Lookin `round

Have we been out here long enough? Think that sheriff has gotten over it?

Why?

Cause, I want to get back to my place to see what's happenin, `n make sure nobody done walked off with anything.

Pablo, you got so much junk lying round how would you know if something was missing. Orville, Pablo is getting itchy feet, think it's time to go back to Arizona.

Bill, I'm just not certain about that sheriff taking this here lil boro away if we go back.

It's a chance you gotta take.

Guess so.

The men collected the camp and loaded up the wagon, Orville watered the boro afterwhich he hitched him and the cow up to the wagon and the small company of men and animals set off to the west, back to Arizona.

That night they camped just above a small arroyo that had a bare trickle in the bottom. Pablo took a water filter and set down on a rock and began pumping water through the filter and into a four gallon container. He looked down and spotted a small greenish rock near his foot that was getting splashed by the movement of the filter. He picked it up and turned it sideways.

Bill, Bill!

What?

I think we just paid for the trip. Look here.

What is it?

An emerald.

What!

I said I found an emerald, right here!

Over a dinner of stewed tempeh and redbeans the men examined the emerald.

Yep, its an emerald alright.

But how would an emerald find its way here, there is nothing around here that would produce and emerald,

Don't know, don't know, but it will make a nice one when it is cut and polished, an it'll certainly pay for this trip an more.

Maybe we should stick around and look for more.

That night the three men talked about whether to move on or to stay a day an explore. They went to bed that night undecided and each thought about wheter to stay or go in their solitary blanket time, nothing was out of the question for any of them, but, what all three of them wondered about more than whether they should stay or move on was how did an emerald come to be in the little arroyo they were camped next to, an if anything was to keep any of them up at night it would be wondering about that.

nowhere

So, what'd you find out?

Fucking nothin, nothin at all. Just some cave drawings, thas all there was to it.

Cave drawings? Yeah, well, it looked like it was moving to me. That face.

Yeah, and you're getting old and can't see for shit too. An now Bill thinks the Vikings were here, says they sailed up the Rio Grand when there was a flood plain clear out ta here at the Tanks.

Whaat?

That's what he thinks, ask him.

I will, I will just as soon as he gets over here.

My father walked towards Pablo and Orville carrying an eyeful of uncertainty with him. The sun was already high, and there was a quiet wind pushing across the valley floor that made the rising heat shimmer. My father appeared to be walking inches above the ground as he came toward them. As he walked toward them he slowly descended to the ground with each advancing step.

Whew! Gettin hot, gettin hot already!

Yeah, whats this about Vikings and floods and whatever? Pablo says you think that's a Viking painted up there on that wall.

Don't think it, know it. Ever seen a blond haired, red bearded Indian? Don't think so.

Could be a Spaniard.

Yeah could be, except for them glasses.

What glasses?

The glasses he has on his face, that's what glasses.

What glasses?

I took a picture, here, look, those fucking glasses alright! See 'em, those!

What?

Those are glasses, ok, look, there's no glass in them, but they are sun goggles, probably made of bone, with a slit in them, and tied around the head they'll keep the glare away. And you know who makes glasses like those?

Vikings?

No. Inuit, Greenlanders.

So?

So, the Vikings were known to have settled Greenland, and that's where they would have learned about making glasses, or goggles, like these. From the Inuit. And they would have come in handy out here in the desert.

So you think Vikings were here.

I am fairly certain, yes.

See, I told you he thought that Vikings were here.

Yeah, that's right, they were.

Ok, so how'd they get here?

They sailed, just like they got everywhere else. And I think when they came, the Rio Grande was deeper, and, maybe, they came in the spring, and maybe what with the snow pack melting further north for all we know at that time the whole valley was a wide flood plain just like the Mississippi. Look we know that this whole area was once under a sea.

Yeah but that was millions of years ago.

Maybe, but who knows for sure, even Pablo wasn't around back then. What if there was water here not nearly as long ago as we think?

So what?

Well if it was here not that long ago, then maybe it's disappeared faster than we thought?

So what if it has?

I don't know. I don't know what it means.

Means its fucking hot is what it means. And it means this conversation is going nowhere.

