Love Story: In The Web of Life (26 page)

"I get it," I said wondering what this was all
about. "I want to go into town for dinner tonight at Bob's Cafe. I
will plant the idea that I am staying at the decoy farmhouse and
pick up any the gossip."

"Good, I follow you in my truck. You can get
the townspeople used to the idea that this is your car."

As I went back in the lodge, Sofia appeared
carrying a hanger with a white Hawaiian shirt with hula girls on
the front and back.

"Wear this into town," she said. "It may not be
your usual style, but we want you to stand out. It is part of the
plan."

That evening I went to the town to have dinner
with Agnes at Bob's Cafe. I parked my Camaro in front of the cafe
and went in. There were eight people in the cafe, four men in
Stetsons sitting at one booth. Three women in simple dresses, maybe
belonging to the men, sat at another booth busily gossiping. A man
wearing a Caterpillar Tractor ball cap occupied a booth at the end
of the restaurant. The ladies noticed me and bent over in secret
conversation, perhaps speculating on who I was.

I sat at the counter, and Agnes walked over and
announced, "The dinner special is pork chops, best in the
county."

"I can't pass that up, and I'll also have an
MGD," I replied.

Agnes announced, "One Miller Genuine Draft
coming up." She slid the order slip onto the carrousel at the
service counter and brought me my beer. "I didn't expect you 'till
next week when the trial starts."

I saw Buster drive up in his green
pickup.

"I came up to do a little relaxing before the
trial. I have rented a place ten miles down the hill, off a dirt
road. It was a farmhouse and is now a vacation rental.”

Agnes thought a minute and then said, "Is it a
boxy grey house with white shutters?'

I nodded yes. Buster came in and sat at a
booth, without either of us acknowledging each other.

"That is the old Williams' house. They used to
own many properties around here. I heard they fixed it up,
some."

"You're right. It has a fine new kitchen, and
it looks as though it has been repainted and has new
furniture."

The ladies were huddling again.

The cook rang the bell, and Agnes retreated to
deliver some orders.

I sat alone for a while, heard the bell ring
again, and watched Agnes bring my special.

"Looks good," I said.

"Best in the county. You staying there
alone?"

I nodded yes as I took my first
bite.

"Get you anything else?"

"No. This is good," I said.

I noticed that Buster had the special
also.

After Buster left and was sitting in his
pickup, using a toothpick, and seeming deep in thought, I paid my
check and left, leaving Agnes a big tip.

As I drove back to the ranch, I saw Buster a
good distance behind me. I turned on the dirt road, and then Buster
followed me for a while, passed me, and then stopped by the
driveway to the 'old Williams house.' I stopped behind him and saw
Cody come out from behind a bush and walk over to my car. He was
dressed in the same hula shirt I was wearing.

"You can ride with Buster the rest of the
way."

I stood and watched Cody drive my car into the
driveway before I joined Buster.

"This will be the routine," said
Buster.

"What is he going to do all the time hanging
around?"

"Cody is a screen writer. Two of his scripts
have been made into movies. He is working on the rewrite of a
script he has recently sold and is going into production this
summer. If someone could peek into the window of the 'old Williams'
place' they would see a man hard at work on his laptop, looking
ever so much like a lawyer preparing a case. He even has a bunch of
law books laying around."

As we drove to the ranch, we exchanged views
about the best pork chops in the county and other worldly
matters.

I spent Friday getting ready for the trial. I
went to the courthouse to file some papers and then went to Bob's
Cafe for lunch. I noticed Buster drive by but not stop, I talked to
Agnes briefly, and had their luncheon special, an open-faced chili
hamburger. I commented to myself that I couldn't get food like this
on Melrose Avenue.

I thought to myself, 'I'll bring Tina here for
a treat and celebration after we win the case.'

When I left for the ranch, I noticed Buster
following me as I left town.

After we made the switch with Cody at the
Williams' place, I got in the truck and asked Buster where he ate
lunch.

"I had fine dining at the Tasty
Freeze."

"You know how to live," I observed.

Back at the ranch, I worked for a while and
then decided to have a nap in the brightly colored hammock behind
the lodge, strung between two trees at the edge of the
woods,

I was dozing off, enjoying the sun reflecting
off the needles of the pine trees, listening to the wind of the
trees and some raucous jays.

Suddenly, I was back in the space-time of my
biplane years. I was standing in my desecrated uniform missing the
patches, talking to a beautiful lady dressed in a white lace dress
and wearing a floppy wide brimmed lace hat that I could see the
sun's rays through. She was angry, scolding me, and shaking her
finger at me. I couldn't get what she was saying, but it was making
me feel sad, rejected. Then, I felt betrayed! This was someone I
had trusted and loved. She walked away, and I felt my heart sink or
maybe it was a heart attack. The pictures faded and all that was
left was a profound sense of despair.

I drifted off to sleep feeling that great
feeling of despair. When I woke up, the despair was gone. As I
rubbed my eyes, I decide that I actually felt good, as though a
burden had been lifted. I stayed in the hammock for about an hour
mulling over my vision, eventually rising into a rather joyful
mood.

I sat up. Put my feet on the ground and took
out my cell phone. Yes, I had two bars here from Buster's local
service. I called Tom who answered right away. He said he was
composing but wouldn't mind a little interruption. I explained
where I was.

I explained my two visions, the dogfight ending
in my disgrace and the argument with the lady in white.

Tom said firmly, “I thought I told you not to
try this at home. You can really get screwed up with attention
stuck in some space-time.” Then, he said, "Go over the last part of
each vision slowly."

