L.A. Trippin’

I decided to let the others be and took a look around in search of a quiet spot. None of us knew how long it would take Louis, Sarge and Quote to come up with a workable plan, so I thought taking a break in the garden would be a good idea. It once must have looked wonderful. If you thought away all the weed and the dried plants you were able to make out some of the original forms the designer had created. With lots of imagination you could even think  the sunken part in the middle to once having been a pond, the broken stones nearby the leftovers of a bridge. Maybe some industrial giant had the place built for his mistress or so. It all looked so old it must have been abandoned long before Sarge and Quote had arrived.
Don’t you sometimes wish to jump back in time to see things in their prime instead of their present state? Imagine entering the lives of the people who once lived there, their hopes and dreams, their fears. Why had they decided to settle down in that particular place, why’d they taken the trouble of creating this oasis in the desert? Getting to know the complete story, including all the details that got washed away over time because of history’s steady pace.
It was right then and there, while walking through the weeds that I met my future associate - or business partner for that matter, although at the time I didn’t realize it of course. But I don’t want to confuse you by jumping too far ahead. It will come to you in time, just keep on reading the story. Anyway, under a fallen off branch near a hump of broken stones sat this tiny white rabbit with pointy grey ears, staring into my face as if saying: “Don’t you dare fuck with me, little boy!”.
Yeah, I know, a bunny for partner. You’d probably think me a sissy, imagining me cuddling it and all, but I tell you, you’re wrong, it wasn’t like that at all. This wasn’t just your everyday rabbit eating nothing but carrots and nibbling at everything in sight. This one was different. Strange though it may seem, from that first moment on it felt as if we were equals.
So there he was, looking me directly in the eye, telling me I was interrupting his little nap. But as I knelt down to get closer, he got up on his hind legs as if wanting to greet me, bowed over a bit and pushed his ever twitching tiny nose into my face.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, a whole new world would be opening up to me over the following days. The world seen through an animal’s eye. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to imply here that this rabbit told me about the Big Bang seen from his point of view or that I know what and how animals think or feel. It’s just that with time and because of him my way of seeing things got more distinctive. There’s so much to learn just by observing.
But at that particular moment I didn’t really know what to do. Should I call the others and tell them about what I found or would that scare away the rabbit?
None other than Tiko took that decision away from me. It kept surprising me, the way his behavior had changed over the last few days. From the agitated and sex-obsessed  teen over the baby-sized whatever to the post comatose Buddha-face. I really liked him from the beginning, all the variations – well, sort of. I wouldn’t want to live my life with the baby-sized version clinging to my chest screaming all kinds of obscene language at whatever female that came passing along. Since waking up from the k.o., he had become much easier to hang around with. Though somehow I hoped he would grow back into his old self again, one fine day. But it hadn’t arrived yet.
Standing next to me, he bent over and began speaking softly in some native tongue. At least that was what I thought it to be. It could also have been Zulu or Martian for that matter. But because of the mind-swapping earlier, I got unsure. Was he addressing me, and if, was it really Tiko or just some other freak from the afterlife mixing things up?
I said: “Hey Tiko, speak up a bit, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
He suddenly turned, looked at me as if questioning my ability to think straight and said: “But Damon, I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to Spooky here.”
“Yeah right Spooky, and you’re both speaking in the local rabbit tongue, huh? Tell me Tiko, what did he tell you?”
I felt anger coming up. After all it was me who found the rabbit and now, besides making fun of me, Tiko acted as if they’d just decided to be friends for life. He’d even given it a name - though I have to admit I liked it. Spooky fitted perfectly to its white fur. But I didn’t like the way he was pushing me aside.
“Don’t be jealous, Damon. He also speaks to you. He said you didn’t seem to understand what he told you, though. He’d been observing you for quite some time and that he liked the way you reacted so self conscious to the arms craze. For obvious reasons rabbits do not approve of guns.”