They looked up, startled by the scream of a hawk that pulled out of a dive just above their heads. It must have decided at the last moment that the little monkey Guzelda was too big to carry off, so it veered away. The three men stood in silence.

Parched Earth Opals: Mayer, AZ Big Bug Station has a New Website!

Parched Earth Opals: Mayer, AZ Big Bug Station has a New Website!

Someone else who knew Don Pablo

the Norse

Pablo, we have to go up there.

I know it. But we'll have to leave Orville behind.

"What are you all talking about?"

I was telling Pablo that we're going up there to see what's up in that cave.

I'll tell you what's up there! Same nonsense as what brought us that feller who couldn't speak a lick of English who's now gone. Vanished into thin air. Left nothing but this burn spot. Same whatever it is that bring us Phone Home. That and whatever it is that is drying things up around here.

Right, well we're just going up to take a look. Why don't you sit down and light your pipe or something.

Don Pablo and my father headed out from camp towards the tanks. They walked past picnic area 51 and began the climb up to alligator rock. They came to the alligator and headed right toward the cave.

They scrambled around some boulders, and traversed the mountain till they came to a boulder that was so large it seemed just like part of the mountain. Under the boulder was a space that formed the cave they were looking for.

This is it ain't it?

Yeah. Geezus Bill, wish I didn't have to bend down and crawl into it.

Go ahead, I'll follow.

They got down on their knees and could see light coming from the back of the cave. The cave bent to the right and they crabbed along till they came to a small space where the ceiling rose up enough for a man to stand. In front of them were some pictographs, and one of them was of a face.

What is it? Or, who is it?

Not certain Pablo, but I think that's what scared Orville.

Yeah, you think?

Hmmm-huh, yep, I sure do.

Sure don't look like no Indian, not with blond hair it don't. Not with those sunglasses either.

Looks Norse don't he? You know the Inuit make sunglasses out of bone. They take a piece of bone and cut slits in it for the eyes and tie it onto their heads with a rawhide strap. Cuts down on the glare when they're out on the ice, and cuts out some of the blow when they're in a storm.

Yeah, so?

Well, the Norse where up in Greenland 1,000 years ago, and they traded with the Inuit, and some say they also sailed over to Labrador and perhaps further south.

Yeah, well the Rio Grande valley is a lot further south.

That's right, and we know that the natives who lived around here painted what they saw on the walls.

So you saying that the Anasazi or whoever met some Vikings out here at the tanks and painted this here face?

Who knows? Maybe?

Well how'd they get here?

Just like they got everywhere else. They sailed.

That don't make no sense. The Rio Grande ain't not much mor'n a creek at El Paso. How'd they get one of them big ol long boats up the Rio Grand a 1,000 years ago. Besides, once they got to Juarez how'd they get out here? It's another 30 miles at least.

Yeah, well, we don't know what the Rio Grande looked like 1,000 years ago now do we? It could've been a lot wider n' deeper back then. You know they tell us that this whole continent was covered by a glacier back then. Who knows how long it took to melt off, and how deep the Rio Grande was when it was carrying all that water. Besides, we don't know what the snowfall was like back then either.

Yeah, well even if the Rio Grande was 10 feet deeper and thirty feet wider, that still don't explain how they got out here.

What if the Rio Grande had a different course back then? What if this whole valley were part of a floodplain that swelled every spring like the Nile delta, and what if they came in the spring.

What if, what if. So what.

Well whatever, that pictograph sure looks like a Viking wearing a pair of Oakley sunglasses, and whoever it was who painted it sure didn't paint something unless he had seen it. Anyway I bet that's what Orville saw by candlelight and what scared him.

Yeah, and maybe that's why that Swedish speaking feller came and went and acted so strange after coming down from here. He saw his grandfather on this here wall.

Maybe.

So you think Vikings sailed up the Rio Grande 1,000 years ago, so what? That still don't tell us how they got out here, or where all that water went.

Don't really know, but it went somewhere, and I am getting ready to go somewhere too because I'm getting hungry, so let's go.

