Sometimes I can’t sleep and I conger up a story and write it, but last night I did a real good one and I ran into some complications. I happened to look up and out the window by my chair and saw a BIG fire on a hill about two city blocks from me. I heard it was a trailer house and some homeless people must have tipped over a candle. Whatever it was, it was really raging. Anyway, I closed my computer and lost my article, so I have to do one again. I also lost the storyline. What was I thinking? I just conjured up a solution. Write about whatever comes to mind. OH BOY, the possibilities are endless because my mind is not very good at 76 years old. It might be shocking what comes out.

I wrote a word a couple sentence back. Conjured, huh? Let me think now. Where did that word come from? I know you thought I forgot, didn’t you? Well grab a libation (drink) sit down and buckle up because I am going to tell you.

Conjuring

Conjuring, what a word, meaning to make up. I have been known to do just that. I remember a poem from a long time ago. “It was midnight on the ocean and not a streetcar in sight. It was raining like mad and the sun was shining bright”. It goes on in a less than acceptable way not to put in print so the youngsters can read it.

The Native Americans in books that I have read would go on their Spirit Quest and build a fire and go into a deep trance and Conjure up all sorts of things. I’m sure it was true because I read it. I am not making fun of the Native American folklore – I have great respect for their history. There is a museum in Vancouver, BC that has all kinds of Inuit native artifacts and when you go in, pay the admission and the first thing is a video showing Totem Poles and a sound tape of an old wise man telling a story. I sat there with the chills and the hair on my neck standing out. It was a great experience. There was so much stuff in there it took almost all day to see it all.

Now, back to Conjuring. Have you ever sat and looked at the cloud formations and tried to see the dogs, or whatever you imagine they look like? Sitting on the beach watching a bird bobbing and know in your heart that it is a shark dorsal fin, only to see it fly off.

I did a lot of hunting in Montana starting when I turned twelve until I left to seek warmer weather. Walking down a tree covered hillside by myself, ever aware that right over there a deer might jump out at any moment. Wait, what is that? No, it is just a stump, or maybe it is a grizzly bear looking for lunch. Man, that was close. Tree stumps can be pretty mean especially if you shoot at them.

Did you hear that? Maybe a deer stepped on a branch? No just a chipmunk. It is so quiet in the trees that you can conjure up all kinds of things that you can’t bring home to cook up, including humans. What is he doing in my hunting spot? Doesn’t he know he could be conjured?

Living in Mexico you don’t have to do much conjuring. You drive down a street and suddenly a car appears from nowhere, fifty miles an hour and man he didn’t stop at the sign. Good thing I was on the defense. Boy, if I did that there would be a policeman sitting there and it would be ticket time.

We love Mexico anyway. I can sit in front of my RV and conjure up all kinds of stuff. A couple martinis and things get pretty interesting. A flock of pelicans fly by and I can conjure up a WWII dog fights up there. If you pay attention you will see them all follow the leader, turning this way and that. I can just hear the ones in the back saying, “Where we going?” Another one says, “I don’t know but Charlie is in charge. He must know.” “I stayed on that rock over there once. It was a little slippery, but other than that a good continental breakfast. Try the fish, it’s good”.

See what happens when I let my mind go? Is that a deer over there? No that’s a tree stump and if you shoot at it look out because anything can happen.

Thanks for reading my articles. Tune in next month and see “WHAT”.