Appaloosa wiped the stinging sweat from his eyes. It was especially annoying when the fine dust of excavation settled and turned sweat and tears into fine pottery grade slip clay that covered the faces of the tired crew. Angry father in the sky was merciless and bore down on them with the full fury of an exploding star in space. They had started 30 strong but by week 6, there were only 15 of the original crew who were engrossed in figuring out what had happened to the other 15. He squinted with suspicion at the blurry shadows that walked the crest of the site blurred by the blazing setting sun behind them. The signs had pointed to one of his crewmates, but he didn’t know which.
It was the end of the day when Appaloosa caught himself smiling at her. Her secret, unknown and long forgotten, he was able to see plain as day.
I wasn’t obvious. It wasn’t her tall slender shadow that flitted like a dust covered ballerina, to and fro across the site throughout the day, appearing and disappearing as a smiling wisp to the crew as they moved slower and slower under the punishing sun. It wasn’t even her cheek bones or brown hair that drew his attention. In the eyes of Appaloosa, she was a goddess from an old Greek Vase he saw in a museum once.
It is truly an odd existence when a man views the people around him as caricatures of themselves. Such is the curse of an artist that hides in plain sight. His native workmen darkened by the sun and driven by ancient songs that emanated from within the ancient ruins they worked in, they appeared as the petroglyphs he long studied. Appaloosa was able to see the culture inside the people around them, sometimes long forgotten or repressed, it was a gift and curse. He was surrounded by a gallery of people from old novels, John Wayne Westerns, Kung Fu movies, and the flotsam of various art galleries and comic books from his youth.
ACT 1. The Coverband
That night, his dream, as all his dreams began with him in an 80s cover band. Appaloosa stood on the stage with his brothers and acoustic guitar and ran through his entire set, from Guns and Roses, the Cure, Metallica. He had his stage set up on the mesa east of where he grew up. A squared plug of Mancos clays that the sun rose over every morning, that rose high above the yellowed desert grasslands. He was opening band for the play that was his life. Eventually, two thunderstorms that hung to the sides , the massive curtains that framed the stage, would close and open on a chapter of his life that he would watch from a distance…
ACT 2, Wherein Appaloosa Visits “The Kitchen”
Appaloosa sat in a 1950s kitchen. A gentleman, a professional, he sat quietly in his chair, as he traced the outline of one of the black and white tiles with the toe of his boot. He much liked his dreams, because he was usually able to be clean and decent. He took advantage of the dream to hang his now clean grey hat and brown frock coat on the chair, straighten the buttons on his crisp ironed western shirt, and rub his shiny boot on the back of his calf to remove the scuffs. He sat, pondering whose reality he had stumbled into tonight.
As he sat patiently, looking over the kitchen, a figure came to the side of the set. Unrecognizable, just a figure with a fiddle. It sat on a stool and produced a beautiful violin. Appaloosa studied the amazing work of art intently, graceful, curved, with the ripples from some ancient tree accented on its flat surfaces. He paid no mind to the musician that sat tuning it.
Soon the mysterious musician started an air in the room. An air from another time, from another place, almost demonic. Appaloosa shivered in his spurs because for a second he could feel the sinews in his body being played as the strings of the fiddle.
ACT 3 The cook
Appaloosa tapped his foot, as the mysterious musician brought the very air alive. The kitchen was suddenly filled with incredible smells. Aromas from the far corners of the colorful world, spices, stews, herbs swirled and partnered up and danced in the heavy air with the notes from the demonic fiddle. Athena entered the kitchen dressed as a 1950s Midwestern housewife. Complete with a white collared, white sleeved Calico print blouse, white ruffled dress and white apron, but with western cowgirl boots. She danced back and forth across the kitchen preparing food. Trays were going into ovens, pots boiled on the stove top. Dishes piled high on the table and counter top as the feast was being prepared. All to the tune of the demonic fiddle. Appaloosa couldn’t help but feel a little jealous as her slim figure occasionally spun to the mysterious musician and gave him little kisses on the forehead as the music continued. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he pondered what delicious dishes she was preparing. Her thin hands were powdering meats with spices, chopping vegetables, turning up the stove top up and down to adjust the heat. Athena was a busy bee, everywhere in the kitchen carrying herself with the grace of a woman that danced all her life.
ACT 4 The Fridge
Appaloosa couldn’t help but noticed the old refrigerator she was pulling meats out of. In the spotlight, it was a classic refrigerator, the 1964 mustang of refrigerators that was milled from a solid piece of steel that was once the hull of scrapped WWII battleship that survived Operation Crossroads. It was even painted with a thick uranium glaze paint that hadn’t been legal since 1968.
He was intent on the source of the delicious smells that swirled around his head but every time he tried to look, Athena was reaching in and out of the fridge, and he wasn’t able to get a good look. The foods were piled high on the table. Glistening meats, probably ham, probably turkey, or beef. Stuffing, gravy, pies, cakes. Appaloosa was liking this dream , mostly because he existed in a perpetual state of hunger. His curiosity was struck however, as you the direction this dream was taking. He realized, he had his old field note book in his hands, and was jotting notes regarding the music, the food, the place the dream was taking place, so that when he awoke, he would be able to try to figure what exactly he was dreaming about. He had “The Fridge” circled.
to be continued
nezontherez 