They bent down and crabbed back to the cave's entrance. They stood up into the glare of the sun under a porcelain blue sky and headed down the mountain not knowing what it meant, and not yet making anything of it all except that they knew it meant something.

Alligator, vi var här‏

Late in the afternoon they pulled in near Hueco Tanks. Orville could remember when there were no fences around the place, when it wasn't even a park, just a watering hole in the desert, a natural cistern for water among four small hills.

He switched the electric magnet off, dropping 12 lbs of metal to the ground waking my father up.

Geezus, what was that!?

Caught you sleeping again did he Bill, shouted Pablo from the back.

Nooo, I was just thinking, that's all, thinking about how thirsty I am. Meditating actually, yep.

Right.

Right, let's get camp set up. Get a fire going. Pablo can you and the Swede bust out the chairs. I'm going to scavenge for something to burn. Shouldn't be that hard, everything around here is as dry as toast.

A fire was built, and it was Pablo's turn to cook for the others, that meant vegetarian. After dinner Orville decided to take his rock hammer and go out and do some exploring. The old boot maker went along.

They crossed the park fence and headed towards the tanks. They came to Picnic Area 51and the old boot maker suddenly turned toward the hill and started walking up. Orville yelled after him, but after a moment he could see that the old boot maker wasn't slowing down, and seemed to know where he was headed, so Orville decided to follow him up the hill.

They came to a rock formation, a line of boulders that looked like a large alligator laying on the mountain. Orville thought to himself that if the boulders were not so large, and if they were not so high up on the hill, they might have been placed there to form the alligator.

They crossed in front of the alligator's mouth, traversing the hill. By this time they were high off the desert floor. The old boot maker stopped, and bent down in front of a hole.

Orville walked up to the old boot maker and the hole. He could see that it was the entrance to a cave. The boot maker looked at Orville, and before anything could be said he went into the cave.

"Well, I followed him this far, might as well keep going," thought Orville, and he stooped down and crawled into the cave after the old boot maker.

They crawled along for fifteen or twenty feet, the light was dim, but they could still see. A small chamber opened up, it must have been a bubble of gas trapped inside the rock as it cooled that formed the small chamber in the cave. The old boot maker stood up and began feeling the wall. Orville pulled matches from his pants and lit one. What he saw next made him scream.

Orville fell to the floor of the cave and began to crawl away as fast as he could all the while yelling and screaming. The old boot maker could see Orville's distress and he headed out after him. Orville flew out of the cave like a bat at sundown. He headed down the hill yelling how awful it was.

In the camp my father and Don Pablo looked up towards the mountain. They could hear Orville yelling as he came down the mountain. They rushed out toward him and met him at the park fence helping him over. The old boot maker followed.

Geezus boys, it's terrible it is. I saw him, he's the scariest thing I ever did see.

What is? Who'd you see?

He's up there in that cave I tell you, the scariest thing I ever did see, a bad spirit if ever there was one out here in this desert.

Spirit, what in the devil are you talking about? There ain't no spirits up there in that hill.

I tell you I saw him, I did.

Yeah, you saw somethin' alright, but it weren't no spirit.

You'll see, you'll see him.

As the three men talked the old boot maker turned away and walked toward the camp. They followed him shortly and found him standing in front of the fire.

When they approached the sun had nearly set behind him and as they faced the old boot maker his face was lit by a red light from the fire while his profile was outlined by the setting sun behind him. He began to speak slowly to them. As he spoke he drew circles on the ground with his feet, and he moved his arms in the air as though he was rowing a ship, and he filled his cheeks with air, and blew it out in a steady stream hard against his hand moving his hand away from his face as though it were the sail of a ship moving away and he began to say three words in his native tongue "vi var här‏." He said them over and over again, very slowly, one at a time, as though it was the most important thing he had to say to the three travelers, and indeed, it was; vi var här‏.

They watched him, listened, and repeated those words to themselves, not knowing what to make of those words.

After several minutes the old boot maker stopped himself. He suddenly smiled and dropped his arms to his sides, and slapped his legs. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down by the fire and hummed to himself.

