I fly in the wheelchair class ,when I air plane,because, as a young adrinalin junkie,,an motorcycle racer,we took the high side ,,foot down,sliding too fast ,up-hill,me and th' bike went over,the foot caught under some bullnettle, and stayed behind. I love it ,my chair mates are usually a lively,openioned,and colorful,,,I can ,like most others ,get to the loo,,or thru a X-ray skan,,but after that its a coin/flip as to what that left knee is going to do,,,but,oh,well,,,,
Left Austin ,planeing with some soldiers many wanted to knuckle/knock,,,,whew,,,thanks,glad its not me,,,and a few hollywood wannabees,,,,,,,,young actor and his family,disgusting manners,,,and a loud older couple needing to talk "FILM",,if you get my drift,do you feel me?,,,I'm 72,and going to California for my first time,,,
knuckle/knock yo'self,baby,,,,I'll tell you whuat !,,,thank you Lord for making me wait till now,,,California would have eaten me alive if I had come here back in th' day,,,,
'Flyan' into LAX,,looking fo a place to relax,,my wheelchair girl{lady} looked exactally like every 60ish latina I've ever met in Austin,,,,but her voice was a cross between Marilyn and Jane Russell [hand to God,] I'm not hallusinating,,,reverse jet lag!,,her voice to me,,,,but when she got on the phone to call about my driver,,her voice changed in to deep,east LA,,or Austin wierdscreech,,I have a good ear,but I
could not understand a word,and it was english,or had an english daddy,,,same voice she talked to my driver in,,,,,,,whom we had to follow around the parking garage for twenty or so minoots,,,,while he would stand on this or that,, bumper and work the clikker,looking for the limo,,,,,
and she kept up a lively chatter in either ,to me {the Marylin/Jane vox} or to the driver [Austinwierdscreech] there is definitely a stoner undertow,on the ground,here ,,,,finally my driver arrived at a fatblack throwback,,,,,,and she said to me {in the sweetest Marylin vox} "oh please,no tip,I give full service chair,,, ",,,,I must have fainted ,and came to in the back of the limo,,,,,,headed/cross/town,
I could not exist in the slo-mo of traffic there ,only motorcyclists make any time,,howsomever eventually'
our family is blessed with entertaining children,and a Thanksgiving table was replete with prayers of thanks,and all the go-withs,,laughter et al,,,you know the drill,,it was all good !,,,and over the next few days,we drove up to Ventura to visit a friend,and she took us to a Catholic School,which had bran new copy of the classic cross plan,cathederal ,,,woo,so clean and white,very impressive, retro-baroque,our friend ask what I thought of it,,I said I'd never seen one clean before,,,and the friend who'd never been to Europe,got this funny look on her face,,and said "I thought this was new",,,,and there the conversation died,,,woo ! California dreammin' ,,,,I picked up a copy of the Ventura county reporter,and thummed the medical marijuana ads warning agnist skype scripts,,,,"beware of dr.'s in Ventura county who skype,your card may not be accepted at dispensaries or by law enforcement",,,step 1:doctor must have a fictitious name permit,,,,( HUH?),,step 2:doctor must physically be on location,,,(HUH???),,,step 3:go here to verify dr. has a fictitious name permit,,{www.mbc.ca.gov} under licensees do a search,,,,,(HUH??????)all dr.s licensed & on location (DUH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!),,,,next to that was an ad for "Leafiegreenmeds",a 50$ script,,,,pretty young female doctor on site,,with none of the worries the other site had.,,,then an ad for Shangri la la la medicalmeds,,,and verious health industry services,,,we joked about going to the Oxnard Tamalie Fest,but not for long !
