Taking the Caddy to Mountain Time.
Part 6
(Say hello to the Chief…..)
There are certain kinds of headaches,
from skull busters, to little nagging ones, half siders, those that dance
behind your eyes, there are many kinds and poor Bill was in the process of
getting a headache, how it would end up was anyone’s guess, so Bill, had no
chance! All Bill knew was that this one
was beginning to hurt, a bit like the kind he had experienced on occasion
usually the morning after one of those nights that had been pushed along with
the help of too much alcohol, maybe chemically enhanced, probably one caused by
both, probably as a result of being kicked into touch by a young lady who was not
interested, all he knew was that this was developing into a pain he had so far
on this trip not experienced and one he also knew that for him to try to make
any sense of, if this road trip was anything to go by so far, was futile!
He sat around the raging fire that was
dancing away merrily in front of the group, trying as best he could to assess
the situation, on one hand he felt like he belonged with these people and so he
felt comfortable but what he found most hard to deal with were the blurred
edges between, what was his interpretation of reality, and what he was actually
seeing, which up to now, was most definitely, far from normal! He leant back and planted his elbows into the
dirt, directly on the other side of the fire to him he could see Mr Young, Bill
was, yet again, amused, maybe slightly alarmed at the sight of Mr Young pouring
from a bottle of Mission Bell into six glasses, set before him with meticulous
precision on account of the desert floor not being exactly….flat, this sight in
itself was making Bill’s brain start to boil, why were there six glasses? He
could only remember there were only ever four of them, including himself, oh……
and Croz who as far as Bill knew, had not joined them yet, too busy in his shop
for a spot of desert fun, the only other
he could think of was Jim and Jim, was a dog, although a nice dog, a friendly
dog, a down right fucking weird dog
but still a dog and as far as Bill could ascertain not a dog who was partial to
some of this extremely palatable grape juice. While Mr Young was still pouring,
Bill started to focus, he began to see all before him, in fact everyone sat
around the fire, he looked to his right, very gingerly at first, trying to
remain casual, he stared at the denim clad legs by the side of him and as he
slowly moved his eyes up to the waist and up the body of this person, as he got
to a part of the body where he thought
he was safe, where he would not be noticed, the owner of this body suddenly looked
up,
“How are you doin’ Man”, it was Gram,
his friendly smile wide enough to uncover two rows of gleaming white teeth,
Bill reeled back in fright,
“Jesus.H! You nearly made me piss my
jeans…….again!” said a genuinely shocked Bill! Gram found that very funny, he continued
laughing as he leant forward into the fire to light a doobie that was as big as
a King Edward, as he drew himself back he took a big pull on the joint, Bill
watched him and although he was sure
that this was not normal, he let the
thought and indeed the sight, drift away from his mind, it was just too strange
to stay there….for the moment at least!
“Sorry Man,” Gram squeaked, blinking
wildly as the smoke drifted around his face,
” Here, have a go on this Man, this
will calm your jitters”, he handed Bill the joint, Bill looked at the offering,
then back up to Gram who by now had his eyes closed and a very satisfied look had
appeared upon his face,
“No thanks, I used to, but that was then, this is now, I’m a
different man these days, I reckon my senses are soft enough without the aid of
that stuff, although…” he took a deep sniff of the smoke swirling from the
stick, he began to take more quick
‘sniffs’, each one in turn gradually changing his expression from that of curiosity
to a very knowing recollection, they do say that certain smells are very
evocative and this smell was no
exception, he continued,
“ I must admit, it does smell good and kind
of familiar too, where did you get it?” Gram sat up and appeared to be giving
the question a lot of thought, and then quietly he turned to Bill and with a
nod, beckoned him to come closer,
“Man, I got it from a friend of mine,
Dave!”, Bill looked confused and he looked around him for this….Dave,
“Dave? Who
is he? Come to think of it, where is he? “Bill nervously looked behind him beginning
to feel slightly uneasy; he suddenly turned his thoughts to the extra wine
glass earlier!
“Ok, you got me, where is he then, where is
this….. Dave?” Gram could not contain himself any longer; he pulled Bill close
to him and whispered straight to his face,
“Dave’s not here Man!” he slowly pulled away
and collapsed backwards laughing hysterically; Bill looked around him then down
to Gram, by now rolling on the floor! Bill looked mystified, not for the first
time had he felt alienated, although he thought of Gram as one of his new best friends, he felt the urge to hit
him so hard with a burning log from the fire!
