Authors: Michael Poeltl
“
It was the right thing to do, man,” I declared. “That fish fought the good fight; I’d have let him go too.”
Gil peered over his shoulder at me. “Hey, I just didn’t want to lose any more line,” he smiled, and we both started laughing. I knew why he did it: we all did.
The lake was calm again, offering a smooth paddle back to the mainland. Earl sat in the mid-section of Gil and Seth’s canoe as I lay in the dingy being towed behind them, hands clasped behind my head and staring up at the warm blue sky as I wondered whether life would always be this perfect.
B
ack at the camp, everyone was relieved to see us. Gil and Seth skinned the fish on a large rock slab a few feet from the fire. Blood ran off the stone and was swallowed up by a thirsty earth below as though we were appeasing an angry god. Shirtless and huddled around the stone, wielding knives like ancient priests at a sacrificial alter, Gil and Seth seemed to transform before my eyes. Suddenly they were wearing feathered headdresses and loincloths, and had painted faces. I turned away, blaming the vision on whatever we’d smoked out on the island, and began stoking the flames and preparing the pans.
As dusk set in, conversation around the fire progressed from mellow dinner talk to a confrontation between Earl and Caroline over world issues. Caroline disagreed with him on the necessity of war as the great leveler. Practically every time we had a weekend away, Earl got into a debate with someone on this subject.
“
Earl,” I said, “we’re not on this again, are we?”
He smirked, took a sip from his pint, and kept up the discussion with Caroline.
“
Do you think this’ll lead into his infamous end of the world speech?” I asked Connor.
“
Is the pope Catholic?”
It didn’t take Earl long to find the opening he’d been waiting for. I heard Caroline say, “You actually believe we need world wars, famine and disease??? You think we
need
these things, things that extinguish the human race?”
“
Do you really think that with all of the pollution we pump into the atmosphere and the theft of the planets natural resources, it wouldn’t fight back to rid itself of the disease that’s killing it? Like a surgeon cutting out the cancer.”
John attempted to speak but Earl raised his hand and continued.
“
With all of the new diseases popping up, earthquakes, forest fires and tornados, you have to see that the world is actually fighting back. It’s karma. There are too many people on the planet with no respect for what it can do for us. What it is doing for us. Nature’s a bitch, 300 million killed off in the 20
th
Century from smallpox alone, the Spanish Flu wiped out nearly 100 million during the Great War, the Black Death, 75 million over the course of 300 years.” He paused again, hand still up. His index and forefinger started to wiggle. “Jake, set me up with a butt.”
Jake threw a cigarette to him without missing a beat. Earl lit it and continued. “And we’re not much better, nearly 60 million people killed during the second world war. Horrible statistics - but necessary? You bet! With fewer people to shelter and feed, the planet isn’t hit as hard by mankind’s abuses. Right now there are too many people on earth, so you can expect to see one of two things happening soon: war or global retaliation. Read Malthus man, it’s all there in black and white
.
My money’s on war. Look at the history of the world – did you know that in all of recorded history there have been only seven days of peace? And that’s seven in
total
, combined, taking an hour here, a few minutes there. War has been controlling population ever since we learned to fight.
“
So in answer to your question, Caroline: yes, we do need world wars. Imagine the damage the planet would unleash if we didn’t have them. The unfortunate thing about a world-wide war right now is that most life on earth would be devastated. That’s why we never see countries that have nuclear weapons use them in battle. They’re too efficient, too
final
. And the political implications of using a nuclear missile could just as easily propel the planet into a world war. Every shithole country on the globe has a half-ass copy of the bomb now and won’t be left out if someone decides to light one up.”
“
It looks as though we have a member of ‘The Four Horsemen’ among us,” Julia commented. The whole group laughed.
Caroline staged a rebuttal. “So, Earl, with the shape the world is in right now, you’re suggesting that another war is imminent. Beyond population densities, on what do you base that profound prophecy?”