Maybe his brains had been damaged after all. First the shape-shifting and then the Russian smashing him into the wall. Nobody would get away with that unhurt I guess. I looked at him, to see if I could maybe discover some change in his behavior - like a nervous twitch or something. There wasn’t any. I only saw this potbellied Indian boy sporting a contagious grin capable of lighting up the deepest mental vaults or beaming straight into hidden and locked away depressions. Oh, how philosophical I’ve suddenly become …
“But Damon, Tiko is right. You can hear me speak. Just be ready for it.”
Oh no, it can’t be - not another freak-show. This time it was talking rabbits. What next, flying dogs? Could it be Wild Cloud was playing tricks with me - missed the familiar chill,though. Whatever it was, I wouldn’t want none of it, it didn’t feel good and I didn’t believe in it. I never took drugs and I swear to God and all his freaky fans we met lately that I never will. I’d heard about the strange adventures some of my classmates had while doing drugs. They even thought they could fly, which of course resulted in them discovering reality’s painful truth by crash-landing in the dust. And how could I ever forget Hunter S. Thompson’s trip to Las Vegas. One hell of a book, friggin’ amazing.
Tiko sat down next to the rabbit and said: “The animals often spoke to Dad. He was their friend. During long winter nights he sometimes told me what they taught him.”
The stampeding buffalo which had been more or less responsible for ending Wild Cloud’s life probably spoke another dialect. Although I didn’t want to hurt Tiko with my scepticism, I was happy that in my world people didn’t get killed just because they spoke different languages. All the while the rabbit watched me with its big see-through eyes.
Before Tiko could tell me more about the wisdom Wild Cloud had acquired through his four-legged friends, he got interrupted by Nudjia and Lucy popping up behind our backs.
“Look Mark, what Damon’s found!,” Lucy yelled. “It’s so cuuuute!”
“Shhhh,” Nudjia said, pushing her finger to those sweet lips of hers. I could have kissed her right there. I didn’t though - might have scared away the rabbit.
Mark walked over without showing the slightest limp. Even after being with him for three days, he still amazed me.
Spooky looked at me and said ( that is, he didn’t speak in a way that I heard the words; they just entered my thoughts while he nibbled on ): “Nice pair o’ knockers your sister got there!”
Oh my God, I thought that was over.
“Haha, got ya, right?! Don’t panic, just joking. I’ll probably won’t tell you anything new when I say that you have great friends. I like them a lot, all of them. Over the last hour as I sat here, observing you, I had this wish coming up of joining you on your journey.”
Modesty obviously didn’t exist in the animal world.
The same second he finished talking Nudjia asked, “Oh please Damon, let’s take the rrabbit vith us. He seems to be all alone and is obviously also quite close to you.”
She definitely had a point there. His eyes followed my every move. Whenever I spoke his ears went sky-high. But what to do with a rabbit? We can’t simply take on everyone and everything!? Though I liked him from the start. Not just because he was small and cuddly, he just made me feel good.
“All right, all right,”  I said. “Let’s take him along.”
Nudjia instantly embraced me. “Oh how vonderrfull, Damon, he’s so sweet. Just look at him, as if he’s smiling.”
So I’d said yes. You know how sometimes you just have to do things, make certain decisions, although logic is nowhere in sight? This was one of those moments. Somewhere very deep inside I felt like being finally complete and whole, as if the last piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place and that something new was on my way.
So as I bowed over and put my arm down for him to jump up, he did. He quickly crawled up onto my shoulder. It felt nice, the soft warm fur caressing my neck. We went inside to tell the others about our new-found friend.
Sarge and Quote were busy packing.
“A little heavy, but no less divine. Lord Byron, Don Juan 1819-24,” Quote mumbled, sweating heavily as he pulled three giant bags towards the door.
Two huge metal cases were blocking the entrance of the living room. It didn’t look like any of us would be able to carry either one. As we stood there, staring at the cases and wondering about their contents, Louis came stumbling through the front door.
“Wow, where did you find that sweet little party poop?”
He walked over and caressed Spooky’s back with his huge hand, covering the furball completely. Spooky then pushed its small nose against his wrist for an answer.
