| The Crawl Space |
| Woke up with a shake, somewhere in the middle of a dream. It was my wife taring me a new one. "Honey! Honey! Your screaming in your sleep again!" All I can remember from it was a chubby young boy who had a razor blade in his hand. Who went around trying to give a quick slice to any passerby that came a along. He was beyond evil, he was almost demonic about it. And then there was me, chasing the little demon, trying my best to get the razor from his plump little hand. And finally, I did. He sat brooding for a while and then as if from nowhere, another razor appeared. And he began his slicing all over again with the same evil intent as before. So, I went into my chase again. |
| Once again, I caught him and once again, I forced it from his hand. By the third or forth time of this vicious circle, I decided to make him remove the contents of his pockets. Out came dozens upon dozens of razors, neatly dressed in their paper wrappings. Glumly, the boy handed them over and went to sulk in a corner, on a stoup. I can remember a furious person walking cautiously up to that round stump of a boy and pulling a razor of their own, which gleamed in the days bright sun. The boy stood up, tore open his shirt and almost with pride and full expectation, exposed his meaty little chest. With one quick slice, the boy had a line so red, down the top of his chest, to the very beginning of his belts buckle. I swear it was aglow, and that all the street people could see it from one end of that block, to the other. Instead of bleeding and spurting gobs of blood, the thin red line staid as a red line. And with some morbid curiosity, this boy reached down to its center and dug his fingers into it at least deep enough to get a tight hold on each flap of skin. Then he gingerly pealed it out, with the sound that an orange makes when you peal away its skin. I looked in pure disbelief and horror as his round plump face turned from calm, to an almost gleeful smile, a demonic smile in contentment. No blood shot out, as his act was being performed. Only the view changed from outside to inside. Like a swift autopsy was being performed before our eyes. A scream welled up in the back of my throat and I bellowed it with all that I had. Over and over I voiced my overwhelming nausea, that somehow this thing was happening before me. Each time I screamed, it was followed by another scream and each scream with more vigor and volume than the last. The screams became harsh vibrations in my head. I shook and shook myself, as if that could release me from these nightmare scenes before me. "Honey! Honey! Your screaming in your sleep again!" I woke up in a foggy state and hoped when I fell asleep again, it wouldn't be to that same point in dream land. Fortunately for me, it wasn't. |
| I don't know if any of you are like me but I have terrible trouble dealing with confined spaces. And even worse, being somewhere where I'm head to head with another person, that's only reason for being with me is because there is no other choice. Like a mornings commute on the subway, at rush hour in New York. Or in an elevator that can fit uh so many people, which is marked clearly on that elevators wall but always disregarded. You know that mentality, "Come on guys we can fit one more. Just one more." Well this chapter is just that kind of tale and feeling. So if your claustrophobic and have a hard time even thinking about it. This is the time to skip to another chapter or just do something else. It's only a friendly suggestion on my part. As a considerate thoughtful kind of guy, who had a hard time seeing "Misery" or any of those mentally painful books or flicks, you might want to steer clear of this one too. Now where were we lasts? Oh yes . . . "Bluman, are you sure this is where you want us to go?" "Yes my dear Richard, this definitely is the way." "Richard!" "Only my mother calls me that!" "Sorry." "I don't see anything wrong with that." "But if you'll feel better about it, I'll just keep calling you friend." "Now that your in here, let's be on our way." "Bluman, I don't like the looks of where your taking me, just by the confines of these brick walls." "I don't think we have more than a foot of space on our top, right and left." "Bluman not lead you wrong." "Bluman lead you right way." "Listen Blue." "I'm not saying or even asking again if this is wrong." "All I'm saying man, is that I'm very claustrophobic and a foot of space from head to toe around me, is making me have that gag reflex begin at the pit of my stomach." "Bluman understands." "But Bluman can't help you there." "He He He" "OK fella." "Very funny." "But if I barf green stuff all over your very blue fur feet, I"m sure it's not going to