driving back to LA from Ventura,I was reminded of that song by America,"Ventura highway in the mornin' sun"maybe back in th' day ,but now we can only go 20 mph,,its easy to compute how long it will be before I can Pee agin,or Guy Clarkes "if I can just get off this LA freeway ,without gettin killed or caught",,
and the serpentinered tailights snake thru the hills,all the way to the sky,,,next time I'll bring a catherter,& bag,,, finally its time to leave and a moment came when lots-o-hugs and drop-off at check-in
and my good wife finds me a chair/girl,,who puts me in the que,the wheelchair que,,and I am #1 ,,#2 is a gentelman slightly more wore-out than me,,,,,,,I was laughing with my wife,now sitting across from me and saying ; "don't freak out,,,,and roll a duber",,,,,,and this broke the ice between us. He told me of his new passion,THC and he was taking the other cannibnoid the cancer cure one,,,at last he'd found someone to tell his life story to,,hey,I'm a good listener,,,half way into his big accident segment,tho,,,his phone rang,,
the bell/tone was from Rod Serlings series,"Twilight Zone"
"excuse me I gotta get this,its my son,,," long silence ensued,,,,after which ,in a totally different voice,,,,,
"well I can tell you this,when the shit does hit the fan,the increments will not be dispersed evenly,,,
two:there is no known math formula,which can predict the trajectory of said increments,,,
three: who put a fan in the bowl and why? and four : "did you really sit down without looking?",,,,,
at that point my chair gal & wife whisk me away to the elevator,,to meet a new "WHEELIE" like myself,,,
LAX employees seem so very cheerful,as tho they never get tired of the ever changing fashion show ,,daily for those in uniform,,,
then theres always the short cock-eyed guy ,who always seems to be looking at me sort-of,with one eye and not with the other,,and theres' the soldiers ,,,
in the uniforms they flew out in,,,,going back to Camp Mabre in Austin,,,,,,,,,,knocking knuckles with the airline employees,and a little kid who wanted one,,,
thats when Walter was wheeled up next to me,,he seemed a little discombubalated,,because our flight was still in Sacramento FOGGED IN !!!! ,,,,but,oh,well !,,,
Walter was twisting around in his chair,as tho his position wasn't right ,,,wheelchair folk have to sit close together ,but we try to give as much privicy as possible,so I just look down as Walter goes on with his son,on the phone,who did not want to carry on the family biz.,,when he turned away,,I ask Doris ,my wife what he said,,"something about Leafy,was all I heard",,,thats when I noticed his shoes,they were different,,his phone was loud enough for me to hear the sons words as well,,,
the son was trying to get dad to try Mary/jane for his lack of appitite,but dad was not gona do drugs,,,the shoes were similar but not the same,there were new laces's (light shade) but on two different shades of brown,and the stiching on the toes were different,,, one a tan,,,,,, the other a chocklet,
something a color blind personmight not see,
Walters late wife,always took care of that sort of thing,,,now the son had started his own Medical Marijuana shop,,somewhere not far away,and could care less about the family bizness,,but Walter
was not going to become a druggie,,,his wife would not have liked that,,!,,,,,,,,,,,,!
he bent down and retied one shoe,as tho one shoe needed something,,,,Walter hung up and grumbled to hisself a standard ole man phrase ,,pick your favorite,and insert here,,,and weare about two hours,, into a six and a half hour layover,,,thats when I noticed Drew {my favorite charicter} glanceing at Walter,,,
Drew knew Walter would not look at him,covered with tatoos he was,,,,,I knew Drews name because it was written on the side of his neck,,and underlined with an arrow which pointed to a tatoo of his heart ,,ON HIS THROAT ,,the graphic was simple,,"Drew speaks from his heart",,a bad jailhouse tatoo,easy to spot,bad ink,not that I've done time,but the cartoon of himself and some other guy on his arm ,,behind bars,sez a lot,,Drew had his arm around a cute underage ,,obviusely his daughter,same nose,,and dad can escorte her to the plane if she too young,,,and be up near the gate,,,,
they were laughing at the joy of being alive together,, an in that small anti-room of the brain,where books are illustrated ,and solo lines rehursed,,where real communication happens,,oblivious to the world,at large,,,playing reaction time games,where one flips the hand quickly enough to slap the back of anothers outstreached hand,,,or sitting in the wheelchair section,with her sweater over their heads,so its dark enough to play the computer game,,,endless REAL laughter ,,,Drew kept turning his baseball cap around,
and on it was written : "Leafiegreenmeds .com" presummably where Drew worked,,he gave me a smile when they sat down,then looked right past me at Walter
,,,,I didn't think much about it at the time,,it was hour four an a half of the fogged in flight,,,and I felt a doze comming on,,I was first on the plane and when Drew's daughter came on the plane and it was like Mose Allison's line,
"I know her daddy got some money, I can tell by the way she walk",,the georgeous almost grown,young girl knew she didn't know much ,but she knew she had the coolest dad in the world,,,that I can understand,and relate to ,and I thought of my dad as I dozed off in the seat. L A X theres' another side to this life,,,,,,,,ten hours gate to gate. WOO