“You know what I like about animals?” Louis said. “They don’t give a shit if you’re a bony white daddy or a big black mama nor would they ever think about having a nosejob or an implant. They just take everything for granted, just as it comes. Their lives must be heavenly, without all those stupid unnecessary worries.”
We slowly walked over to the front door and into the garden.
“I’m not saying that I know much about a cow’s way of thinking, but I’ve never ever seen one worrying about her neighbor having a bigger udder or one pig complaining about the way the other was digging in the dirt. As long as you don’t get in their way, they don’t care. That’s good. I like it.”
I was speechless. What was there left for me to say? He was right, that’s for sure, but I often wonder about the complexity of people’s brains, about how differently they all function. Not about anyone’s particular intelligence, I don’t give a shit about that, after all who am I to judge that? It’s the complete different pattern of thinking that fascinates me.
For instance in this particular case, I would never have thought about if animals accept each other in different ways from humans. It’s not that I think otherwise, no, I even agree completely. But I am white and whatever problems I might have had with people in Midville tolerating me and my behavior are probably peanuts compared to Louis’.
And I hadn’t even started thinking about his time in Vietnam yet. Living through that nightmare is something we could never ever come close to imagining. Everyone knows Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse now’  or Stone’s ‘Platoon’ and we were all shocked by the story and the characters, but we simply forget. After all, to us it’s nothing but a story. No matter how close to reality, it’s being told to us by others. We’ve never lived it, never been there, we never felt the unmeasurable hardships and pain these men went through. And they were guys like you and me. They could have been us, our friends, our brothers. We’re just so lucky to live in the here and now.
Maybe it’s also some kind of inner protection. If we would be able to feel sentiments experienced by others just by watching a picture or listening to a story, we wouldn’t be able to go on with our lives or to watch the news without instantly turning insane.
But what am I telling you? You want to know about the journey. But that is just what I’m talking about, you see. Nudjia always asks me to “please stay vith the storryline”. I’m so easily distracted, she isn’t. And Louis is, just differently.

“Let’s all pack our stuff. I’ll fetch the bus and put it as close to the fence as possible,” Louis said, interrupting my thoughts.
I like to watch him walk. This huge rock of a man with the big chest and the heavy arms, but with a walk like a puma, his moves a constant flow. His feet just touch the ground for a split second, as if he’d be constantly floating less than an inch above earth needing the connection to keep him grounded. All without the slightest hint of abruptness or haste.
While Nudjia and Lucy went back inside to see if they could help, Mark and Tiko tried their best to clean up the garden while Spooky watched. Louis went for the bus.
Sarge and Quote walked out the front door clad in full battle gear. Man, they looked more out of place than Elvis on Mars.
“Don’t you think you two might arouse some suspicion with ordinary folks?” Tiko remarked disrespectful. He then whispered to me: “I thought the jungle a bit further south.”
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions. Lillian Hellman, American novelist, in a letter to John S. Wood 1952”  Quote said.
“But Quote, I think Tiko wasn’t talking fashion here,” Mark said. “You look like you’re heading for the rainforest. If ever there existed undisturbed nature in L.A. county, the smog would have finished it off by now.”
“You listen to me boy,” Sarge thundered, causing Spooky to dive into my bag. “Don’t ever question a pro’s decision. You have less knowledge in the matter than one of those damned Avon ladies. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.
“This zombie-fellow here,” he continued, agitatedly pointing at Tiko, “or whatever it was, told me the Russkies were living inside some mansion with a park or something. This camouflage-dress will make it easier for us to hide from the enemy.”
“Surely Tiko and Mark didn’t mean to offend you,” I said, trying to soothe down Sarge as best as I could. “What they meant was that this outfit will definitely arouse suspicion long before we arrive at the house. We’d lose the advantage of surprise. We promised to help  the folks from around here, but if we’re being stopped before even having taken the first step, we needn’t start at all.”
“No one questions your professionalism nor your experience,” Lucy said grinning shyly. “Maybe it would be better if you would just look a bit less like a swat-team on alert.”
