. A light flickers to my right and I enter it. I am in a river gorge, Palisades Shoals. Teenagers are climbing the cliff that runs along the bank. At the base is a group of girls dressed only in twelve-pack beer cartons, daring each other to jump naked into the water. Some boys nearby overheard and began to cheer: "Show us! ...

Tooling down the highway In a stretch limousine Tell the driver to pull off To get some caffeine We were waiting For the line to flow forth An advert looked back For a nudist resort Driver went to the head I sipped hot liquid And wondered what That place would have listed Too much sun Too much drink Nekkid people frolicking A communal sink. Amenities shown With attractive ladies You can’t pray a lie, I found that out. None were liabilities. Too much flesh To be under the sun Too much information To be such fun. “How far is this place?” I asked the driver with a pout He caught me by the arm “Three miles due south” Another adventure? I thought with a smirk As I piled into The back of the Merc Oh, why not? My driver agreed. It would be lark Being all freed. A small white sign Sat at the drive Pointing through the woods Where we should strive. And strive we did Roostertail in our wake To have our skin Marvelously baked. Without prompting Our shirts levitated As our hopes Would ...

The tenth floor apartment was not far from the park.   Limping, she leaned heavily on her cane as they entered the building. Inside the door was a modest unit fit for a single. A couch and coffee table sat on the opposite wall angled slight toward the corner where the TV was hung.   A door to the left was open, his made bed visible in the shadows. To the right was the galley kitchen.    “So, come on in.” Dropping the suitcase next to the couch. “It ain’t much, but it is home.  “Coffee? All I have is some decaf.”    “Ooh, that sounds good. I’m freezing.” “Did you want to change?” Red formed along the edge of his cheeks. “I can go back in…” “Oh, hush. I’m not modest.” She grabbed a quilt that was on the couch and wrapped it around her. The hands disappeared and with a whoosh, the wet top flew over her head and landed on Bart’s head. She laughed as his face grew redder and frightened. A pale pink bra appeared next. Looping it arou...

Fading into the gray, the dream of the asshole pigs and mother was replaced with faint images of Sarah and delicate lavender flowers, dimming into the black of death. The blackness stayed for such a long time he thought had death had really come. He wondered if the next sight was going to be Pastor Galloway, that false prophet,   saying “We are gathered here today…” But who would pay for a funeral for him? The thought drifted away almost as fast as it was formed. A slight glow grew in the lower left of his vision. He turned toward it, almost without being aware. Drifting on the tidewaters of never, he could feel something ebbing away, shadows of coral and whistles of the deep calming sore synapses.   Like a cork released, the sensation on rising, lifting enveloped his being. The round sun came through the surface like rippled glass.  Suddenly, there was Pressure. Pressure against his nostrils and chest, pulling him back towards the deep....