Chapter 35 – War

Nixon Resigns!

President Nixon resigned yesterday! He can’t say he’s sorry to see this happen. Nixon has been an ego-tripping and uptight asshole, acting as if he was somehow better than the rest of the folks in this country.

He has been expecting this. When he and Karen were back east, they visited a friend of hers in Washington DC. Her friend told them that her husband was a lawyer and was investigating Nixon’s doctor. She told them then that there was a large-scale purge going down in Washington and they should expect Nixon and his people to be out of power soon. He believed that she meant it, but he has never seen the crooks lose. So he was somewhat skeptical at the time.
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After their visit back then, he had his dream – of Nixon walking behind a jeep through a war zone and carrying a big cross on his back, as Christ had done. He knew then that Nixon was in big trouble and would probably get nailed, as Christ had been. It’s been uncanny for him to see his dream come true.

Nixon is definitely a crook. He and his cohorts have been flaunting the laws they were sworn to uphold. They have been completely contemptuous of those they swore to serve. They definitely deserve what they’re getting.

The cross in his dream though, adds extra insight to this story. It’s about more than a crook finally getting his just desserts. His dream is saying that Nixon is the Christ for the American public. He’s their sacrifice, their scapegoat for their own sins, for the Nixon in each of them. After all, they did vote him into office. He’s really just a reflection of their common head.
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Somewhere along the way though, those who have had a different vision have been able to acquire enough power to change the collective head of this country. Now there’s a new agreement concerning where this nation and its people are going.

It won’t make a big difference right away – Ford will be President for a while. It will send a message to others though, to be more careful of the power of the people. Some, he knows, will take it as a challenge to be more cunning, but others may realize the value of honestly serving the folks who elected them.

Whatever happens, it has been a major watershed event in American life, and this country will never be the same again. Personally he’s greatly encouraged – maybe Mr. Nixon’s world isn’t as strong as he has thought, maybe there is room for his vision after all.
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His Private War

On day, he looks out back and sees these two black guys pulling up his grass plants. He runs outside, but they take off before he can tackle them. He’s really pissed, the plants were just babies, less than a foot tall. They won’t even get those fuckers high. He chases after them, over the fence and through his neighbor’s yard. He wants to hurt them like they hurt his plants.

They’re carrying his plants in a gunnysack, and it must be heavy because he catches up with them in the street before they can get away. They see him coming after them, and throw the sack down, hoping he’ll stop for it and let them go.

Instead he chases after them until he has them cornered. He pulls his knife on them then in his anger. He really wants to hurt them. One of them picks up a big rock – and now it’s a standoff. And he has been stopped just long enough to come to his senses. He doesn’t want to hurt or kill anyone really. He’s just angry at their stupidity and greed. He’s angry at being in this war that’s going on here in Berkeley.

He realizes that he’s not going to hurt them, so he calls them assholes and tell them how he feels. Then, he gives them the finger, turns his back on them, and walks away. If they had dared to throw that rock at him after he had turned his back, he probably would have lost it again and killed one or both of them. They knew this too.

He sheathes his knife and gathers up the plants strewn on the street, putting them back into the gunnysack. He’s crying. He gave them life and has been nourishing them as if they were his children. They were alive just minutes ago, and now they’re dead. And for what? He’s really hurt and angry, sick of Berkeley and the war going on here. He wants to leave. He doesn’t want to raise his daughter here.

He decides, at this very moment, walking back to the house with his dead and useless plants in the sack, that he’s going to leave here as soon as he can, heading north again, maybe to Carol and Denny’s in Oregon. He wants to leave this fall if they can. He has had it with living here. He certainly doesn’t want to raise Ariana here.

He also remembers that the I Ching warned him, when he had asked about planting grass plants here, saying it would involve him in the war.
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Murder in the Free World

He has been reading in the papers about the SLA (Symbonize Liberation Army), about how they kidnapped Patricia Hearst, and how they see themselves as revolutionary outlaws, fighting a war against tyranny and injustice. They must have brainwashed Patricia, or Tania as she calls herself now, because she was just involved in a bank holdup with them the other day. There was a picture in the paper, from the bank’s camera, showing her holding a big gun.