I did as he listened.

"You are OK," he said. “From sensing your
vibration from here, I can tell you have dealt with whatever that
was all about. It is OK to think about what it all means, but don't
go back there again. If you sense you are drifting into another
space-time, do something to wake yourself up. It would be an
extremely bad habit to cultivate, sooner or later you might get
very sick. Don't aimlessly wander through space-time,
OK?"

"Agreed," I replied. "Is there anything I need
to watch out for now?"

"Not especially. If you start to drift, grab
onto and sense and observe some objects around where you are. That
will ground you. When can you come in again?"

"I might be up here a couple more
weeks."

"Be careful. Is Tina up there with
you?"

"She will be here tomorrow."

"Good. Tell her to punch you or slap you if you
start to drift off. Better yet, tell her to kick you in the balls.
That will really ground you. Nobody travels in space-time bent over
in pain. Take this seriously, it can be dangerous. I have known
people who never really get back."

"Good. Let's get together as soon as you get
back to LA."

"Thanks," I said. "Goodbye."

I walked around picking up and examining
pinecones and feeling and closely examining the bark of the trees,
until I felt confident I was in present time. Then, I walked to the
lodge and went in. Buster was stretched out in one of the easy
chairs, listening to music on his iPod.

He sat up, fumbled with his iPod to turn it
off, and said. "What's happening?" He paused, looked at me with
puzzling expression. "You look like a cat that has just eaten a
double order of canaries."

"Oh. I was snoozing in the hammock and had a
really interesting dream."

"She arrives tomorrow doesn't she?"

"Yes, but the dream wasn't about her. I was
kind of traveling in space-time to World War I, flying biplanes and
that sort of thing."

"Was that good?"

"Yes, I think so. I think I am learning some
lessons from traveling there."

Buster smiled and then picked up his iPod, and
said, "I think I can travel in space-time with this thing,
sometimes. When I listen to a superb performance by a superb
orchestra under superb conductor, I feel as though I am transported
to the mind of the composer and feel his emotionality. I was
listening to Mahler's fifth symphony. It is a real emotional roller
coaster ride."

I observed. "That is an interesting idea. I saw
a PBS show about Leonard Bernstein. In an interview, Bernstein said
when he conducted he never remembered anything about a performance
from the time he was offstage, waiting to make is entrance, until
the time he was taking his bow at the conclusion. He said he gauged
his performance by how close he thought he came to becoming the
composer."

"That sounds like some sort of channeling,
which is a form of space-time travel."

Buster added, "An excellent performance
transports the orchestra and audience to the composer's emotional
space. I guess that would be in some other space-time when the
composer was creating the work. There are relatively few
performances that do that for me. I often will buy five CD's or
versions of something before I find one that is worth listening to.
I have learned which conductors and orchestras can do good jobs on
certain composers."

"You surprise me, Buster, with your knowledge
of art and music."

"I have a master's in Art History. I don't
reveal that too many people. It might be bad for the tough man
persona. "

Buster's eyes suddenly went from soft to hard
and he cracked his knuckles. "Colson hired the tough guy. He is
here except for these unguarded moments."

Buster laughed as I said, "You have to be tough
to enjoy fine dining in Rocky Butte."

I was excited, anticipant. Tina's plane was
coming in at 2:30. We had lived together for two wonderful days,
and it felt as though we had always been together. The four days of
separation was an eon. I thought I could feel her energy of
anticipation in being together again.

I rode to the dirt airstrip with Ben in the
Jeep. Ben didn't say much, he was an authentic silent cowboy type.
He was slim but muscular, about six feet two, with chiseled
features, about thirty years old. I didn't expect that he had a
master's degree like Buster, although people like Ben often
surprise me.

The bright Sierra sun was stronger than I was
comfortable with so I moved over into the shade of a pine tree. I
was careful to not allow myself to drift in space-time, heeding
Tom's warning. I sat for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet and my
anticipation. The distant sound of the twin engine airplane
interrupted my reverie.

As it circled low over the field, checking wind
direction shown by the windsock, I felt my sense of excitement at
seeing Tina increase. The airplane disappeared and then, a long
minute later, appeared over the trees at the end of the runway,
landed and, taxied to where we were. The engines sputtered to
silence. Tina was sitting in the back seat and Elizabeth McKenzie,
the young attorney who would be my assistant for the trial, sat in
the front.

Elizabeth climbed out first, dressed in a
business suit. I shook her hand and said welcome. Tina jumped down
and ran to me and gave me a big kiss. I felt whole
again.

Elizabeth said, "That's a relief. Tina and I
talked on the plane, but I didn't know how she fit into the
operation. Carolyn is on a week-long vacation, and I feared I might
find her up here."

I laughed and said, "Thanks for thinking so
much of me."

She looked at Tina and said, "You are obviously
in a much bigger league."

Elizabeth is a tall lady, six foot two, and a
whole head taller than I, with a low maintenance, short haircut,
very athletic and looks like and was a member of the US Olympic
women's volleyball team. She still trains, wears very little
makeup, and generally looks stoic. Although she is very outspoken,
and does not have the tact to deal with clients well, she is a
great legal researcher and has great powers of observation. It must
be her volleyball training that gave her the ability to sense
everything going on between everyone in a room. She reads
juries.

I said to Tina, "The lodge is about a mile
away. I see you are wearing tennis shoes. Want to walk?"

"Sure."

Elizabeth was eyeing Ben with great interest as
he loaded the baggage. She seemed to be fascinated by the fill of
his Levis jeans.