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pascal_curious) wrote2009-09-16 07:14 pm
Chapter 20 : Fata Morgana
It only took a few miles for Nervous Subject to realize that going out for a jog in the desert heat might not have been such a good idea; at least not for his first time out. He had gone through his bottled water about one mile back and now wished he had stopped at the Area 52 grocery to get more. Now, the grocery and any other sign of civilization were over two miles in the other direction. Nervous was sure he wouldn’t make it back those two miles. Maybe starting his personal transformation from a sedentary, beer drinking, and occasional herbal cigarette smoking schlub should have been a bit more gradual.
Nervous had jogged past the edge of town, beyond all of the businesses and houses. He slowed his pace to a slow stumble. He had to find some relief soon. He didn’t want to die of heat exhaustion just a few miles from home. His heart felt like it was going to pound right out of his chest cavity, and his head was throbbing out a conga. He had ceased sweating about a half a mile back and was becoming a bit light headed. He also realized, a bit late, that sunscreen, or at least a hat to cover his newly bald head, would have been a good idea. He thought he could have fried up a full English breakfast on his scalp.
His stumble lurched to a halt. He held himself upright with his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. He looked around, expecting to find nothing but vast expanses of nothing but sand. Sure enough, to his right was the main road that went into town and past it was nothing but scrub brush, sand, and the occasional Joshua tree or cactus. He knew it was too much to hope that a car might pass by.
Behind him, he couldn’t even see any of the buildings that sat on the very edge of town.
He looked ahead and blinked his eyes a few times, certain that he must be seeing things. He though he had seen trees. He rubbed his eyes and squinted his eyes to focus better. They were still there! It looked like a grove of palm trees. Nervous was smart enough to know that meant. It was either a desert oasis (those only exist in the movies, right?), or someone’s property where they went to the trouble and expense of cultivating palm trees in this god-forsaken desert.
Nervous stumbled ahead, never taking his eyes off of the vision on the horizon. He felt very much like Bugs Bunny, lost in the desert after his wrong turn at Albuquerque. He wouldn’t be surprised if he found a lush oasis, and instead of jumping into a crystal clear pool of cool water he was jumping headlong into sand dune. He wondered if mirages were real, or just one of those things in cheesy movies and Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Nervous hoped he wasn’t imagining things, but the grove appeared to be getting closer as he floundered toward it. In fact, he could see more than just the grove of trees. He could see a pickup truck and just beyond it what looked like a person, hunched over something in the sand. Nervous sped up to a trot, despite the fact his head and feet were threatening mutiny. He plugged forward, his sights on the man and his pickup truck.
He was wondering what someone would be doing out here, in the middle of Bum-Fuck West Egypt, when he saw it; glorious, beautiful, blessed water! It was, indeed, a desert oasis (or a mirage of one) surrounded by palm trees.
Invigorated by the vision, and the promise of sweet relief, Nervous broke into a run, past the strange shirtless man and his pickup truck, across a narrow stone bridge spanning the pool, and on to a small platform at its edge.
It seemed too magnificent to be real. It felt so surreal to be standing at the edge of a crystal pool in the middle of the desert, complete with deck and diving board. Perhaps he was dreaming. Perhaps he had already collapsed and was dreaming all of this. Perhaps he was already dead and standing at a portal to the afterlife; one final jump and he would leave this world and plunge into the next.
Nervous thought he heard shouting as he sprinted across the deck to the shoddily built diving plank. The board had a little spring to it and he bounded the two steps to its end, almost losing his balance.
He pushed off at the precipice with his wobbly legs. There was a resounding smack as Nervous landed in the water, belly first.
For a brief moment, Nervous experienced a feeling of total exhilaration as the cool water enveloped him. The icy cold water took his breath away as it cooled his burning skin, quenched his thirst, and soothed his parched lips. It was then that he realized that something was dreadfully wrong. He paddled his feet franticly and pulled through the water with his arms, trying to reach the surface. The surface seemed so far away. He felt like he was sinking into oblivion. His chest ached with the need for oxygen…and something else. He gave one last, futile, push toward the surface before he let the darkness swallow him.
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And what a cliffhanger here! Can't wait for the next episode!
PS. I've friended you so I don't miss the future updates.
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