“
Think about it Caroline, everyone…” He paused for effect. “You’ve all heard of Revelations, in the Bible and the ‘seer’ Nostradamus. Not to mention the others who’ve seen the future, the dark future. They’ve all seen a third world war. Some say that the ‘war on terror’ is the third and final installment of world wars. A third global war with nukes would be the end of the world as we knew it. Radiation would permeate the soil and the air. The lucky ones would be those who happened to be at ground zero when their city was hit. With history, fact and the Bible backing up these arguments, I think I’ve pretty much covered my ass.”
“
I think you mean history, fact, and fiction, Earl.
The Bible
?” Connor shook his head. “Alright, I’m leaving this conversation.” He struggled to stand.
“
Connor,” Sara broke in, annoyed, “the Bible is the most real thing in this conversation. I believe in the Revelations. I don’t want to think it’ll happen in my lifetime, but I believe it will one day.”
“
It’s not a cop-out, Connor,” added Earl. “It’s as valid as anything you’ll hear on the news these days.”
“
It’s ancient history, I mean fictional history. It’s a piece of fiction. What can you draw on from the Bible that can make sense of the state of the world today?”
“
It’s
not
all fiction, Connor. It’s steeped in historical fact and to see into the future you have to look into the past. It’s that simple.”
“
I think we’re all a little too high right now to continue this line of thought,” I declared.
“
Joel!” Sara hissed. “I’m serious. Read it some time. I guarantee you’ll shit your pants.”
“
Hey, I was just saying that we should mellow out a minute. Don’t get all jerked off over nothing. You’re not exactly a Bible thumper.”
“
I don’t have to be a Bible thumper to believe in something, Joel!”
“
Chill out,” I went to grab her hand, but she pulled away. “Settle down.”
I stared at Connor, amazed at Sara’s attitude. He nodded and waved me over. On our way to the cooler, he settled me down with a show of acid.
“
Just let her cool off, old man. You must have struck a chord or some shit.” We snagged a beer each and sat on a large, protruding rock. “Do you want to do a hit?”
“
I didn’t know you brought this shit up.” I licked my finger and dabbed it on the paper holding the acid. Connor followed suit with a mischievous smile. While we waited for the drug to take hold, we listened to Kevin arguing with Sara over the ‘faith’ she had in the Bible.
“
Faith is the key word there, Kevin.” Her voice became louder. “That’s why religions are also called faiths. Faith requires no particular proof.” I followed her shadow with my eyes as the fire projected it ever closer to our position. “Faith is everything. I believe in heaven and hell with little more proof then the Bible can give me. I believe because I want to, and I pray that when I die heaven will be waiting for me.”
Kevin went silent. Sara was blowing this way out of proportion.
Sidney broke in. “Maybe you should read the Bible like Sara said. I skimmed through it once in a hotel room when I was traveling and the end of the book is in essence the end of the world.” With this said, the whole group exploded in conversation.
“
Intense, man,” Connor sighed as he studied the stars. “We wonder why wars break out over religion, and these people are
friends
. Man, everyone has their own ideas on how someone else should live.” A melancholy mood struck us both. I glanced over at him, and saw him regarding me with vacant eyes.
Oh shit, not again.
For as long as I’d known him, Connor has had what some called a ‘second sight’. He could often sense that something was going to happen before it did. He told me once that his grandmother had had the same ability. He’d never predicted anything that spooked me, at least nothing that he told me about in advance. Whenever one of those premonitions struck him, his expression would go blank and he’d stare off into space.
“
Shit, Connor, if you’re going into fortune-teller mode, keep it to yourself. I’m too buzzed to handle shit, good or bad. Call me when it’s over.” I turned to leave, but was unable to see in the dark and banged my head on a low-hanging branch. “Shit!”