“I’m the one in charge of this operation,” Sarge said. “Also I’m commanding officer in this part of the state. The crimes that have been committed by the Russkies fall under my jurisdiction, which means that I’m responsible and I’ll decide how to proceed. It is nothing out of the ordinary for police officers, in the process of fulfilling their duty, to protect the American citizen of potential criminal elements, to be clad in battle gear. However you’re right in assuming that once spotted by the suspects, our chance of success will be second to none. So I suggest Quote and I stay out of sight for as long as possible while Louis sticks to his role as busdriver until we get there. That o.k. with you?”
He spit in the sand.
Although I still thought it a bit of a lame compromise, I knew this was all we would get. If someone would spot the two, so be it. If not we still had quite a good chance of succeeding. That is if they would come up with a good plan. Louis probably wouldn’t give us away. Although he had changed a bit since killing Boris and his presence now more than ever gave you the impression that he was not to be tampered with, someone unfamiliar with the story still might just take him for a heavyset driver. Somehow I had the feeling we were growing into a team.
Tiko beamed his smile in approval, probably also because finally someone other than his friends respected his opinions. Nudjia came over and whispered I-love-yous in my ear while Spooky dared peeking out of the bag again.
At that moment Louis arrived with the bus. He killed the engine and got up from behind the wheel to help us load the cops’ stuff in the baggage compartment. I could only guess about the content of the boxes, knowing Sarge and his weapon-collection didn’t leave much to the imagination. He knew best what he’d need, just as long as he wouldn’t again try to seduce us to use anything beyond our worst nightmares. I couldn’t expect him not to take his own equipment, but I also hoped he’d kept up a regular practice.
With his only other pastime being the TV, he would have had enough time for that I guess. Maybe the dvds made him relive those ‘good’ old days, watching actors fulfill his duties. This was going to be his chance to jump back into the action. Us asking him for help finally brought the life back into his rusty existence. He didn’t care if we’d decided to use force only as a last option, he was ready for war and he liked it. The thrill, the action – he didn’t think about losses, if ever there’d be any. He’d deal with that later. This would be his second Vietnam and he was going to make sure that he’d be on the winning side this time. Or so it appeared to me.
Despite all the activity in the yard he must have remarked Spooky sitting on my shoulder. He obviously didn’t object, otherwise he would have said so. Maybe he didn’t expect the rabbit to endanger the plan or he hadn’t yet understood I would be taking it along.
Louis helped him trying to carry the first case towards the bus, but they almost collapsed with the effort. Quote came running to help out. Some twenty puffing, sweating and shouting minutes later, both cases were finally stowed away in the baggage compartment. Quote went over to the house, closed the door and buried the key near one of the dried up tomato-plants in the front yard. Having done that, he dropped his pants, giving us all the nicest view of his skinny ass, and pissed on the plant.
“Oh how gross!” Lucy said frowning in disgust. “The guy is pissing on his own flowerbeds.” Her face looked like the Etna after a lazy eruption.
“It’s sort of an invitation for the coyotes to also come and take a piss - as a marking. The combined stench will drive anyone away,” Tiko said. “An old trick, we do it all the time.”
Nudjia twitched me in my bum and whispered: “I need to eat you all up soon.”
See what I mean? Remember what I said about everybody reacting differently to certain situations? The sight of Quote’s hairy thin ass would never get me horny – but somehow it had reached her. I had no doubt this girl’s brains would forever stay a mystery to me. Still, I liked the thought of making love again after all the abstinence, and I imagined her sweet looking face filled with desire.
But it didn’t take long before Quote’s naked bum pulled me back into reality. Who could think of needing a key to enter the house? That is, if ever anyone would be interested in the piece of junk. Who would want to steal his library of quotations or the old TV-set? But what did I care, it was none of my business anyway. So instead of breaking my mind over senseless questions, I watched the lovely face of my girl who was grinning her horny smile into mine while Spooky warmed my neck with his fur.
“That’s some hot bitch you got there.”
WHAT! Who said that? It wasn’t Tiko … nor Wild Cloud … In fact it wasn’t a voice at all, no sound, nothing. Maybe it was just my own dirty mind - or was I getting insane?
