The Symbol

So there I am. Standing on the precipice of a cosmic cliff over looking the great expanse of the universe. There is no sense of how tall the cliff is. It continues so far down that the only sense of termination one would get is its disappearance into the inky darkness of the universe’s expanse. I notice a massive shoe attached to a massive person. His shoes are as tall as a two storied house. His pleated pants extend so far up into the cosmos that from my prospective he is nothing but a huge pair of shoes and infinitely long pleated pants. 

You as an outside observer might wonder what is going on. To tell you the truth, I may as well have been abducted by aliens. But, I have an overwhelming sense that I am supposed to be here and just melt into the experience. 

I ask biggy shoes to show me a symbol that represents my life. I am curious. The shoes instruct me to close my eyes, and from the darkness of my mind the burning surface of the sun appears. I am looking right at the sun. Massive plasma arms reaching out from the surface. It feels like I just opened the door to a very hot oven. Scorching but pleasant heat spills across my face and chest. I think to myself that “this is cool.” But, the feeling of awesomeness is short lived. It is replaced by the feeling of getting socks for Christmas when you were hoping for a PlayStation. I am grateful for getting something, but this shit sucks. Lame. I think to myself “how am I supposed to draw the burning surface of the sun?” I want to make a pendant that I can hang on a necklace. The burning sun will not do. I asked the giant shoes for the truth, but the truth sucks, so I start to improvise. I think to myself that the sun is a star, so I could just say my symbol is a star. But a star is pretty lame and I think it sounds like a shitty town or a stripper’s name. I add a tail to the star to spice it up a bit and turned it into a shooting star. But, it’s still lame. Biggy shoes tells me in a stern tone, “it is a sun, not a star.”

I tell the giant shoes my thoughts about how lame the symbol was and how I wanted a new one. 

A horrendous clattering erupts between the giant shoes and myself. It sounds like a metal light pole dropped from 50 feet and was burning off its gravity fueled energy by bouncing around like a barking chihuahua. 

The commotion scared the crap out of me. I swung around coiled up like a terrified rattle snake, ready to send its deadly venom into anyone or anything that wanted to find out.

I looked down and seen a word made out of metal. It was an odd bit. The word spelled “otlA.” What a queer word. I had never seen or heard of it. I thought that it must have been a Hungarian or maybe a Nordic word. I had no idea. I picked up the word and put it into my mouth like I was an infant. I explored the contours of the word with my tongue similar to the tongue fussing over a stuck piece of meat between your teeth. Trying to get a sense of what the word meant. I got a very distinct coppery citrus taste and I spit the word out onto the floor. I blurted out to biggy shoes that “I didn’t like it” and “I wanted a new one.”

I will try to explain the following scene but, I will have to ask you to be patient with me and allow the scene to unfold. You will experience the unfolding with me. Thanks for being here.

Imagine you were looking at a chalk or marker board as a teacher tried to get you to see something on the board. No matter how hard you try to see what the teacher is pointing out, you just can’t see it. Your teacher gets so frustrated with you because of your inability to see something so apparent. The teacher feels as though they are going insane and in one last desperate attempt to maintain their grasp on their sanity. They hold onto their sanity like a terrified child holding onto the safety bar of a roller coaster. Thinking that if he let’s go it will result in his death. So he squeeze as hard as humanly possible while doing the same thing with his eyes. With that desperation the teacher grabs the back of your head and pushes your head forward towards his finger pointing at the exact spot you need to look. You still don’t see what he is pointing at. The teachers sanity splits and the energy produced by the splitting propels your dimly lit brain across galaxies. You see stars and planets pass by. You feel a slight chilly wind passing over your skin and through your hair. After passing through uncountable galaxies you approach a blue planet. As you get closer to the planet you have a dim recollection of familiarity, and then recognize North and South America. You see Baja California, and recognize the US Mexico boarder wall. You sweep over roads and dodge cars and realize you are in Tijuana Mexico. You see a red stop sign approaching. Just before your face smashes into the sign you see the word “Alto.” A thunderous roar of an angry man yelling “STOP!!!!” The depth and power of this voice was overwhelming and awe inspiring. How could I be so dense? I guess that’s what happens when you frustrate biggy shoes