he didnt think for a moment that
it was impossible that spiders or insects butterflies birds fish or animals
couldnt ghost
the line stuck with him through the day that
he wrote it and into the next day and
the day after
he didnt think he was obsessing
and
if he was
so
what
after lifting he treated himself
to a dry sauna
it was like a cold red cherry on
top a sundae
to take a sauna incentivised
him to lift he used to use a whirlpool
as an incentive but the astringent chlorine smell overcame and wearied him the hot cedar smell was appealingit reminded
him of the contiguous Forest Preserves near his boyhood home the hot summers the
smell of the hot trees the sound of the wind through their crowns the branches stickling the strong musk of the
cool fallen leaves layered year after year the smell of time past the quivering
ribbons of sunlight and shadows bird calls anointing the present the curious wonderingthe future teasing
when he went to leave on his bike
his mother came to the back door and through the screen said Don’t you go into the woods. It’s not safe there.
Yes is all he said he could agree it might not be safe
then nimbly he stepped on the raised
pedal rolling the bike forward threw his leg over the seat went up the cobbled
pathveered onto the driveway and sped away
and free
he never bothered with the
crushed leaves in the cuffs of his pants the crumbled leaves clinging to his
thighs to the back of his shirt he didnt
bother because he wore the smell of the forest in his hair and on his skin
if his mother asked he wouldnt lie she did the laundry he couldnt fool her he wouldnt try
so it was their little
ritual she cared he
cared that she cared
however he had little sisters and
brothers
they were also her
responsibility
once his paper route was done and he brought the laundry down from the upstairs bathroom to the laundry
tub and wringer in the basement and he made sure his siblings had breakfast and he
did the dishes and he made sure they were dressed and that they had something
before them to keep themselves occupied or they were playing together nicely
he was free
once inside the sauna he closed his
eyes let the heat envelope him and beginning to sweat he let go of his
mind
there he entertained his notion
of animals ghosting in the back of his
mind he played the times he heard his roommates banging the kitchen cupboard
doors he saw himself get up out of bed
go up the hall and enter the empty kitchen FerChristssake he barked yawanna keep it down people are trying to sleep
people ghost he couldntwouldnt deny that any animal
butterfly bug bird fish also had the ability to ghost and their sheer numberswhich made him smile sardonically
wryly their sheer astronomical numbers improved their odds and that they had been alive on the planet long before the first hominid staggered to her feet and stood upright
what a trip
sweat dripped off him
he guessed he had another fifteen minutes
he step down off the bench and went
to the plexiglass vertical panel and looked at the clock outside seventeen minutes he was close
he could smell time on him
he returned to the high bench and sat down sighed
he closed his eyes again
a snort echoed dull inside the
cedared saunahis eyes popped opento his right on the lower bench
sat an animal a creature a minotaur a buffalo head asif a buffalo were made human
snort
No. snort Don’t be startled. You've imagined as
much said the buffalo. I have come to tell you we agree
with you.
Agree he was perplexed what did the buffalo agree with him about
Your mind, your agitation is obvious. We feel it, we can read it.
just moments before the buffalo appeared
he was wondering with disgust how the United States Secretary of the Interiorwho
was anything but a steward or guardian of public lands hed say sacred lands was that day assembling corporate heads
and other government officials to meet at an undisclosed location in Yellowstone
to discuss financing and how to best enable energy companies access to the land
he pressed his back against the hot
wall to avoid his horns as the ghost buffalo shook his shaggy head
when
he recognised his protective posturehis arms crossed before his chest the buffalo said I’m sorry, excuse me, I am as upset as you are.
Yes but it seems apparent to me that more Americans
than not disagree with the Secretarys judgment Yet somehow that is
excluded from the argument It seems
despite our demonstrations that they will do as they believe they canthat they
were duly confirmed to perform these tasks The
President is behind this noxious idea So
damn future generations Everything
changes Why shouldnt our natural
resources be mined despite them being our American Wonders
and Right
the buffalo snorted againthough
more violently he turned his shaggy head
and looked him directly in the eyes Do you believe I’m sitting here with you?
I do
Good. Believe your eyes. I must assembly the herd.
then as they looked deeply into
the others eyes the buffalo began to fadebecome indistinct vaporous a soft mist then he sifted into
nothingness
the evening newspapers reported
that the assembly the Interior Secretary had convened in Yellowstone were all dead
the horses they rode into the
park on had returned alone late afternoon to their stables arousing suspicion
a party was sent out to locate
the men
it appears they were trampled to
death
trampled to death beneath cloven
hooves
it was reported that for hundreds
of yards to the West of where the men were found the field was gouged and broken ripped
into clods the bodies were gruesomely devastated dismembered
yet beyond where the ghastly remains were
found the field surrounding it in all
other directions were unscathed
they died figuratively as a period a punctuation mark at the end
of a long-winded run-on sentence
1440, Monday, 15 10.
18
1314, Twosday, 16 10.
18
