The Desert

…sitting, staring out over the desert. I think to myself that it would be so cool if cacti were actually animals. Ones that would slowly wander the desert. They would tend to the thirsty and the hungry, giving themselves up for other people. Ah! A stupid fantasy.

The heat of the day seems to be baking the reality right out me. “I want a new vision,” I yell to the heavens. Suddenly the there is a black spot on the horizon. As it comes closer I can hear drumming. Every inch the blackness moves, the drums become louder.

Is it? I start to think it might be cacti. One cactus after another marching to the drumming. Meanwhile, in the center of it all, the blackness grows. It has waves behind it like an ebony veil.

Suddenly I can see what the blackness surrounds. It’s a woman. It’s…my new vision. And that she is. She has a body the curves like a mountain road. Her eyes are the kind of green you can only see when you’re hallucinating. Her dress is a fabric that I have never seen and does not seem to be serving much of a purpose. Her hair is black as night. At least until she stops. She is inches from my face. I suddenly feel cold. A closer look now. Her hair is a fiery red. I am not speaking in metaphors. As a strand fell from her shoulder and brush my face, I felt the burn. I heard a sizzle.

“I told you not to call me here,” she says as she sits in a chair unseen. The drumming has dimmed down to a muffled thud but still constant. It makes thinking, almost hard.

What was she talking about? I didn’t care her, it, whatever the hell this is. “Lady, I do not know you. I did not call you.” Suddenly, my chest felt tight and I couldn’t breath. She has not moved.

“Do not tell me things that are not true,” she said as the cacti slowly surround me.

At that moment, I remembered the old saying about being careful what you wished for. But that still doesn’t explain her. I felt like I was dying. My chest was tight but I couldn’t breathe. I raised my hand in a plea to release me. Slowly my chest loosened.

“I only asked for a new vision. You are definitely that. But I am quickly realizing is that this is miscommunication, not misinformation.”