The puzzle of perception


John decided we should go into the backyard for a spell, so I sat on the bench while he
lay in his synthetic recliner. Gazing about the yard was strange for everything around
me was now unrelated to itself, as if every object was meant to be viewed separately.

I looked up at the faded black painted railing that had been set into the brick steps  
which led from the kitchen to the backyard. From there I saw, quite naturally, the
illusory image of four fish in animated form displaying themselves to me. Wait, they
now appear to look like Chinese scissors! The stygian rail painted a silhouette against
the house, much to the likes of a nocturnal shadow which had been burned into the
air. This was partially due to the configuration of the wrought iron itself, which in an
odd kind of way, seemed to resemble origami that had been abandoned by a child in
the flower of her youth somewhere in the latter half of the eighteenth century.



The bricks going down the steps were off, in the sense that the top row was very far
away, as if seen through the reverse end of a pair of binoculars, while the bottom was
simply one big fat line that converged to form an elephants toe. Clumsy and foolish
were these bricks that now seem so content to be immersed in contrived animation!



They would go as far as to puff themselves out in disguise
to look like over stated piano keys.

The white picket fence, however, I found to be threatening and could not look at it for fear
of something dreadful happening. Why was this? It felt like Halloween night with a stalker
on the prowl. He had crossed an unseen border which separated science from mythology
and was now, somewhere in the vicinity of our neighborhood lurking about.

Something got out, I thought. Keep it under control or panic will set in. I felt as though I had
acutely developed a keen sense of intuition, and it was now warning me that I was in extreme
danger. For some undefinable reason, I was totally unable to eradicate this feeling of doom
that had taken hold of me. I tried to remove it from my conscious mind by playing the
'psychology game,' but soon found even that would not work. 

A tiny creature hatched in my brain and took form
through a pinhole in my awareness.



I found it very difficult to fathom that something so innocuous as a fence had just manufactured
a killer. Wait, he's in the house!!! As I further analyzed the problem, I soon came to realize that
my mind had, in fact, turned on me. I was now an unwilling participant in a melodramatic horror
movie, and the emotions of terror I was now experiencing were to such a degree, I felt I may very
soon be in need of medical assistance. I knew it was nothing more than a simple case of mind over
matter, but I just couldn't arrest it! Most of all, I needed to remain calm and vigilant, if I was going to
beat this thing. I didn't know how the human brain operated, but I should have. It was my only mistake.

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How unnerving was this feeling that someone was behind me, and at any given moment
I was going to get japped! Then to my relief, I would spin around to find no one there.

Every time this happened,
I anticipated a theater full of people on the edge of their seats!

They were watching me from the big sky screen, so I could only sense their eyes
upon me. I tried to act cool, because I knew they were watching and that helped
a bit, but when I looked about, it felt as though I were awaiting a massacre.

 

The last thing I needed, was to come down from this trip in a state of terror.

Then, not only would I  have to worry about a flashback for the next seven years,
but also, the dreaded fear of it returning if ever I should become paranoid from
smoking pot. There was no doubt about it, I had to come down from this high
with a yearning to take it again, because the alternative was madness.



I then thought of a movie I saw last year, and decided, since I had an
audience, to become someone else. Slowly, I began to emulate a man
known as Snake Plissken. A man incapable of fear! As I moved around
the yard with a renewed sense of confidence, I could feel the tension
building. With fists clenched and motor skills like a sensei, I was ready!



There was nothing out there as far as the eye could see,
but a schizophrenic emotion run amok.

I was experiencing the fear as though it were relevant, and underneath it all, I was
becoming very much concerned. In my foolish quest to tinker with unbridled power
and use it for my own advantage, it seems I have encountered a small glitch.

Then, from out of nowhere a little girl with
a very sincere voice spoke aloud in my head.

“It's only a fence”
(((and)))
“Are you afraid of the big bad wolf?”

She then went on to comfort me with words such as
“Think of flowers in a field or water. . .
                 Water helps.”

So sweet and kind was this child of nature, who I remembered from the
craquelure painting of my youth. There was an alarm clock on a very long
table in a room where the child was now standing, nothing else. The clock
seemed as though it were trying to go off, but couldn't for it was swelling fast
and in an uneven manner. I knew now that the clock was going to explode!