That night after the travellers fell asleep the old boot maker rose from the ground and walked towards the west. Coming towards him from the horizon was a bright light, like a speeding train. As the light drew closer he could hear a pulsating rhythmic sound, a sharp contrasting sound that tossed the listener's ears to the left and to the right and caused an inexplicable urge to sway and lift one's legs. As the light grew closer the sound became louder, and the urge to sway and lift one's legs became overwhelming. The light drew close and circled the old boot maker and screwed down toward the ground without touching it. Before he knew it was happening; he was on the light as it sped away.

He was served red beans and rice by his flight attendant Flow, she had added a "w" to her name since the last time he saw her, and her skin seemed to be darker, and her hair was in fine dark curls. On all four-hundred channels of the in flight entertainment they were showing performers from the 2006 Roskilde Rock Festival. One musical group in particular caught his eye. They wore the most unusual costumes, the same sort of garb as worn by the pilot of the ship who came into the main cabin for a Mohito, a tall spidery looking thing wearing huge sunglasses over all eight of his eyes, and white shiny boots on all eight of his legs.

In the morning the travelers searched for the boot maker, but all they found was a round section of scorched earth. Inside the burned area there was a curious pattern of unburned ground, if you didn't know better you would have thought it was a Paul Bond stitch pattern.

As the travelers stood in front of the patch of scorched ground, hundreds of miles away the old boot maker found himself back in his shop, there was only one problem, it was locked, and his alarm went off, and once again, he was naked, except for his boots and hat.

The Tex Files

A Texas Ranger found the customer laying in the parking lot about 15 feet from the front door of the bootmaker's shop. His hair was singed and he smelled of sulphur. He was groggy, but he gave the following account:

I stopped by his shop to see if I could get him to reconsider 'bout building me some stingray boots. I knewe'd from past expurience to keep one foot outside the dour cause he get's kind'a excited when you start talking 'bout stingrays. That's how come I could see it. It was larger than Uncle Pearl's barn, aun it was shaped like a giant boot laying sideways. Suddenly somethung like lightnun struke and that was all I rembered. Guess I got the boot.

The old bootmaker was nowhere to be seen, and his favorite toe-box axe was missing.

What the customer had seen was a giant UFB, that be an un-identified flying boot. It was piloted by a creature from Arizonia which is a place nearly two-light years away from Texas, that be about a one hour time difference. There's a war going on in Arizonia right now. The war is between folks who moved there from Califlourania, and folks who walked up from Mexicola. The Califlouranians want the Mexicolas to do all the work, but they don't want anybody to know about it, and they want to kick the Mexicolas out. It's hard to reconcile what the Califlouranians want with what they say they want, but that's the way it is with most wars, they often don't make a lot of sense to anybody but the participants.

The captain of the UFB was a giant Spider who wore a beaver hat. The old bootmaker had been de-materialized, then re-materialized, then transported up to the flying boot by a collective imagination ray, the deadliest ray known to man, it's been known to make folks completely disappear. It happened to captain Spider once, he disappeared from a website for a long time.

Inside the UFB it looked like some sort of a hospital, but there was nobody trying to force the old bootmaker to take medication, no shock treatments, and no probing going on --guess it wasn't a mental hospital. They told him to relax, take a seat, that he could watch a movie. Westerns were playing on all 400 channels of the inflight entertainment system. The flight attendant was named Flo, and she brought him a bowl of toe-box porridge, and it was good. Then before he knew it, the flight was over.

The travelers had been rolling along in the wagon for several hours when they spotted him. He was on the trail up ahead just standing there. They rolled up to him and said,"Howdy."

The old bootmaker spoke to them for twenty minutes. He told them about the flying boot, his idiot customer, the Spider, John Wayne, toe-box porridge, and Flo. When he was through there was silence.

Well, Orville, what'd he say?

I dunno Bill. Couldn't make head nor tails of it. Pablo, you got any idea what he said?

Sounds like a foreign language to me, sounds Swedish.

Pablo, you know any Swedish?

A little.

Well, have a go at it.

"Ikea your Volvo. I said, Ikea your Volvo."

What the hell is that, "Ikea your Volvo." Thought you said you spoke a little Swedish!

Well, that's a little. Wait, he speaking again.

