21: The Shady 'Hood

Waking up was a process. The first sensation after the dreams had fled was pressure below. Gotta piss gotta piss can't piss too far must sleep I thought and then I flipped over tossing the sleeping bag aside as the temperature slowly rose. I couldn't go out there just yet. Lu's prone, sleeping form was next to me. I laid a hand across her back and then tried to drift away again. It may have worked. But my arm was making her way too warm. She shooke me off with a mumble. My eyes were nearly caked shut and my mouth was dust crusted. I could feel the grit on my face, on my arms, in my hair. Even my lungs contained the tiny flecks of sand. Finally it got to be too much. I couldn't wait any more. I pulled on shorts, found my glasses, slipped on my Crocs, burst out into the day and jumped on my bike to ride like mad down the block to the bathroom. And once again, I was impressed by the extreme cleanliness of the porta-potties.

Back at the tent I flopped onto the air mattress despite the growing heat. I just needed a little more time with my eyes closed. I may have dozed a bit longer, but eventually it simply got too hot. We got up and stumbled into the camp's shade. I couldn't even consider putting in my contacts yet. I'd been wearing them for stretches of twelve, fifteen hours at a time. Instead I had a pair of huge red glasses that you would use for a laser level, but they fit nicely over my regular glasses, so I just rocked those all day. The ruby red plastic glasses made the sky and sand and world brand new hues. I took my seat at the Curvas bar, enjoying a delicious cup of blueberry yogurt. It was our last day, though, and I realized that we had yet to bust out the Stingray Bloody Mary Mix from Trader Joe's, and the yummy potato vodka that went with it so perfectly. In short order multiple marys were made and passed out. Their snap brought my brain back in line, but I also started right in on the water 'cause I could feel my skin getting shrively in the heat.

I felt good. No hangover, no headache, no stomach ache, no funk. I was groggy and sleepy and definitely a little worn out, but there was no question that tonight was going to be the absolute shit. The best night ever. The Burn! It was on and I was psyched. Finally we were there for our first Burn of the Man, and it was only half a day away.

Lu strolled over to me, slipping her hand around my arm as she leaned in for a kiss. "Morning!" she said with a smile. Finally we could talk now that liquid had been restored to our bodies and minds.

"Hi baby! How you feeling?"

"Great! A little tired, but good. You?"

"Perfect. But lazy."

"Yeah," she agreed, "I'm feeling lazy too."

"Ya know," I said, "we've been all over the place all week. Maybe today we should just chill and hang out at camp and not worry about going exploring today."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Lu agreed. "You know there are a lot of people here that really haven't left the camp much at all."

"I know! I guess since they've been here so many times, they feel like they've seen it all, so they just want to hang."

"I guess. But it's got to be so different every year! I couldn't imagine not exploring."

"Totally. And we really did see so much."

"We did. But it's crazy how much stuff we didn't see."

"I know," I agreed. "It's like friggin endless, ya know? You could go all day every day and stop at every place for only five minutes and you still wouldn't get through half of it!"

"Yeah. Let's just stay around the camp today. That sounds great."

"I'm in." I agreed and then with another kiss, Lu drifted off to talk to other Peligrosans, and I motioned to J-Bird for some help. In seconds there was a shot in front of me and him.

"Cheers, Bones," J-Bird said, and we toasted. Nothing like Sauza to start off the day. I chased it with a sip of Mary. After all, it was Burnday. And on Burnday, anything goes!

Morning eased into afternoon on short shadows and devastating light. I stayed shady. Sandstorms blew in from the playa and I warned the camp with a shout of "Batten'em down!" as sandust tore through. Eventually the vodka ran out and we cleaned off the ping-pong table for some beer pong. The problem was, though, they played it different. I'm used to Beruit, where you just bomb the hell out of those beer cups. Their style was using one bounce. More pongy. Suffice to say I didn't win, but the buzz piling on was enough to numb the pain of losing to Wags and Darren.

The camp was kicking. More dub through the speakers and lots of people milling around, cooking food, drinking drinks, shooting shots, chillin' out. There were a few who had stumbled from their tents only to plop back down prone and fall fast asleep on the futon. Others dozed on the couch. Up in the moving truck DJ Frost was trying out some new cuts. Friends of friends rolled up and stepped in. The guy with the pink tutu told me about his friend's encounter with acid, artcars, and oral sex. When I walked away so I didn't have to hear him describe in detail what Malicious gave to Delicious, I found Jess to share a bowl. The only place I ever saw her was in the camp. There were a lot of people like that, there. Most of them, in fact. It was tough to stick together in that midnight wilderness of Black Rock City. I took a huge breath of the desert air and then exhaled, leaning into the day. Buzzdrunk and then crispy, the objects and humans of the world around me seemed to glow and sharpen.

Lazing about in the midst of madness can be truly exquisite. I was taking my ease at my home in the suburbs of Black Rock City. If you drew a line from the Man, and aimed it exactly southeast, it would have struck me in the forehead at the very edge of this dangerous, excellent curve. This is where we lived while the city existed. The City that sprung to life at the moment the first human laid foot on the empty playa. The place that dies when the last human leaves. And if we all do it right, there should not even be a trace that any of this ever went on. It is only now in Black Rock City.

