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Ben Pike
Junior Member
since 1999-11-14
Posts 20
Southwestern Virginia

0 posted 2000-04-14 06:19 PM


They came to say a few things and then move on.  They came because this stood in the way and they hadn't been here yet.  They left all at once, left a vacuum they'd never tried to fill.  Today it is even emptier, and we excavate, strip, rebuild, and strip again.  They never knew what deserted meant.

We sat as a group of 40 anglo idiots in the company of 400 pound Texans asking questions about how many wives they had or what those symbols mean while RV's idle 100 paces away, waited to carry our questioning eyes and bulbous guts to the next point of interest.

We arrived the victims of one too many interpretative loop trails and our guide delineated techniques for wringing the neck of Disney's Pocohantas.  He claimed there is or was or will be a person who would stare into the depth of the Colorado long enough to split the waters so the One Sipapo will arise, and maybe it should be one of them, the guy beside me or his wife from Texas but they are never going do it.  Our saviors have been over-fed and the park service can't let anyone so large down that river trail, it just isn't safe.  It's not safe.  I don't feel saved.

We all wallow here until the 50 minute tour is done then no more questions please, another group on your heals, up the staris, have a nice day, please don't clap, our guide says.  As we leave him there I wonder where he sleeps, how he sleeps after feeding us all day the rehearsed facts of strange little people who long ago lived in this place, ate corn, ground rocks, worshipped spirits we'll never find, left it behind all at once.   Could he come here at night and would it be the same place in the dark, could they be here still if it was really quiet?

Even the 26 foot motor home rocks under their weight, climbing aboard.  But eight cylinders will suffice to move them even if Cliff Palace did not.  They're off to the next sirloin buffet carbo load while the Great Kiva still waits beneath raging torrents.  And I will have to wait too, but not here.  This place closes at dark and I have my own ride to catch.  Though my van has less to carry we all go the same place: a 20 ounce T-bone or Mac and cheese is all the same thing.   The only ones who got away clean left in 1250 AD: still we can't figure out why, nor where they went.


 "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" John 10:34

© Copyright 2000 Ben Pike - All Rights Reserved
Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296
Purgatorial Incarceration
1 posted 2000-04-16 07:14 PM


Wow.

Now this is quite interesting... a few mispellings, but otherwise quite intriguing!

Like jumping into the mind of the past, viewing from a different set of eyes... liked the adjective usage... lent versimilitude to the whole piece.

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