Some folks, probably thinking wishfully, claim that she joined the SLA of her own free will, seeing – from her previous experience of wealth and ease – the gross injustice in how the rest of us have to live, just so that her family can live as they do. Unlike these folks, he doesn’t know why she joined. He sympathizes with the SLA’s anger, but he would never join them himself.

Someone told him last night that one of the SLA women – they didn’t remember her name – used to live in the apartment building next door. Somehow this makes it all the more real, brings it all home. He might have met her, maybe even known her. The SLA is maybe more extreme than most of the folks in Berkeley, certainly more than he is, but somehow they carry the same energy that most of them here do – the same righteous anger and defiance, especially now that Nixon’s been shown up as the crook and potential tyrant that he was.
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Bobby just came in the house and showed him today’s paper. The news is very heavy. The members of the SLA were trapped in a house in LA, and the police called out the swat team. There was a massive firefight, and before they were done, the house was totally destroyed. It’s very doubtful if anyone got out alive.

Although no one knows for sure, no one really thinks that Patty Hearst was with them – if she had been, the swat team wouldn’t have gone after them like that. Her dad, the publisher, has immense political power, and they wouldn’t have gone against him. He wants his daughter back at all costs, and they know this.

No, the police knew she wasn’t there. They somehow knew that the rest of them were though, and went after them with the express intention of killing them all. They never intended to take anyone alive. They didn’t want these folks, potential heroes in these troubled times, to tell their side of the story. The SLA was murdered, right in front of everyone – murder in the free world.
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Chapter 36 – People Come and Go

Jonathan’s Here!

He dreams that he and Jonathan are riding their bikes in the driving rain up Beverly Glen from UCLA. They cross over from the left to the right side of the road and continue on up to the top

Now they are in a car at the top of the Glen. They can see the whole San Fernando Valley below them. The valley is completely flooded, with giant lakes dotting the lower hills and the valley. They’re heading home now. There’s a chance they’ll be stopped by the high waters, but they doubt it. They head down.
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Jonathan’s here! Pamela finally wised up and let him come for a visit. He got in last night. The house is full of folks now. Everyone has been gone for weeks except for him and Karen and Ariana – but now Abby, Jim, Caroline, Bobby, Sharon, and the dogs, Hootch and Moxie, are all here, as if to greet Jonathan.

He’s working on the fence today. He took Jonathan over with him earlier to watch while he dug the postholes. He had to rent a jackhammer; the ground was so hard and rocky. They’re dug now and tomorrow he’ll start the carpentry work.

His practice is doing well. He’s doing good work. He’s seeing a new client tonight. Jonathan is seeing him at his best – taking care of business and still having a good time.

He has been staying stoned. Ever since Dinky last time, he has finally accepted that he’s going to continue to smoke grass. For the first time ever, he hasn’t been hassling himself over smoking it.

After he gets the fence started tomorrow and sees the three clients he have scheduled, he’s going to take rest of the week off to play with Jonathan, as they were doing in his dream. He really loves him. He’s overjoyed that Jonathan’s finally back into his life now. The two of them need to party, need to let go and celebrate that they’re with each other again.

For starters, he’s taking him to his favorite pool hall to teach him how to shoot pool. He likes to play it a lot. He started playing pool in the Air Force and has been playing ever since.