Orville, can you make it out?

Sounds like he is saying "sea-a-lustic tue-bux"

"Toe-box?"

Yeah, "Toe-box."

Sounds like an indian name.

Maybe he's an indian?

Yep, Chief Toe-Box. Well he don't look like an indian.

How do you know, he could be. Indians look like all sorts of folks. Besides, he's carrying a tommy-hawk ain't he.

That ain't no tommy-hawk. Wait, he's saying something again.

Sounds like he saying "ssssealis-tex, tex"

"Yah, yah, Tex" said the old bootmaker.

Well Pablo you heard the Chief, says his name is "Tex."

"Tex," Bill, he didn't say his name was "Tex." For all you know the Chief just wants a ride down to Texas.

Well call him what you want, but I think we gota take him with us and we better getsum clothes on him. Man can't stand out in this sun in just his boots an hat holding an axe.

And why not? How'd you know that he didn't just come out here for a bath, and besides, that ain't just an axe, that's that man's soap. We could be disturbing this fellers bath for all you know.

Oh yeah, right, a fellow sunbather. Well, if he was bathing where's his towel?

Maybe he left it behind.

Yeah, well, whatever, we're taking him with us, and I think he is about your size, so do you think you can loan him some clothes till we can find his people?

That night the travlers camped near the state line not far from El Paso. They made a fire, sent out some text messages, and made a short video of Chief Toe-Box the old bootmaker which they pasted on YouTube hoping he would be recognized. They called the old bootmaker "Tex."

He found a guitar in the wagon and sat down by the campfire and sang lonely songs in Swedish. He was joined by Guzelda the monkey who played along on the harmonica. It was a quiet night.

Emmett

©

The Shot

They had been traveling south for about an hour across the valley floor. The sun was out, but it was still cool. Orville had his headphones on and the metal detectors switched on. He and dad where riding up front gazing at the ground and distance respectively as they rode along. Don Pablo was riding in the back browsing the Wall St. Journal on line.

Say, says here that New Jersey has outlawed the death penalty.

Geezus that's cruel.

What's that Bill?

I said its mighty cruel of them to make a guy spend the rest of his natural life in prison in New Jersey. You'd think you'd want to cut that one short.

What'd you say?

I said its a good thing you got those headphones on Orville so that you don't hear what Don Pablo is saying about you.

Is he cursing at another fellow?

No, just reading the paper on line that's all.

Well then why did he start cursing?

He's not cursing, and take off those headphones if you want to talk.

Orville took off his headphones and stuck his left finger in his ear and began twisting it back and forth cleaning it out.

Say Bill, you notice anything different about this land?

Yeah, I been looking at those hills up in the distance, and the ground as it is receding away, and, I don't know, but it seems to me that a lot of the color has gone out of the land since I first started painting it 50 years ago.

Yep, I've noticed that the dry gulches are drier, and the dry lakes are drier, and drain off much faster than they used to when they get some water in them, and what water they do get just isn't as much as it used to be. And when I dig down I notice that the ground is significantly drier than it used to be. I have to dig much deeper before I notice a change in the color of the soil indicating the presence of moisture. What's more, a few of the old mine shafts that I poke around in are no longer damp.

Interesting, I thought it was just my cataracts getting the better of me.


A rifle-shot rang out across the valley floor from the west and whizzed over Phone Home's head.

"Haw!" Orville pulled the wagon to the left. Don Pablo dove to the bottom of the wagon. Dad jumped to the ground and headed left of the wagon.

Pablo, pass the spy-glass.

Dad leaned against the side of the wagon and glassed to the west.

Anyone have a guess where that shot came from?

Somewhere in the direction of where you're lookin.

What'd ya see?

Nothing yet. Let's sit still and see what happens.

300 yards away two men lay on the ground with their rifles. They had come out the night before with night vision equipment, dressed in camo, carrying walkie-talkies, rifles, and a thermos of coffee. They were members of a self-elected border surveillance group looking for people crossing the desert at night. They sat all night waiting to spot someone, anyone, out crossing the desert at night. They sat, and sat, and saw nothing. By morning boredom had not only set in, but it had taken charge of their brains and displaced any traces of common sense they ever had.

