…Pahn has eaten
at a restaurant with Aiks
in the town where he was raised
He has tried to
find a bathroom in vain
He and Aiks
have started
walking North
through the waste area along the freeway
where he used
to explore as a child
but when they
come to the place
where the creek
used to flow into the city
he finds
instead an unexpected mountain
with cliffs and
pinnacles
Pahn walks with
Aiks
along the
freeway
with its ever-changing view
As they round the
end
of the mountain they
see
unobscured
in the distance
a broad cascading macramé
of water
falling
into a small valley…
…Pahn and Aiks
have descended
to the river that comes
from the
falls
It flows a deep murky grey-blue
through a ruin of riverfront
factories where naked frames
of girders rise from the
water and the shore
There are
many swimmers here
Pahn and Aiks
walk into the river
and swim upstream weaving
around the beams careful of their knees seeking
the cleaner lonelier lands
upriver where
the water flows
over rocks and is
clear to the bottom
Beyond the ruins
they come to a wild
and undeveloped landscape
where
they leave the river
through the dry
pastures
toward
a grove of pines
looking
for a place to camp
They come upon a
couple camping
with an angry
paranoid-schizophrenic
friend…
… back to the river
where it flows
now over
rocks
and
gravel
in a dry valley
of meadows and boulders
they find in the pools
giant enchanted carp
And looking back
downriver to
the slower water
they see
the paranoid-schizophrenic swimming
with a knife…
…They walk back
out
behind
the mountain
toward the town
to the ‘little girls room’
like a doghouse
too small for Pahn
that doesn’t even
have
a real toilet
(although Aiks had
used it first somehow)
so they go back to the river
and swim
downstream imagining
the
paranoid-schizophrenic
following them
As they glide in the deep water into the steel ruins again
they pass a crocodile/dinosaur whose back breaks
the surface and adds to their
uneasiness but looking
behind to see if anyone or anything
is still following
they see only
a dog
Aiks thinks the dog is after her
but Pahn sees
that it has a
tennis ball and only wants
to play
and Pahn throws
the tennis ball
for
it to fetch
Finally they
return to the river entrance
where they turn to look where
they have been and see
in the distance
the mountain pinnacles
in demon
shapes
dancing
and singing
Pahn
still needing a bathroom
walks into the
adjacent field and tilts over
a picnic table (as a screen)
but is uncomfortable
under the
overhanging eyes
of the demon spires
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