At the pool hall, in the middle of their game, Jonathan says that he’s stoned, that the guys

from the house turned him on earlier and he can really feel it now. He says that he tried it before, when he was younger, but never felt anything. Jonathan sure does this time, tells him that everything has slowed down and that, of course, he’s very hungry too. He’s glad Jonathan’s stoned, and especially glad that he wasn’t the one to turn him on.
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Their Visit

He dreams that he and Jonathan are looking at this snowy peak in the east that’s looming above them. They find a dirt road that heads towards it from where they are now, passing through farm country. They follow the road, and, at the end of it, at the snow line, there’s a path continuing on, up through the snow. Jonathan is barefoot, but they decide to try for it anyway. He has only sandals on himself. Further up, there’s a lot of snow and the ground is frozen, and, at the top, there’s a building with other people inside. Jonathan’s feet are still okay, so they check it out. From inside the building, they can look east at the city that rises to almost the height of the peak. It’s very special being here with Jonathan.
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The pattern of his dream is the same as his recent one of him and Jonathan riding their bikes up to the top of Beverly Glen and looking north to the flooded San Fernando Valley. Here they’re on foot, Jonathan literally, on a high mountain peak with a view of the city. He and Jonathan are getting high off of being with each other – able to get on top of things together, and able to achieve a higher viewpoint.

Jonathan’s still here with him. They’ve been back to shoot pool several times, and he’s getting quite good. He borrowed a bicycle for him, and they have been riding around town. Jonathan hasn’t gotten stoned again, says he doesn’t feel the need. He says that he did enjoy it when he did it.

He never really noticed it before, but Jonathan is very sensitive to feelings and vibes. Someone walks into their house, and Jonathan can tell him what the person is feeling. He says that smoking grass made him even more sensitive. That’s part of the reason he doesn’t want to do it all the time here – he gets too open.
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Jonathan’s sleeping in their tent in the back yard. He and Karen and Ariana are sleeping out in the backyard too, or else the garage

Jonathan’s at that age when he’s still a child, yet blooming, and coming into his manhood any day. He’s beautiful. He can see why men like young boys. He’s very happy that Jonathan’s his son. He’s very lucky.

Jonathan really likes being with him, being at that age where he needs his dad. He really likes Ariana too, holds her whenever he can. He’s having trouble with Karen though. She’s closed to him some. She seems closed in general, actually, as if she’s sorry that they had Ariana. He’s not. He wishes he could have both of his kids live with him. He tells Jonathan that he’s moving to Oregon soon, that maybe he can join him there.
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The Work Force

He and Karen, along with Abby and Jim, have just put out a flyer for their work collective. It called “The Work Force,” and it goes like this –
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The Work Force

People’s work at people’s prices
Helping each other to survive.

Among the many skills we offer are:
Carpentry, electrical work, typing, message service,
Letters for ATD and Social Security,
Babysitting, dishwashing, housecleaning, clothes mending, Gardening, yard word, light hauling, pickup and delivery,
Counseling, dream work, yoga, meditation,
Consulting the I Ching,
Pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting counseling,
Herbs for health, edible and medicinal plant identification,
Backpacking and survival skills,
Bread baking, yoghurt making, granola baking, and composting,
VW tune-ups.
If you need something not on this list, try us anyway.
The power of the people is the force of life!

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They have already found that whoever answers the phone is the one to do the job. Abby is their seamstress, and she answered the phone for this young guy who wanted his sleeping bag repaired. Jim is our electrician – that’s what he did in the navy – and he picked up the phone for a garage to be rewired. Karen picked up the phone several times for babysitting jobs and for some folks wanting to go on plant identification walks. He picked up the phone for the fence job. It’s finished now, and he did a good job too.

They’ve gotten a lot of work through this flyer. He and Jim have done yard work several times already and have hauled trash away for folks in their vans. He was already working – doing therapy and teaching – so he wasn’t especially interested in more work. He was more interested in seeing if people like them could help each other to survive by working together. He has found that they can, that the collective energy really adds to his own – to wit, the fence job that he did so well. He certainly wouldn’t have gotten that job on his own
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Ron Again

Ron, their friend from Reserve, New Mexico, just called. He’s living here on the West Coast now, somewhere in San Jose. Ron wants to visit them. He’s excited to hear from Ron. He missed him last winter when the Coyote Family didn’t travel all the way to New Mexico for the comet. He was afraid then that he had lost touch with him.