And I took my ease in the early afternoon of Burnday, reveling in the moment. In the pure bliss of being. Here in time, here in space, here in emotion, here in focus, standing on my own two feet, held up by bones and muscle, pumped through with blood and oxygen, sheathed in skin with a light sheen of sweat as my eyes behind corrective glasses and deep red lasershades roved across the visages of all these other people I had just met. Roved across the flapping tents and steel-edged glint of autos and trucks; roved up the Man where he turned in silent thought, ready to burst apart, ready for release. Everyone was here to see what could happen, and if they could help in any way. Then a guy showed up with a pizza.

"Hey! Is this Curvas Peligrosas?" shouted.

"Yeah!" J-Bird answered.

"You betcha! Curvas! Hey you need a Curvas cozy? Have a shot dude!" came shouts from people hanging around.

"Is N-Dawg here?" the Pizza Guy shouted.

"Yeah! What's up?" N-Dawg asked, walking over. They talked for a moment, then N-Dawg came back with two pizza boxes in his hands. I went over to him and Lu met me there.

"Check this out!" N-Dawg said, reading the label on the box. "This is so funny. Check this out, my friends just had this pizza delivered! There's a camp you go to where they are making pizzas, and you make one that you eat, and then another one you get to send to someone and they deliver it them. Now I get to eat this one, but I have to go back to that camp, return the boxes and then I can send one out, too!"

"That is so funny," Lu said, shaking her head. "That is awesome. You have to do it!"

"Awesome! I love that," I said. "That is so fucking cool! I want to do something like that!"

"They have people that send post cards for you, to people in the camp," Skeeter mentioned. He had been listening. "There's a bike repair shop too, or I guess there used to be but there isn't this year."

"Have you seen the Teeter-Totter of Death?" Nell asked. "It's like forty freaking feet high!"

"I still have yet to go to the rollerdisco," I said shaking my head.

"It's so fun! They have every skate size for you to use!"

"We have to ride an artcar some time," Lu said nodding. "We gotta find a good one."

"Yeah I can't believe we haven't been on one yet," Wags said. "That's going to have to change."

"And I still haven't gone in theHookah Dome," I said with a scowl. "My neighbors upstairs back home are like running the friggin thing but there's always a line to get in! It's pretty much the only line out here. Stopped by yesterday, but he wasn't around."

My cup was empty so it was time for a beer. I went around to the kitchen and pulled out from under the truck, the second to last twleve pack of beer. I had saved Sierras for today. The final 12 of Coronas would be good for later on or tomorrow or to share tonight when we party. The re-icing of the beer was a daily ritual I enjoyed. It felt good to know how cold and delicious they were going to be in a little while. And in the beer cooler there was still a few left from the night before. Perfect.

Then it was showertime. Even though it was hot, the warmed water from the solar bag felt incredibly perfect. The dust stuck right back on as I got dressed, but the shower was a refreshing reset. I was rummaging around in the tent when I heard a shout from the camp. I couldn't make out what she said, but I popped out of the tent to see what was going on.

"ARTCAR!" Wags shouted again as she dashed into the camp, breaking through the throng of friends milling around in the shade. Dave on the futon woke up with a start and looked around confused. "Artcar!" Wags repeated as she ran towards her tent and then I looked at Lu and she looked at G and then he looked at me and we all sprung into action.

"Go go go!" I shouted to Lu and G. "Lu get water, I'll get beers! G! go go go!"

I could hear the rumble of the machine as I spun towards the kitchen and loaded my pockets with bottles. Lu ran around the couch looking for her Nalgene as G darted out of the camp towards the road. The artcar rumbled into view. It was a doubledecker, a bus with a porch. Railings around the top made it look almost safe but there was no time for evaluation. I still needed shit in the tent!

"Get my sunglasses!" Lu shouted to me. In the tent I found them and my Nawlins hat which, luckily had my bandana in there, too. Bowl in pocket with bud lighter beers glasses hers hat shirt go go go! Out and into the camp. People had been roused and were making a run for it. G was already on it and Lu disappeared around the far side, hopefully going up the stairs. The madmax doubledecker hadn't even slowed. Wags was right in front of me as we ran through the camp out onto Gestalt and then down the dust-filled road as the bottles jiggled in my shorts and my hat flapped off my head we turned it on, caught up, grabbed hands and were hauled aboard the machine that was going to take us to god knows where on the playa and for god knows how long. Panting, I passed out beers.

"Hey, no thanks man. But ya know, we're only going around the block," the driver said with a grin.

I groaned.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later they stopped at Texas. Next door was a bondage cage with a variety of devices. On the other side was a camp with a stripper's pole at it's center. Nearby was a white tent with a sign that said Lapdance.

"I had no idea the red light district was right next door!" I said to Lu as we parted the curtains on the entrance to Texas and found a large bar, with tables and chairs and a bunch of people just hanging around. "Who the fuck knew all this was only a hundred yards away!?"

"I guess we'd never know if we didn't look," Lu replied on the sly.

"That is so true," I replied, thoughtful. "That is so very true," and then we were within.