The heat came down like the beating of giant wings, suffocating, intense, taking the air right out of your lungs and sucking it up into whatever was beyond the bonewhite glare of the sun.
So deal with it. Not easy, but I strode into the furnace and somehow made it to the Shamrock filling station pick 'n steal. A short walk across the anteroom of Hell.
"How's it going?" I asked across cracked formica in the cooling blast of air conditioning. She rose up from checking cheap cigars, Swisher Sweets, in all their lurid 99 cent, bluntish glory.
"OK. That it, coffee?"
"And a pack of cigarettes, Marlboro Light, short, box."
She had the cigarettes ready. It was a morning ritual, regular and repeated but something was different.
"You like the smell?"
Stick incense wafted on the AC, familiar enough; like the odor of tipis in Wales, Austin or San Francisco.
"I smell it," I replied, "It smells like hippies."
She giggled, suddenly coy.
"But hey, better than a toilet, right?"
"So true, better than a toilet. But what's with the owl?"
She paused, laughter most definitely over, and looked at the plastic bird glaring round-eyed from the top of a glass counter and its sign for burned offerings.
We gazed in silence, while darkness flickered in and out at the edge of vision, barely perceptible shadowmen, closing in. I ended the spell.
"So what's with the owl. Guarding against evil spirits?"
Liquid brown Aztec Inca eyes met mine and stayed there before another giggle. "No, he's just an owl, you know, like some stupid bird."
I walked out into the heat, coffee in hand, to return the next day; rituals bear repetition.
The owl looked down from his perch and darkness clustered, sharp and flitting, almost out of sight.
"Coffee and cigarettes?"
"That's right, same again."
"You remember the owl?
"Yes."
"You're right. He stops the evil."
"I know."
I looked at Mictecacihuatl and she at me, impassive, empty, a void, this was just the way it was.
Vade retro, I walked into the searing light of the day, "God bless."
Vade retro, I walked into the searing light of the day, "God bless."
Behind me came a rustle of feathers and the sound of tearing, plucking, ripping and pulling at flesh. I didn't look back.
All Gods, readers, are not the same.
God bless,
God bless,
LSP
10 comments:
Ode de Michelle Obama - the horror.
Owls always ask the same question, "Who?" Don't give in to their enchantment, LSP, don't ask for whom the bell tolls. Just don't. I don't care what the owl familiar asks.
LL, that was the really scary part. To think people are actually burning that stuff, no wonder they've been driven insane.
And don't worry, I'm immune to the owl's cry, "Malae sunt quae libas," I tell it and walk away as the bird furiously clacks its beak.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Bottle Michelle Obama's musk. There must be a lot of industrial applications. It would attract rats (where they would meet their end in traps). It could be used to remove paint, and also as a weapon of war as a combination biological/chemical agent - in effect, a stench bomb.
Now all you need do is approach Michelle and suggest that you'd handle the development and marketing of this 'all natural' product line for 51% of the action.
"OK. That it, coffee?"
"And a pack of cigarettes, Marlboro Light, short, box."
Your order is almost same as mine. Marlboro red, short, hard pack
we both have a bad habit don't we? Just cannot seem to quit the coffin nails, quit for 3 years but when my 3 yr old son was killed it all came back, it's been 15 years and I just don't seem to care anymore
Burning Michelle Obama's dung to "scent the air" may be worse than the "spirit beverage" that Hillary's staff gulped down. It's difficult to know which is worse. Combining the two might make Mephistopheles himself appear and maybe that's the point?
We need to consult a professional exorcist. Not a fake movie exorcist like the one in the movie of the same name. That may be the only way to find out what merging the two would produce...an outpouring of evil spirits from the pit or Hillary herself?
It is a bad habit, Egyptian. I stopped, back in the mists of time, the army got me going again and here we are today. But I'm sorry to hear about your son, I'll be sure to pray for him and offer his intention at the Altar.
God bless.
Whoa, LL, Now you're talking!
There's a clear business opportunity. Broad multiple spectrum application and Michelle wants publicity in the run up to her bid for power. And we get to profit, I see a two-way split between Mine and Compound.
Then there's the spiritual aspect.
Is "Eau De Michelle" and its incense variant the equivalent of a draw Mo contest? The one brings out the jihadis into the kill box, the other brings out the demons. But as you say, a real exorcist is obviously needed to close the deal on the latter.
All of this is clearly a win win.
Well said.
...and apologies for the misquote, read *sunt mala quae libas...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benedict_Medal
Padre, there is a black market for everything, including Obama dung sticks...
Very true, Brig. LL alerted me to the business opportunity.
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