He invites him over for later today. He has some work that he needs to do first, while Ron’s driving over. He has to see a new client, the only appointment he has today.
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When Ron drives up, he hurries outside to greet him. Ron looks good but really out of place in the city. He takes him through the house and into the backyard where he and Karen hang out with Ariana most of the time. He can tell that Ron doesn’t know what to feel or think about babies. He’s still really out of touch with his femininity.

Ariana really doesn’t like Ron’s vibe. She doesn’t cry though, as she does with most folks she doesn’t like. Maybe she feels that if daddy likes him so much, he might be okay. Whatever it is, he can see her tense up and turn to Karen’s breast for comfort whenever Ron comes near.

He takes him back into the house after awhile, so they can be alone and talk without interruptions. Ron tells him that he has been broke and sick. He came to California for welfare and MediCal. He feels out of place here, but probably won’t be going back to Reserve for a while, maybe never. He says that things have changed there, that he doesn’t feel welcome as before. Listening to Ron, he has a private thought that it’s Ron’s vibe that has changed, that the folks there have probably found him too difficult to be around.
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They take a walk on Telegraph Avenue. Ron’s gawking like any tourist. Ron finds it all very strange and says he can understand better now where he and Karen are coming from. Abruptly – he’s not sure why – in the middle of their walk, Ron says he has to be back home soon, needs to leave now.

He walks Ron back to the house and his car, and after saying goodbye to Karen and Ariana; he’s gone again, out of their lives. Now that Ron is gone, he’s feeling really strange, overwhelmed with energy, and sort of crazy too. He realizes that he has taken on Ron’s vibes again. Karen says Ron has a lot of unconscious sexual energy, that it was blowing her away. He realizes that that’s what he’s feeling now. Ron is high, but he has no way to ground himself out, so he floats above reality, with all his unconscious sexual energy acting as a barrier between himself and others.
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Roger

Bobby has a friend named Roger. He’s a tripper, part of the extended family hanging around the house. He has never gotten very close to Roger because he and Bobby aren’t that close, but he likes what he has seen of him and has really enjoyed his vibes.

He and Bobby are talking one day and Bobby says that Roger is black. Hearing this, he’s stunned. He realizes that Roger really is black, but he has just never noticed this before. Roger’s not obvious, not black, like some folks, but he should have seen it. He would have in the old days.

They talk about it, and Bobby says that Roger isn’t black anymore, that he’s an acid freak now. Hearing this, he realizes that this is what it’s all about. Anyone who does enough acid is able to let go of his or her previous identity – whether it’s religion or nationality or even race. Roger is a person now, no longer stuck in his previous and limited identity.

He has known for a long while that acid takes everyone who uses it well past his or her conditioned past and into their future, free to be whoever he or she are from the inside. Roger has done this well.
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One evening, Roger and Bobby are drinking some rum, and they offer him some. He reminds them that he doesn’t drink any more, annoyed that they don’t know this by now. They tell him there are twenty hits of acid in the bottle with the rum. He understands the offer now and takes a big sip. He tells them that he doesn’t want to get drunk though, in order to get high. Instead, he takes out one of his last clear lights and drops with them his way. They hang out loose and talk while they’re coming on. He finds it very easy tripping with them tonight.

Roger tells them that he’s been studying deep sea diving, that he’s finishing the course next week. He’s going to take a job afterwards, one that he has already been offered, somewhere in southern Africa. He’s very brave. The three of them have a really good night together. He feels that he’s finally one of the guys.

When Roger graduates, they have a party for him. He tells them that he’s leaving soon, that he signed up for the salvage job off the coast of Africa.
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When Roger does leave for Africa and his new life, they all go to the airport to see him off. Roger drops a couple hits of acid at the airport, saying he wants to start his life completely new and open. The last he sees of Roger, he’s boarding the airplane at the gate, glowing already, and looking forward to his future and his fate. He’s very brave and a high brother, that’s for sure.