Saturday, March 06, 2010

beehive brains

Have you ever woken up with your mind feeling like a beehive. There's a thousand things buzzing in there but you just cannot put anything on paper. I am there today. And yes, we have to start somewhere, so- chronological is the way to go.

the friend

We had been expecting his call for a while now and were getting a little worried that he hadn't called yet. The phone rang and he said "where are you?"
Me and Su get into the car and drive towards the VTA station. We weren't sure how he had got there, but there he was - standing in the station with his back towards us. He was dressed as if he had just come from a pick-up game in the park. blue gym shorts with a blue 't' and a small backpack. I asked Su to call the dude and ask him to hop over the fence and get into the car when we pulled next to him on the other side. We had to make that u-turn and go around.
A few hours later [sure felt like a few days later] we were searching for him. The car was gone, we were following this street urchin who was leading us into what looked like an abandoned colony - all run down, in rubbles [nobody must have lived there for a hundred years]. 'I saw him wandering around here' he said, as Su put a few small notes in his hand.
As kids we had played in the torn down dutch bungalow. Those days flashed through my mind as we started going into each building trying to find him. A few hours later, we are still searching. I stop dead in my tracks. Something was crawling up my leg in my pants. Whatever it was stops too. I tear down my pants panicking, but being careful not to make it feel  threatened. It's a scorpion. small, black and deadly. And then it starts flying. I panic and start running. I think one of them found Su too, he's running too. That's when we see him. He's going up the stairs leading to the building before us. He's dressed in a red robe. He turns around and says 'They don't bite.'
We are an odd group even for this run down place. One in red robes, me in my boxers with my pants at my feet and Su - hmmm.. he still looks as if he's just come in to work. He leads us to this door which looks like its taped shut. He opens the door [and surprisingly the tape moves with the door] to a huge empty hall. The place is unusually clean for what it is in between. A huge mural is on the wall facing the entrance. There's me, Su and him in the mural - as kids playing in the Dutch Bungalow.. The cat wakes me up.
I pick up the phone, find him in my favorites - call him and say "Where are you?"