Mr. Eternity (14 page)

The life of the city continues all around us. Flies, dust, meat, shafts of sun. The rains come. The earth vomits green leaves. One day Gonzalo de Castellana arrives from the islands. Immediately we realize that he is a person of scandalous character. He takes a room in the brothel and whips an Indian with a horse’s reins. He asks us to visit him and he shows us the skull of a Mexican prince, a boy he killed himself during the destruction of Tenochtitlan. He knows that Daniel de Fo is a converso and he hates him for it. He does not believe a Jew can be converted. He hates me because I am an Indian and he has fought Indians all his life.

“Defend yourself with the cross and recite the Lord’s prayer,” he says. “God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit, one God, only one, and also Saint Mary, always virgin.”

“Oh yes,” says Daniel de Fo, amicable as always.

“Blessed be the Holy Trinity and its mother, the holy virgin Mary, and all the saints and angels.”

I have learned to worry about the tendency of some Christian objects to attract gods and spirits, and I know that this Mexican skull is just such an object. Castellana himself behaves like a man beset by gods and spirits. It is easy to see that he is not fit to serve as captain general, but there is nothing we can do because his authority is affirmed in a document from the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. This is a disappointment, and yet Daniel de Fo is not concerned. He says that such troubles are only to be expected on an expedition like ours. This is how expeditions work. Castellana can be removed when we are safe in the forest, where this document means nothing and where God will not be able to see us.

Next we left Baltimore. It were six people in the boat including myself. It were Old Dan the captain a quiet fellow called Joseph who were older and two men young like me they were Lun-Biao and Peaches. Your name is Peach I asked him. Peaches he said. Peaches I said. Peaches plural my name are Peaches he said don’t laugh.

It had a wild temperature flux our first morning and we was all shivering but in a few days it were hot again. Meanwhile I had fever some days and other days not. It come on like a bell ringing and it died away again but slowly I did get better. We was in the Intracoastal Waterway mostly for that were the protected passage. My job while I was sick was to look out for sunken dangers like trash dead cars cement drifts of silt. Soon the canal were silted up however and we had to come out upon the sea. Luckily it were not rough out there it were easy it were almost pleasant. I were happy drifting along like this. It were a pretty good start for the Independent States of Jam. One day I thought if only I never did go ashore I would never drink corn whiskey I would be cured in my soul after all. Old Dan however were impatient with our slow progress. He explained how it were easier in ancient days when they had gunpowder ships which rocketed through the waves.

Next we come to the Outer Banks. Here it is the Outer Banks said the captain. I looked and looked but I saw nothing just some small islands all overgrown plus broken cement. This were the Outer Banks all gone to smash. Next after that we saw land to our starboard and the captain played his same trick he said look there it is Wilmington. I did not see nothing there. Then Old Dan said to him captain I see you are a student of history. Yes said the captain. I am history in the flesh said Old Dan. Yes said the captain I know so I would ask you what do you think as you
look upon the ruin of Wilmington. Well said Old Dan it is different for me cause I remember from before there was any cities on this coast destroyed or otherwise. The captain thought about this. Then he said does it get easier seeing such destruction. Of course it does said Old Dan.

Now I thought I would try him again on Indians. Tell me of the Indians I said. I could tell you of Maria goddess of the Pirahow he said for sometimes I worry it were her was Anna Gloria after all. Tell me about her I said. There are many false Anna Glorias he said which makes me worry if sometimes I saw her but I didn’t recognize her. Okay I said but now tell me about Maria Pirahow. No said Old Dan I can’t all I will say is I will say that if you smudge out all the humans over here they will reappear eventually over there. Then he were quiet for a moment. Did you know he said did you ever hear of Chris Colombo. Yes I said of course. Did you know it once had a national holiday called Colombo day. Interesting I said were it his birthday. Yes said Old Dan cut that dude a piece of cake. Yes I said birthday cakes of course. Later said Old Dan it were changed to Indigenous Person day we called it Indian Day. Then he were quiet again and the captain and I was quiet too we was reflecting. We was living in a smudge we knew it very well it were embarrassing. Old Dan he had known great days I feared he looked down on us.

