The Mother Earth Volkswagen Bus

“I need help” Skeezix said for the millionth time this morning, as he filled the water reservoir on his coffeemaker for his second pot of coffee, hand shaking, steam rising from his clammy skin as he ambled around his unheated one room “apartment” half naked, stomach growling, bowels churning.

“Maybe I’ll look for a job” he thought, as he paged through an old newspaper listlessly while the coffeemaker sang its tuneless ditty, slowly going faster.

He turned some pages and found one headed ‘Help Wanted’.

Skeezix scanned the out-dated listings, retaining nothing he saw, letters and words running from meaning like mad two dimensional insects crawling on the white carcass of the dead news.

“Geeesis” Skeezics said, and rinsed his only cup with the rusty cold water that constantly dripped noisily into his tiny efficiency sink.

He poured a cup of steaming black into his stained cup and turned back to the crumpled rag he ignored daily and tried to focus on the Help Wanted section.

He turned the page of the newspaper to the reverse side of the HELP WANTED and saw a picture of an ancient woman selling medicinal herbs from the back of a Volkswagen bus, looking directly at him, it seemed, and highly amused.

Behind the VW bus was a familiar looking building. Farley looked closer and saw that it was his building! There was someone looking out the window where his window should be!

“Geeesis” Skeezix muttered, and looked at his window, a sudden unheard minor chord filling his mind with dread, the light snow falling outside reducing sound and sight to shroudlike stillness.

“Am I dreaming?”

He felt the blood drain from his face as his legs carried him to the window seemingly against his will, but he hoped his legs weren’t betraying him, it must be the coffee, or nerves, that’s all.

He looked out of his window and saw a Volkswagen bus parked across the parking lot, with an old hag looking up in his direction, seemingly amused at his discomfort.

"People like that make me want to just kill everybody" he mumbled to himself, and Skeezix grabbed his piece and threw on his leather coat and head out the door.

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Mother Earth smiled from the back of Her VW bus.

When She smiled that tree over there shed the blight and was healthy again, the cicadas in the roots guaranteed another generation. Further on, those fox babies got better milk. Further still the eagle's wings pump more powerfully in the sun while smarter rabbits hide miles away. Then there's a river. Then there's the sea.

Skeezix burst from the front door of his tenement building, black coat half covering shirtless pale white skin, cannon gripped tightly in his tattooed fist, a picture of anger.

“C’mon” Mother Earth waved to Skeezix to come hither, Her big smile lighting the sun.

“GEEESIS!!” Skeezix swore “People like that make me want to kill people like that!” and he staggered zig zag toward the bus, pistol in hand causing him to lean and steer somewhat to the right.

“C’mon!” gestured Mother Earth happily, and all the hibernating creatures were safe in nice dream.

Skeezix smelled the herbal bouquet before he was close enough to touch Mother Earth, and he almost slowed down, but he was quick in his anger, as he has been all of his life, and he raised his pistol and grabbed her arm in his violent grip, but as soon as his fingertip touched Her, he fell to his knees, and cried, mother.