Strange People

Strange People

Paul Freeman.

Subject:

open the can...

Date:

Wed, 17 Jun 1998 17:01:08 -0700 (PDT)

From:

peefree@netcom.com (Paul Freeman)

mundane

domestic day

cans, bottles, papers

a twilight world in summer wrappers

stepping into the pause

crossing paths

my neighbor Bill...

"Man it's all a fucking joke, you see you've got these cells and you

eat the lettuce and it's all just water, you see, your cells are just

microbes and chemicals and hormones but what it all comes down to is a

certain number of intakes and poops, just eat and poop and there's a

certain number, you can eat lettuce and that's just water and fiber,

and you can eat the cucumber and it is just water and maybe a few vitamins

and some fiber and well it just doesn't matter; like there's a certain

number and when the cell reaches the number it's all over, like the

guy on TV said, so you've got muscles with protein that keep you

moving, and look man, I used to be a hippie, you know?, I mean I traveled

all over, all around the states, through Canada and to Europe, and like I

was a hippie, you know just being all into nature and I love these trees

and like the universe, and the earth, but it's all a joke, like these cells [points at body]

just intake and poop and you can eat the lettuce but it doesn't matter see

because you need to eat the animal, and kill the buffalo and take the hide

and live in it, I know you've got a nice tent, but you've got to kill the

buffalo and eat it, and take the hide and live in it, man you see? Anyway

I'm 53 and I was a hippie, I used to be like that kid playing catch; we'd

play baseball right over there---then I decided to just go and see the world

man---and you know Timothy Leary? he was like just writing his books and I

was living it man, I went to Germany and made BMW's, yeah I was a welder on

the assembly line, I figured I needed money and I could do anything, but I

came back and now I make a lot of money; it's a lot of pressure, so

sometimes I have to get really drunk, like now I'm really drunk, but you

can eat the lettuce or cucumbers and it really is your muscles, their

protein, and they move you around, you see? They carry you head, like we

had all these drugs, like LSD, and I was a total hippie man, but I have a

good job and make a lot of money so I bought five acres and I'm fixing it

up and I'm almost finished so I'll only be here another month, but hey

there's the trees, and this creek and all this nature but it's a joke, I

mean I like the trees man, but that's all it is, I went to Greece and we

smoked pot when it was totally illegal, you could get thrown in jail for

life, just sitting in jail with nothing but we would sell our blood and

they'd give us $20 and a towel and some little soaps and Bessy and I went

and sold our blood and just hung out, you know? Two weeks later we went

back and sold blood again and I said 'hey I really love you' and she just

said 'see ya' and left man...

[Smile straighten eyes wet dark glasses]

That's a nice rig you got there, I got my truck-car, see? I got my oil and

some tools, that wire there, that's GTE, I have a good job, but I have to

get really drunk every once an awhile, I just have to put stuff down on

paper and they take it and other people do what I put on the paper, they

know, hey I'm 53 so they just let me come in and say 'put your name on this

paper and we will pay you', and I've worked there a long time, and they

like me, but now I've got five acres up on Lacamas Lake and I'm almost

done, but I'm not 23 anymore so it takes awhile, but I've been all over the

place, have you been to Crater Lake? Of course I've been to Crater Lake; we

went up there and drank Harvey Wallbangers, do you know what those are? We

drank a bunch of those and then got our bikes out of the V.W. van and rode

around all night crashing, bang, get right back up and kept going and

crashing, because we were young and we could do anything, and the next

morning, it's like Idaho! and we saw a great concert in Idaho with Wolf Man

Jack as the M.C. goin' Whaooo, and I've been to the coleseum in Rome, I've

been inside it, all around, I mean, you cann't really walk in the middle

because the floor is all gone but there were lions and like these midgets

with pitch forks and they had to kill the lions and I was saying wait a

second, but then it all makes sense, the big animal eats the little animal,

and then the bigger eats the smaller, and then you see, finally the little

microbe eats the big animals, see? like the universe going around, but

it's all a joke, it's just a joke, like 'hippie rock' you see, all I need

is a rock and if I sit on a rock I'm a hippie, it's just a rock, anywhere

man, but now it's all yuppies, before yuppies were something, like 'how

much money do you make so you can take care of my kids', and what kind of

car you have, I just bought a volvo, I'm picking it up tomorrow, I hope so

anyway, but you can eat the lettuce but it really doesn't matter, if that's

all you eat it's not good, like your brain just uses sugar really, so you

could just eat sugar and that would be okay for awhile but then, you know

everything else, I mean I've been all over the place man, I've been to

Greece, and I've built BMW's right? Doing whatever, I've been everywhere

and then... I came back from Viet-Nam and... Things never... got right....

[tears?] ...I'm/going/for/a/walk...

Passes through the gate

lets out cat

moves

on.