The Orchid and The Gathering of Souls

"It looks like an orchid." I said. "With the folding petals that go from the inside and outward."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

She blushed. No one had ever told her that before. Thinking back on it, at that moment in time, it really did look like a Cattleya labiata. It came to me from a print I had on the wall at home. The thought hit me like a 2x4 stud, right between the eyes.

I kept staring in amazement at the lush moistness between her legs. Her wrinkled labia took forms I never knew existed before.

"What kind of acid was that?" I said.

All she could do was giggle. She tried to talk but all that would come out of her were giggles. Was she laughing at me? Most likely that was the case with her.

I sat on the floor in front of her while she sat on the couch; legs spread and naked. When she laughed her tits jiggled. Being in an altered state, moments became years and seconds became centuries. I found myself barely able to sit upright. A million crazy thoughts ran through my mind and I realized that I thought I was out of sync with the lovely on the couch before me. For that brief moment being in sync seemed extremely important.

"Gawd I am horny." she said.

She was rubbing the inside of her thighs. I watched, fascinated like I had never seen this part of the 'movie' before. She barely had any idea of what was happening and I didn't either. We both had transcended our own bodies right at that moment. Then she lit a cigarette and watched forever the smoke rising from her exhaled breath.

"Let's not fuck yet." she said.

I poured the wine in her glass and was amazed at myself that I could still do it. I leaned back on the couch with my head between her legs and watched "Bewitched" on the TV or maybe it was "The Andy Griffith Show". We both heard the driving rain pounding against the side of the house. It was dreary and it was lonely.

Both of us knew Good Time America had been gone for awhile and no one liked it. We both had friends killed in the war. Those thoughts briefly occured to each of us and we said as much to each other. Sirens careened past the house on the street going to a wreck. We had both noticed a loud crash down the street. Shit like that seemed to happen all the time.

I tried to determine just how messed up I was by trying to stand on my head. I knew if I could do that then anything was possible including pouring each of us a glass of wine and talk some philosophical shit that wouldn't make any sense later. If I had taped it you would have laughed and said, "What kind of stoned fucks would say something like that?"

I was getting off too much and I felt like I had to bring this high down a notch. I could tell this because the mess in her house still bothered me. I could fix that easy enough with a little smack. Cross-eyed and I started to get in sync now.

"Why don't you fix us some junk?" she said.

Then she giggled and rubbed the inside of her thighs some more. She sighed and brought her knees to her chest. I fixated on that for a moment. Or was it longer than that?

I knew that if I obeyed her request, that the rest of the night would be wasted. Another pitiful, pathetic and wasted night in purgatory. Some day I will have to change that but not that night. Shit we wouldn't be able to get up and change the music. That is low rent shit. I walked into the kitchen, pulled out a long pipe and grabbed a candle on the way back to the couch. She had since stretched out on the couch in anticipation. I lit the candle while she fixed the pipe with smack.

I noticed on the end table underneath the lamp a letter but paid little attention to it. I couldn't make out the typing on the envelope. The Gathering of Souls then occurred to me but I sloughed it off. I refused to care and didn't want to know.

"Hand me the candle." she said. "I wanna get this lit."

Melted wax dripped and splashed on her nipple when I handed her the candle. Fascinated, I swirled it around the base of her erect nipple before it hardened. I was not surprised that she didn't flinch when I did that. She puffed a few times on the piple and then handed it to me.

I watched her begin to drift after chasing that dragon. I wondered then where she went. Did she drift to Tibet? Why was there such a grin on her face?

She was losing touch and I was too. What kind of waste land would we travel? I knew soon we would not care what dumb ass shit popped into our minds from this moment on. Cross-Eyed Linda pulled up her legs and I sat on the couch. I unraveled a half inch of tobacco from a cigarette and replaced it with some smack. She sighed and the contents of the pipe swarmed through her. I followed her not long after that.

"gawd," she said, "My brother was killed." and she pointed to the letter on the end table.

I could do nothing but shrug and the Gathering of Souls for me at least began to slip away from my grasp. I was grateful.