Wanting no harm done to the girl, I took hold of the situation and transported
her to a train leaving for an unknown destination. I could not watch her die and
would have put myself before the explosion, should I have had to. She waved to
me with her arm out the window, but was semi obscured by the fog. She spoke
only a few words, until I could no longer hear her voice. I was now becoming
teary-eyed as I thought of that painting, and all that was lost in the realm of time. 

                                                                               Pg 248
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I could see that she was smiling as a young girl would smile, but I could also
see that she really didn't want to go. She had to, for the sake of all things well.
The train rolled off into the distance, and all that was left behind were thick
layers of a hazy mist. *She was safe now, and that is all that mattered*

I then realized, I had taken control of the the situation! The girl who
appeared to me briefly showed me that. “Thank you,” I muttered to the rustling
of tree branches, as if speaking through an opening in Heaven's gate.

How grateful was I,
to the physiological axioms which define biology!



What it all boils down to is that is we are nothing more than flesh and blood
people. Living and toiling because someone wished to create us. Sure our
mother could have spit us out, or our father could have blasted us into a
tissue and flushed us into the sea, but they chose to love and care for us.



I then remembered where I saw that fence! It was in a low budget horror
film I had seen a while back. I tried to remember the name, but it would
not come to me. Ever notice when the lights are adjusted in a certain way
and the music starts creeping in as the movie begins to build, you can
almost sense the fear while you are watching? Even if no one is there and
nothing will ever happen! In other words, sometimes the anticipation is
greater than the expected. If you can find what's causing the fear, the fear
will go away. So long as it's only fear and not two arms reaching for you!

There was presently, no threat of anything I needed to be concerned with,
and I was again relieved. The world had relaxed and I slipped out of its
grasp to establish myself in obscurity. Where colors are forever grey, and
second chances are that perfect shade of blue an artist will never find.

A problem can only be solved by finding its solution, but to lose a child or
loved one, the issue may never be resolved and may drive people to commit
unspeakable acts. Those internal wounds affect the heart and can shock the
subconscious mind into believing that nothing will ever be the same again.



As for me, I no longer wished to be a participant in this life
but merely an observer, for in my heart, I knew I would never
be able to find any resolve in that particular area.

I looked down at the weeds in the yard nearby, and it appeared that I
was in Missouri. Never at any time, did an object materialize in front of
me, nor did anyone just magically appear and offer to take me on a magic
carpet ride! Only the very aspect of the environment had changed.

I was looking through eyes that weren't my own;
I was gaining a different perspective.

Everything was relative in the order that it was now being processed.
I knew the consequences of my actions and the results that would follow for
any discriminating behavior on my part, whether it be lewd or mischievous,
violent or anarchic, or any other form of wrong doing, for that matter. Wherefore,
I would expect the same from any individual under the present circumstance.
 
Be aware of your surroundings.
Know your enemies.
Raise no sword.
Observe.

These are the four basic rules of the game. Follow them,
and you should make it through unscathed. Caution was the key,
and I slowly got myself out of a very tense and alarming situation.

                                                                               Pg 249
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Reviews for chapter 36

Ann Schloss - Drugs are so bad

Jane Mercer - As a psychology major, would you mind terribly if I picked your brain?
That was a joke, but it sounds like I want to dissect you!

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PG 247) Connected by Anne Siems - http://tinyurl.com/osh4n79

PG 247) The leg of the elephant that is reflected in gavel roses by Agim Meta - http://agim-m.com/

PG 247) Oforia by David Ho - http://www.davidho.com/

PG 248) Blanar by Waldo Retamales - http://tinyurl.com/kc2jkym

PG 248) Nearer my God to thee by Jack Kevorkian - http://tinyurl.com/nep8n7c

PG 248) Bakemono by Neil Bruce - http://tinyurl.com/oqnhgx6

PG 248) War by numbers by Shepard Fairey - http://www.obeygiant.com/

PG 249) Paralysis by Jack Kevorkian - http://tinyurl.com/nep8n7c

PG 249) Je ne sais quoi by Alessandro Fantini

PG 249) Corkey ascending to the heavens by Mark Ryden - http://www.markryden.com/