Bill just sat staring into space
for what seemed like an age, he had accepted his mocking, did not have a clue
why, Gram found it funny, so I guess…….it
was funny, Bill slowly cracked a smile, even this Dave guy seemed to be all of a sudden, amusing to Bill! As Bill turned to Gram to admit defeat, he stopped
and suddenly, yet again, he became acutely aware of the strange aura coming from his friend, he had
failed to notice before, almost like a coating that was covering Gram’s whole
body! At first he thought it was just the shimmering glow from the fire, but
this was different, Grams movements, although slight at first and hardly
noticeable, were somehow looking almost, staggered, as if his body were being bathed in some kind of strobe light, this in turn making his
gestures, his mannerisms, look like they were part of a time lapse of some kind, very strange, very hypnotic and yet, quite
beautiful, Bill was mesmerised! After staring for a while, Bill suddenly sat
bolt upright! Something about Gram had become clear, very clear and with the
clarity of the scene unfolding before him, Bill began to feel the blood pumping
up to the vein in his forehead with such force, his head yet again began to
pound! In the first instance, Gram
appeared, as he always did, weather beaten, a man with a certain impish quality
to him, a good looking troubadour, a dude who would be able to conjure up a
song or a tale about anyone or anything, he was a truly elegantly wasted son of the desert, Bill hated him, he still
afforded him a smile but although he hated him for being the butt of jokes, he could
somehow see that Gram was all that he wished he was himself! Then, Bill first
noticed, all was not as it seemed, Gram had kicked off his boots, stretched out
his legs and was resting his feet…..in the fire! Bill looked at the sight
before him, two bare feet playing in the fire, two bare feet moving the red hot
embers around, two bare feet making patterns on the floor with the ashes and
all the while, his jeans not getting burnt, singed or even scorched in any way!
Gram looked over to the staring, wide
eyed Bill, he could see that some form of explanation was needed, he reached
over and slowly shook Bill, and quietly he began to speak,
“It’s ok Bill, it’s cool, well it is to
me anyway, just think to yourself, that was then, that is, I…… come from back
then, and I wish I could come back, I want to come back…. but I can’t, this is
where I belong, this is my home, this is where I was meant to be, I think deep
down, you understand, you have known from the first time we met on the train, I
could tell”! With that he gave Bill a knowing wink and smile, yet again
revealing his white teeth, he then
slowly laid back down on to the desert floor, lifted his arm and began to lower
the smouldering joint he was holding, down to his lips, he took a deep draw on
it and again smiled to himself, satisfied with his explanation to Bill!
Bill, confused, shocked but most of all feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness, sat up and began to look hard
and deep into Gram’s eyes,
“Pardon me for asking, but are you……real?
“Am I….. Imagining you? You must be……you have to be real!” Bill looked around him for some sort of
encouragement from somebody, anybody, but nobody said a word! Bill turned away and back to Gram,
“Oh Jesus, fuck this shit, this is
doing my head in big time, am I losing it, come on Man, give me a clue will
you!” Bill begged him but the only sound he could hear were the crackles coming
from the fire! Suddenly Gram began to sit up, he stared into the flames on top
of the fire, his eyes appeared to be wet with sorrow, he pulled on the joint,
“I was real once, way, way back in
the day, I was a troubled guy, things got crazy, I got crazy, so did a lot of
my friends, I got fucked up, we all did, if it wasn’t for me and my buddy Keith,
he was English too, if it wasn’t for him, things would have, for me anyway,
become so dark and so lonely!” Bill smiled, recalling the first time that he
heard of Keith, back on the train, Gram continued,
“We were like wild horses Man, more
than buddy’s, barefoot sons of the desert, I loved the guy, not in a physical
way, we both loved chicks, we shared the ladies if you know what I mean, we were
like brothers, we wrote songs together, we played together, it was cool Man,
but if you fly too close to the flames, you get burnt and I flew straight into
the fire and like so many back then, too many, I just simply burnt out! Gram
became quiet, as if he were thinking, the glow from the fire shining against
the tear drop falling down his cheek,
“So my friend, I have been waiting
for a kindred spirit to someday join me, to come say hi, to walk with me, just
for a while, because when you ‘aint ready to go but you are taken, you are in
kind of a limbo world and you wait for the right person to come along, someone
who can see through all the dust, hopefully that person will stay a while and I
reckon that person is you my friend!”
Bill sat there, in front of the red
and orange glow from the fire, very quiet, trying to make sense of what he had
just heard, he was not even sure if he had heard what he thought he had heard,
the fact of the matter was, he was more unsure than ever, he did not know how
he felt, he did not know how he should be feeling, most of all, how he should
even begin to answer!
Mr Young had moved around the fire and sat
down next to Bill, he nudged his arm against Bill’s,
“Here you go amigo, get that down you”,
and he offered him a glass of Mission Bell,
“I reckon you look like you need it”! Bill looked at Mr Young, then at the glass of
wine, he grabbed it and chugged the whole glass down in one, as he finished he
wiped his mouth with his shirt and continued staring ahead into the fire!
“Christ Billy Boy, you should really sip
that stuff, savour the flavour, don’t just slam it down, Bill seemed to snap
out of the stare,
“What? Oh yeah, sorry, but I reckon I ……..needed
that!” it was then that Bill seemed to remember another nagging question from
earlier,
“Oh yeah, that’s right, yeah…..who is the
sixth glass for?”
Then, out of
the darkness, he could hear Pam’s voice,
“It’s for him over there”! Bill looked in
front of him, straining through the flames to see who she meant,
“Who, I can’t see nobody!” Mr Young put his arm around Bill's shoulder,
and pulling him to the right a little, he began pointing across the fire”
“For him, the Chief has come to join us, say
hello Bill!”
