They
said it couldn’t happen and wouldn’t believe their salty eyes
when
it did again.
Some
unhinged fucker fire starter dragged his heels into the mountains and lit up Malibu something good ‘n
fierce and thank the good lord I got to go home early from work that miserable
day. But traffic going out the PCH was a 4 hr. motherfucker of a bladder
control test for some, I’m sure.
About two and a half hours into it I had to
pull off into a gas station to put more gas in the Beast and let ‘er cool off
in the branding heat of an approaching firestorm. As I did this, rich people
drove by at 2 miles an hour sweating and panicked in their Benzes and Explorers
and their white convertibles with large paintings and rich people shit sticking
out of their back seats.
You
could smell the money and the chaparral burning through the canyons. Getting
hit on the face w/their worthless ashes. Might as well get back in the car and
go, I thought.
That
night me and 3 friends went down to the beach – somewhere between Venice and Santa
Monica - and got handsomely stoned by ourselves. No
one was around for a good blind-sight meaning the nearest asshole was about a
good football field’s distance away in the dark.
And
my friends made angels on the sand. Flip flopping. Getting sand in their hair
‘n shit.
I
stood around watching them and everything else around me as it spilled out.
Listening
to the waves passing the time as they rolled in. Feeling their mist land on my face
– enhancing my peace of mind.
And
when they finished doing their thing, we all sat on our jackets and toked up a
little bit more. Cupping our hands around the lighter trying to keep the wind
from blowing the flame out.
Got
a little more destroyed. More in the zone.
Got
a little bit stirred and the stars looked alive from my point of view.
Life
was swell for a brief moment. It was a pleasant night. I was on the beach. My
friends were there and the hills had a blazing, surreal, out of control fire
line.
Malibu had lost her reins and was burning up and
somehow the timing of it all seemed
just
right.
And
then the earthquake hit.
written between late '93 - early '94
(Malibu/Northridge)
Victor Millan