(Blaine Transue, Sonoma)
Late yesterday I could feel the soreness in my body creeping through me. The only relief was to recline in bed with the lights off and my eyes covered. Walking in my bare feet through my apartment to the kitchen and back made me shiver a bit and wish for sleep. I had skipped both the gym and cycling for two days. My body was exhausted, I think, or I was becoming sick, possibly both. Hard to say, though they must be related. I dropped the boy off at his mom's house after dinner and after him eating a strawberry cheesecake ice cream cone at La Michoacana, the Mexican place at the top of the hill that makes us both so happy with its delicious vanilla. I came home promptly and dissolved two Alka-Seltzer Night tablets into water and watched future vitality bubble to the surface with the sound of happy applause. I do remember things after that, though I am unsure if the visions and sounds were real or imaginary. Twelve hours later I awoke, lucky to be in my bed. The sun was up. I had neither tossed nor turned in my sleep, I do not believe. This store-bought elixir is the type concoction that is used to trick coroners into believing a patient has passed, so that they will be buried alive in the very next scene. My heart rate slowed to ~4 bpm and my body met the room's temperature, somewhere around 68 F and then stayed there for the duration. I couldn't tell where I stopped and the room began. My eyes opened in the morning, but just barely, and only after several attempts. It took a few tries before I could see any value in the effort. As the light made its way through my vitreous humor some portal to the universe then moved out and away from its watch post inside of me, where it had set up residence within me. I know now why people implore, Do not stumble towards the light. It just might be the bonfire of eternity.
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