He jerked as if electrocuted, and watched me rubbing my forehead, his eyes slowly focusing. Then he started laughing. So did I, relieved that he was back and apparently without grim news. We wandered off into the trees, moving further from the noise, not stopping until the fire was a distant flicker. Finding a dry spot, we sat. Connor got cozy with the tree behind him, wrapping an arm around its trunk and resting his head against its rough bark.
“
This is a good tree. Put your hand on it, Joel.”
I did, and the experience blew me away. A rush of energy shot through my body as my hand breached the tree’s aura, an aura I swear I could see. Connor watched the expression on my face change as I connected with nature. “Pretty amazing, eh buddy?”
“
Insane.” That was all I could say. Connor knew what I meant. I got up and began touching as many trees as I could. The phrase ‘tree hugger’ had just clicked. I giggled.
“
Let’s start a fire of our own,” he suggested. “What do you think?”
“
Good call, but I think everything is wet from the storm this afternoon.”
“
We’ll find dry wood somewhere.” He rose with a grunt and stepped over me. “These are birch trees. We’ll peel their bark for kindling. Shit burns good. You got a knife?”
“
No, but I have a lighter.”
“
No worries.” I could hear the bark being pulled apart as I resumed my tree loving.
A skunk crossed my path a moment after I left Connor. Not a bizarre thing in the north woods, but this was no ordinary skunk. My brain, still working on some instinctive level, recognized the threat in front of me. I froze. Raising my hands slowly, I massaged my eyes and prayed the image would fade away. “No, no, no....”
Unfortunately, the scene did not diminish. In fact, it got more freakish as my vision cleared. The skunk had positioned itself on a dead stump and stared at me with an urgency that sent me reeling. My heart stopped as my gaze fell upon the animal’s distinctive and familiar abnormality. One front leg was shorter than the other.
He stood on his hind legs, like a puppet. Suddenly light from an unknown source illuminated his stage. “Joel, you know who I am,” he said. “You need to know why I am here. Please don’t be frightened, I am only a vision.”
I cut him off.
“
You’re right about that!” I pointed an accusing finger. “You’re nothing more than a vision. And a bad one at that.”
I’d lost any ability to move and in trying, fell to my knees. Now face to face with the talking skunk, sure I had lost my grip on reality, I could only listen. It was all so very real, palpable. I giggled at the thought, shaking my head. “Joel, please, you must know. You must be prepared….”
Before he could say more, Connor’s voice broke the spell and the skunk ran off.
“
Joel! Where the hell did you go?” He slapped me on the back and knelt down beside me. “Freaking out a little bit? Don’t love it too much, man.”
Feeling had returned to my legs, so I stood up. “You have no idea, buddy. No idea. I just had a conversation with the skunk. Explain that shit to me.”
“
Cool. Acid agrees with you. The night of the beer gardens you followed your hands around as though they were blazing a path for you.” He led me back to our new fire. “What do you think? There wasn’t a lot of dry wood, but it’s cooking now, old man.”
I sat. Then, pondering the events that turned an otherwise good trip into something of a nightmare, I clutched my stomach and threw up all over my shoes.
“
W
hoa, you sick, Joel?” Connor, now laughing, picked me up and assisted me to the water’s edge. Taking off my shoes, I threw up again. “Let’s get you back to the camp.”
“
Sorry, man,” I groaned. “That vision messed me up.” I remained by the lake while Connor went back to extinguish the fire. Feeling confident that I’d finished puking, I dragged myself to dry land and disrobed.
Back at the camp, the group was going strong except for Jake, who was lying in someone’s lawn chair, a bag of pot on his lap. Sonny, John, and Caroline had pushed their chairs together and were howling over some joke. Freddy crawled into his tent with a beer and a magazine. Sidney and Julia both looked at a newspaper while Tom stood close enough to be part of their conversation but not have to contribute to it. Kevin lingered at the water’s edge, shooting the shit with Gil and Seth while Earl concentrated on keeping the fire hot.