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!”