In the morning an old wagon had come into view. They thought it would be "funny" to fire a shot at it. One had bet the other that he would not shoot at it, and like most such bets of this sort there would not be a winner and a loser, just two losers.

The shot was fired.

And they hadn't planned what to do next.

They wanted to run, but were afraid to be seen. So they crawled backwards toward a bolder forty feet back.

Crawling across the ground they both heard it, and they both knew what it was.
They just didn't know where it was. The sound was unmistakable, even if you never heard it before you'd know what it was.

Then a scream. The man could not help himself, he rolled over onto his back and was bit again. He kicked at the ground to shove himself away. The other man jumped up and ran, dropping his rifle.

There they are. Looks like something happened. One of 'em is running away.

The bitten man stood up. He fell over.

We better go and see what's up.

The travelers walked towards the fallen man.

Howdy, you fire that shot?

Help me!

What happened?

Let him die.

What happened?

Did you fire that shot or not?

I was bit.

Let him die.

You've got to help me. My leg is swelling up, I can feel it.

Why'd you shoot at us?

Let 'em die.

I didn't mean to.

What you doing out here anyway?

We was looking for illegals. Can you help me?

Lookin' for illegals! Border Nazis, let him die. [Don Pablo spit on the ground].

Why shouldn't we just leave you here and let you die like he says?

We didn't mean to hit you, we wuz just foolin around, honest, we didn't mean ta aim at you.

Let's get him up and into the wagon. We'll have to head in toward El Paso to find someone to help him.

The laid him down in the wagon and headed in.

What you got against Mexicans?

Their taking our jobs.

Really, now what jobs is that?

All of our jobs.

Tell me, what exactly do you do?

I install auto-mo-beale windshields.

And you're worried that a Mexican will take your job?

Sure.

Well maybe your problem is with your boss and not no Mexican. Maybe you should've thought about your career options before you quit school if you're worried about some Mexican taking your job.

Nothing more was said to the windshield installer, or by him.

His leg was discolored and swelled around the bite. But after three hours there were no signs of anything worse happening to him.

Looks like you were dry bit.

What?

No venom. Lucky you.

They came across a line-man and called in an EMT. 20 minutes later they transferred him to an ambulance.

That night they camped north of El Paso. After dinner they climbed a hill carrying binoculars and the spy-glass. They sat on an outcrop at the top of the hill and glassed south to El Paso. They could see the Rio Grande. It was lit up like an amusement park on one side. On that same side were two fences separated by a forty foot corridor running along the river. In the corridor border agents bounced along in Jeeps, lights flashing on top. In the corridor against a fence they saw twelve people kneeling with their hands in the air. Around the twelve stood Border Patrol officers. They watched as one-by-one an officer took someones arm and brought it down behind their back, then took that person's other arm and brought it down behind their back, then the officer locked that person's wrists together with a strip of plastic.

The travelers watched in silence until all twelve people had their wrists bound behind their backs and were led away to a waiting vehicle.

Shit. Remember Check-Point Charlie?

Sure do.

Yeah, back then when somebody came over from the eastern block they'd be given a job, a home, and admired for being brave.

Not here, not this place.

Problem with Mexico is that commies don't run it.

Not yet.

Yeah well, if they did we'd still toss `em back.

Suppose so. Nobody wants poor people. Not anymore, we let `em all in already. Including my grandparents, yours, `n yours.

Yeah Bill, well back then there was work for them all.

Yeah well, there's still plenty of work. I hear they plan on building a wall from San Diego clear across here and down to Brownsville. Who'd ya think is going to build that wall? I'll tell you this, it won't be retirees from California, Michigan, or Pennsylvania. Won't be Mormons, or cowboys, or even that kid at Walmart who sold you those metal detectors. And it sure won't be that fool who shot at us this morning. No sirree. I think we know who is going to build that wall.

Orville stoked his pipe. Pablo spit on the ground. Nothing more was said.

They walked down to the wagon, unrolled their beds and drifted off into the night, sleeping the sleep of their fathers.

The next day would bring a new man to them.