contrast very well with your coat." "He He He" "This place is reminding me of the day I had to have an MRI done and my body was drawn into this tube, with only six inches of air space around me in total." "I nearly screamed my head off in that thing." "The only thing that saved me there, was that I mentally took control over the situation and convinced myself that there was a end in sight, in the very near future." "And that it was for a very good cause." "That being, my health." "I don't know if I have that option here." "So you better give me some kind of positive feedback, in the form of an answer, if you can." Bluman paused for a moment, before he spoke and I sadly noticed that this passageway was quiet as a man could think. No sounds ahead of us and none from where we came. This certainly didn't add to the stirring in my stomach, one bit. While my friend was in his pause he thought, "Bluman wonder if I should tell my friend that these walls converge to less than they are, before they grow larger again." "Nope." "Better if Bluman keeps that one to himself." "He He He" "Better not to upset the troops unnecessarily." "He He He" "Bluman feels very silly right now." "He He He" "My friend you must trust your Bluman friend." "You must stay positive, because it must be so." "Think of a light at the end of the tunnel." "Soon it may be." "OK." "Your a great help." "A light at the end of the tunnel." "R I G H T!" "And a marching band to greet us too!" "Keep my composure." "What choice do I have!" "Now that were in far enough so all I see ahead is your blue fur, vanishing brick walls, ceilings and floor." "And to my rear, more of the same, minus your blue fur." "Hey, is this my imagination playing games with my head?" "It seems like these walls are closing in on us." "This isn't one of those Indiana Jones scenario's, is it?" "No. No. No." "It's just that vivid imagination of yours, playing those tricks on you, like you said it might." "Now move as quickly as you can, so we can reach where we are to reach." "Alright Blue." "But I'll feel better once we're outta this place." Then, out from one of the cracks in the bricks wall, came a group of rats. Not the dirty ones you'd see on the subway tracks of the city. No, these were a pleasant bunch of little ones in shades of browns, whites and grays. You'd almost like to pick one up and cuddle it in your arms. But even though they really didn't frighten me, they were that added ingredient that put me over the top. So much so that I jolted and bumped my head hard on that brick ceiling, just six inch above my head." "Hey Blue." "You lied to me, this place is getting smaller as we go." "And after all I told you, you kept this from me." "This really sucks, big time." "How much smaller is this place going to get?" "There aint even enough space for these rats and us to fit, side by side." "Now calm down." "Keep yourself together." "Bluman not take you much longer at all." "But Bluman must tell you, that this way grows much smaller before it gets bigger again and out." "Oh great." "Just great." "And just how much smaller, do you mean by smaller, my friend?" "Ah . . . crawling on your belly smaller." "He He He" "Oh you got to be shitting me, Blue!" "On my belly smaller?" "And were to damn deep for me to turn back!" "And I couldn't turn my body around if I wanted to." "You big blue furry pin head you." "Remind me when we get out of here to slap you one in the head." "He He He" I wanted to close my eyes and wish it all away. But wishing as hard as I might, wouldn't change a thing in this place. So I did my best to think of our goal and right now the only goal I could imagine was getting to some, no any open air place. I put out of mind, our passing of the rats. I put out of mind, that we were crawling on our bellies. I put out mind, that all I had as a main focal point was the soles of my friends blue feet. So after crawling to what seemed like forever, the light ahead of us changed from a bricks red to an almost shimmering glow of white light. And my head could raise to higher ground, without bumping on a ceiling. As a matter of fact we could stand in the space we were in. Ahead of us lied a green door with a window looking out into what seemed to me, as a magical land of light and glimmer, on some dawns early shine. I could see mountains in the distance and felt hope for the first time within these dreams. And that green door began to open and I said, "Is this the place we were bound, my friend Blue?" "Is this the place?" And he looked at me with those big blue eye s and said, "Come and see what you shall see." "Hold Blue's hand and it will be." |
| Next Week - Chapter Twenty - Another Place |
| Page created 11/15/04 |
| Chapter Nineteen |