a dream’s gotta say something or it’s not worth the troubleA Story by Philip GaberI went to a shrink. He told me I was half crazy. I asked him for a prescription. He thought about it and gave me one. But when I reached the pharmacy, I
discovered the prescription had been written in invisible ink and I was s**t
out of luck. So I went back to the shrink, but
he had packed his bags and moved to Bali [so said the note on the door,
anyway]. I was furious. I felt betrayed. Used.
Like somebody had bored a hole into me with a hammer drill and taken my
heart out and started playing dodge- ball with it. I got so angry I went to Walmart
and bought a single-shot short-barrel pump gun and took it home. That night I slept with my gun,
just like I saw those Marines in Full Metal Jacket sleep with theirs. “Feels good,” I said, as I drifted
off to sleep. I dreamed of some war-torn
country. I saw guerilla fighters
marching through the streets. They said
they were from Ebinthia and that they belonged to the Antarctic Liberation Army.
I asked the leader if I could bum a
cigar from him. He just smiled and said, “I do not
lend my cigars to men like you; I will sell you a cigar, though, for 7,171
wooden nickels.” I shook my head. “No, thanks.
I can get 'em wholesale from the Ruskies.” The leader shrugged. “Have it your way,” he said and he and his
men continued marching toward The Fifty-Nine Years' Battle. Now the scene shifted to a bungalow
in West Hollywood. There were lemon trees in the back yard. I imagined one of
the family members picking the lemons on the weekend and making Lemon Delight
Pound Cake and Lemon Meringue Pie. I wondered if there were small children
living in the bungalow and if their parents had ever encouraged them to sell
fresh-squeezed lemonade to their neighbors. I imagined all kinds of idyllic,
American scenes going on there. Barbeques, yard sales, reunions, potluck
dinners. “A home like that must have folk
art wall hangings or paintings by Grant Wood and Frederic Remington and Norman
Rockwell adorning the living room walls,” I said. I was about to walk up the
cobblestone pathway leading to the front door when it suddenly swung open and a
little old man with a rotund build and small-featured, delicate face appeared
pointing a shotgun at me. “You better git!” the old man
said. “I got nothin' you want! Now git
outa here!” I raised both my hands above my
head in surrender. “I don't want anything from you, sir. I was just admiring
your home.” “Well, git goin' 'fore I call the
cops.” “I was trying to envision who might
live in such a beautiful home. And I love those lemon trees in your back yard.” “Yeah, well, you keep away from my
lemon trees or I'll shoot ya.” “Sir, I didn't mean to...” I sighed quietly, lowered my hands and turned
to leave. “I was just admiring your home,” I said, and I walked away. After that, I dreamed of being in a
shadowy forest surrounded by a wispy fog. A dark figure approached me. “I am Arthur Rimbaud,” said the
figure, sipping from a reservoir glass filled with absinthe. “I understand you are one of the unhappy,
fucked up tortured people.” I just stared at the twenty-one
year old vagabond. “You're the only one in charge of
your happiness,” said Rimbaud. “You
can't depend on anyone else to make you happy. Paul Verlaine told me that
shortly after he was released from prison. And then,” Rimbaud chuckled derisively. “He converted to Catholicism. So much for his
theory. Care for some hashish?” I was about to say, “Is it blonde?”
when I heard a phone ringing and my eyes snapped open. I hate being wakened by the
sound of a phone, I thought. Or
an alarm clock...or a barking dog...or a chirping bird...or a garbage
truck...or a leaf blower...or a wood chipper...or a loud car muffler… By the time I finished listing all
the things I hated being wakened by, the phone stopped ringing and I drifted
back to sleep. I dreamed I was being chased by a
woman with delicate ears and large hands. She chased me through forests and
deserts, over hills and across mountain ridges, into valleys, along riversides.
At one point she was barreling
after me on the streets of San Francisco in a Pontiac LeMans; but she was no
match for my Challenger R/T 440 Magnum and after some really impressive accelerating
and cornering techniques, I was able to lose her near Haight and Ashbury
streets. The last thing I remember, I was on
101 North heading toward Napa County and badly wanting to get drunk on some of
that Napa Valley vino when suddenly I
heard that damn phone ringing again. I decided to answer it. It was Dad, calling from the
Sunshine Home. “I don't understand it,” he
said. “This Justin Bieber. Where's the
talent? In the old days, Sinatra, Tony
Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, they were alone on stage with a microphone
and it was just them singing. These new guys gotta have costume changes and
laser lights and dancing and jumping and acrobats and strippers and fireworks
and JumboTrons. It's phony!” I'd had this conversation with my Dad
at least four thousand times before but I was too tired to play devil's
advocate with him this time, so I just let him vent. “Those old crooners, they had
personality. They didn't need all these fancy gimmicks to hide behind,
y'understand. Jolson, you talk about an entertainer. Jolson had to project his
voice to the back of the theater; he
didn't even have a goddamn microphone. He did it all with his pipes. But this Justin
Bieber. What's the attraction? What do
people see in him? I guess I just don't
understand it,” and he hung up. Laying my head down and staring at
the ceiling, I thought, I'm in a really peculiar cycle right now. I was awake but still very much asleep.
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Added on August 2, 2024 Last Updated on August 2, 2024 AuthorPhilip GaberCharlotte, NCAboutI hate writing biographies. I was one of those kids who rode a banana seat bike and watched Saturday morning cartoons and Soul Train. But my mother would never buy any of those sugary cereals for us k.. more..Writing
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