Earlier, while being inside Tiko, Wild Cloud had mentioned a shape-shifter. Could he have entered my mind? Oh, how I hate all this fantasy - shit. And why me? Go play somewhere else, you bitch!
“It’s me, you stupid.”
I wasn’t imagining this.
Nudjia had gone over to the others to help them put up a hiding place for Sarge and Quote – just in case. Using different pieces of luggage, and adding parts of the broken seats here and there, they succeeded quite well. I marveled at Nudjia’s breasts halfway falling out of her low-cut t-shirt as she bent over to pick up a small bag.
I turned: Spooky, the white ball of fur was sitting on the red vinyl seat next to me, looking up. No, it can’t be. A talking rabbit. A few minutes ago I still thought his words to be mere thoughts, my own imagination, whatever. But now I felt less sure. Still, I couldn’t believe it – this wasn’t Alice in friggin’ Wonderland or something. I instantly dropped the thought.
“Why are you so stubborn as to ignore what you know is for real?”
“Spooky, is that you?” I asked, keeping my voice as low as possible. I was afraid the others might think me completely insane, talking to a rabbit. I was lucky, they were too busy.
“There’s no need to talk, you can answer me the same way I speak to you. I wouldn’t understand your language, but I can read the thoughts you transmit.”
“You mean that before I just imagined you were talking to me? My mind just received your words or thoughts and then it sort of thought you were talking to me?”
“Yes, that’s right. You don’t hear a sound when I talk. All that’s being said just takes place in your mind.”
“So you’re a telepath!”
“Well if that’s what you like to call it, yes, and so are you and everybody else. Most humans forgot about that, though. But not all; a lot of natives still understand us.”
“So, just to put things straight once and for all, are you talking to me or what?”
“Well, yes and no. Things aren’t always as easy as black and white, you know.”
I knew I was gonna love this.
“Part of what you hear – by far the largest part - are your own thoughts, the rest is what I trigger in you. There do exist a handful of Native Americans who are still able to communicate with us. They pass on their knowledge from generation to generation, but it takes years to even begin to understand the language of the animal world. These men belong to a dying species. Most people wouldn’t have the patience. Wouldn’t it be sad if there would come a time in which animal and man would just live next to each other without being able to communicate?”
I needed a minute to let it sink in.
Nudjia came over. “Hey, little rrabbit, you’rre so sweet,” she purred. “Just look at him, Damon. Those tvinkling eyes and his soft white furrr. How can anyone be so cruel as to use animals for testing?”
I couldn’t answer that one. All those stupid people with their sagging skin depending on animals’ pain to buy themselves new illusions …. They just make me sick.
Maybe someday we could try to do something about that too.
The others had finished constructing the hideout and packing their stuff. Everyone had taken a seat with Sarge and Quote sitting next to the closed windows in the back so they wouldn’t be visible from outside. The others sat more upfront.

I looked out of the window as Louis slowly set the bus in motion. This time it was just a house getting smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared from sight.
“Hey Damon, you know she wants you badly, your friend. What’s her name again?”
“Nudjia.”
“Yes, Nudjia, lovely name by the way. You know she’s waiting?”
“Yes of course I know, I’m not stupid, remember. But we can’t simply fuck our brains out in the middle of a driving bus in front of five other people and a psychic rabbit!”
“Why not? And by the way I’m no psychic. I already told you twice that all living things are born with this ability but sadly enough most humans are too downright rational to keep in touch with their supernatural side.”
“I am not a rabbit, that’s why. I like to make love to her in private, without onlookers and if you don’t shut up with your stupid talk, I will kick you out in less than no time. What’s gotten into you? You were still so sweet a minute ago - now look at what you’ve become. Nothing but banging going on in your head. No wonder Tiko liked you. I don’t want to know what you two were talking about! By the way, no matter if we were born with the power to transmit speech by thought or not, to me you’re out of this earth. And that’s it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore!”
I was lucky Nudjia didn’t notice me talking to Spooky, or, even worse, Lucy. She’d  instantly have hurled both me and the rabbit out of the window ….