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The fish in the creek said nothing. Fish never do. Few people know what fish think about injustice, or anything else.
–Ursula K. Le Guin
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“And can all the flowers talk?”
~Alice, Through the Looking Glass
“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love.”
–John Muir
Two weeks away from home seems like a really long time, especially in August when almost everyday marks a celebration of a loved one’s birthday or anniversary. Then there’s the garden where the roses and clematis are just starting to re-bloom. The cucumbers are ripening on the vine and becoming ready for pickling. In August there are lush, ripe vegetables calling out everyday to be picked and eaten. It’s so hard to step away from the beautiful sight of what you spend so much time nurturing and from what nourishes you.
On the other hand, two weeks is not nearly enough time away when you look up from the roses and sense the frenzy of fall chaos rapidly spinning towards you. Is there a way to put the brakes on the flow time?
Yes. Yes, there is. I have found the answer to the problem of time and I’m here now to share that wisdom with the world.
Here’s how to make time slow down to a crawl: schedule yourself a 12-hour bus ride. Make it an overnight ride leaving at 8:30 p.m. and arriving at the destination at 8:30 a.m.
So that’s the answer. You’re welcome. I’ll now give the play-by-play of the experience in case you need to live it vicariously. I can’t imagine why you would, but hey, it’s your life.
I had no idea how lucky I was the first 4 hours off the trip with all my leg room in the spacious aisle seat and with my silent, sleeping neighbors. Time nearly came to a complete standstill when I found myself on the layover at our first bus stop. To my left a small child bawled in his unsympathetic mother’s lap and to my right an adult woman bawled into her cell phone. Sandwiched in between this much human tragedy I began to question my own life decisions, as one does, at 1:08 a.m. in a Nashville bus station. The stereo sounds of misery abruptly ended a few moments later when a grown man wearing a Burger King crown walked by and belched; it was a sight and sound unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. The burp itself had a sustained reverb that went on for way longer than anything like that ever should and the deep bass notes echoed against the station’s cavern-like walls, floor, and ceiling. It was so startling that everyone put their suffering on hold to take a moment of stunned silence. To some degree, the King’s burp was a relief felt by all.
The next leg of the trip I had a window seat and my new found friend, Tall Tom the Talker, had the aisle. When he wasn’t talking or asking questions, he was asleep and taking up all of his seat and 2/3 of mine. At least he smelled nice. Before this bus ride I had actually bragged to someone about my ability to sleep anywhere. Those words alternately haunted and entertained me as I sat squashed up against the bus wall shivering from the cold. I wiled away the hours staring at the candy wrappers and trash that bygone passengers had crammed into the metal grate below the tinted windows.
At 5:40 a.m. I found myself in Knoxville, where there was less crying and more mullets. One man’s mullet defied the “business in the front, party in the back” rule. His mullet’s party crashed rebelliously through the front door of his business. It featured two braided pigtails styled to cascade forward over his shoulders and down his chest nearly to his waist. He completed his ensemble with a red t-shirt, cut-off blue jean shorts, rainbow socks, and red tennis shoes.
The time warp continued as I stood in line waiting to board the third bus past the time we were supposed to be departing. On the last leg of the magic bus ride I watched the sun rise over the mountains of North Carolina. Twelve hours is all that elapsed on that bus ride and there was a time change somewhere along the way so the trip was only 11 hours, technically. But I was awake and present in those 12 hours (yes, 12) and I’m here to tell you eternity was in the felt experience.
Thinker on a Rock, Sculpture Garden in D.C.
Somewhere in the bowels of D.C.
South Main, Memphis, TN
An Invasion at the Squirrel Nut Zippers Concert
Love itself describes its own perfect. Be speechless and listen.
–Rumi
One cat just leads to another.
–Ernest Hemingway
Don’t we love to turn our little blue world upside down?
–Tori Amos
Buried beneath warm blankets, in the quiet shifting shadows just before sunrise, there arises an urgent need to share…
Me: Ostriches look like they have a lot of pent up anger with no adequate means to express it.
Him: That’s what you’re thinking?
They see me long before I become aware of being watched. They adjust to my movements silently and invisibly. Is it ignorance or arrogance to be so unaware? Perhaps neither. They have the evolutionary advantage of having eyes on stalks.
When I become still enough to notice my breath and feel my heartbeat I begin to detect an unsettling presence. I close my eyes and remind myself I am the one here in predator form. I open my eyes and see the trees covered with hundreds of eyes and legs and claws darting away from my gaze. Later I will learn the name of these creatures: mangrove tree crabs. For now, we all settle back into stillness.
Deep within the mangrove a winged-thing shrieks. I gaze down at the water. First, there’s only my rippled reflection and the clouds. Then beneath the surface a frightenly huge figure manifests itself. Surely this beast is a figment of my imagination. It’s as big as the kayak and gliding by close enough to touch.
“Um…there’s a giant sea monster coming up on your right,” I warn over my shoulder.
He doesn’t belive me. Doesn’t comment. Doesn’t even look.
“Like the Lochness Monster…” I add.
Nothing.
“It’s huge. Bigger than you. I hope it doesn’t turn your kayak over and eat you.” I really don’t know who I’m talking to at this point.
Maybe I imagined it.
I am the predator here, I affirm silently, though with a little less certainty.
And then suddenly there’s another monster beside my kayak – its body seems to go on forever.
“Sea monster!” I exclaim.
And a few seconds later it’s under him. With genuine fear in his voice, “Oh shit! What the-”
There is a moment of smug satisfaction on my part before my powers of deduction finally kick in and I gleefully announce, “AaaiiEEEE! It’s a manatee!!”