It were all history and light airs until we come at last to Savannah Harbor half-drowned behind a ineffective seawall. Another city nearly destroyed in the hurricane of 2130 said the captain. Aha said Old Dan now here is a place I could tell stories about I were arrested here I were nearly executed you see I were the pirate Blackeye scourge of the Atlantic. I weren’t listening however for I were so excited to get ashore I almost swum the rest of the way. I went right to Mimi’s Round the Clock Bordel the first whorehouse I seen. I done it with two girls at once plus I even done it with a boy like myself. It were not like you think it were tender. I did not emerge for many hours whereafter I felt like a man again.

If I thought Baltimore were a teeming foreign place then Savannah were the distant tropic itself for it had beautiful coconut trees swaying upon the harbor walk and along the streets. It were sunshine and a hot
breeze carried the smell of urine ginger manure rotting vegetables. In the market it had crates of fruits alligatorapples pineapples sugarapples bananas. We had bananas sometimes in Boston too expensive for me but we had never got the other things. Remind me said Old Dan are fresh fruits safe to eat these days I can never remember it changes each century. They are safe I said. Are you sure he said. Yes I said. Very good he said then you must taste a pineapple there is nothing like a Georgia pineapple. Okay I said. Georgia is the pineapple state he said. I tried it and yes I had never tasted anything so good it were the perfect fruit. Don’t eat so fast said Old Dan you will bust your buttons.

We had such a good time even Old Dan were caught up in the celebration for he now said he would enjoy a coke he had not had one in many years. I said I will buy you one grandfather what kind do you like orange lemon palmberry ginger they have all kinds. He said kola nut I would like kola nut. They did not have it. Never mind he said I will have lemon. We was at a market tent the cokes were upon the shelf not cold for it were no air condition or frigerator but that were okay for Old Dan he liked it warm. One lemon coke I said. Coming up said the fellow. I had some money for my pay it were my treat.

Old Dan now begun drinking he were snorting snuffling the bubbles it were a great joke for him he laughed. Soon he were drunk though it were only coke. He were stumbling laughing saying to me it is like the old days I were such a rogue once I murdered Ferdinan Magelan did I ever tell you. Tell me the story I said. It were no story he said it were that Magelan he were a villain I beat him with a cuirass in the surf off Mactan. Oh I said. Now I have his death on my soul he said but it doesn’t matter because I can never die therefore I can never go to hell. Interesting I said what is cuirass what is Mactan. He said cuirass were armor and Mactan were a island. Are we going there I said. No he said it were thousands of miles away. Farther even than the Republic of California I said. Yes he said very much farther across the Pacific Ocean. You have been across the Pacific Ocean I said. Many times he said. Amazing I said is it farther than Lemuria. I am not sure he said it is about the same distance
however Lemuria is under water. It is under water I said. Of course he said it were the first to go under before Miami before New Orleans before Antillia.

We stood looking out upon the bustle the fruitsellers the sailors. Old Dan he were now swaying laughing drunk. Then after a pause he begun shouting. Anna Gloria he shouted Anna Gloria where are you come back to me I am Dan Keyshote Knight of the Fearful Clockface. Then he fell down laughing. I picked him up I were his helper after all. We will find her I said I am helping you. Yes he said haha you are my helper. We will find her I said. Don’t forget the treasure of Anakitos he said we will find that too. I have not forgotten I said I am counting on it. Haha he said. Then he were serious he said did you hear how I said Keyshote not Keyhote that is how it used to be pronounce it were also Meshico not Mehico. Oh I said. Did you know that he said. I don’t know nothing I said.

It were manure under our boots the sun hot in the sky. I were thinking about everything he had told me. You have been across the Pacific Ocean I said. Many times he said I have been around the world I was one of the first to go all the way around. Do you look down on us I said. Why should I he said. We have no air condition I said or hardly any we have no cars no Velcro no streamy media except the richest men. Air condition destroys the world he said. But why I said. Air condition doesn’t eliminate heat he said it only moves it and then the heat has to go somewhere and it goes straight to the climate. But the world is not all the way destroyed I said. I guess not he said. If it was all the way destroyed then I would understand I said but why don’t we have cars if it’s only half destroyed what happened. Oh kid he said good gravy kid it were only a moment when people had cars it were a wild exception. Only a moment I said. A hundred years he said and it could not last for it were at the expense of the future it were a pyramid scam it were future generations left holding the empty bag. I would like to have a car I said fuck the future. It could not last he said but shall we talk of happier things I enjoyed my lemon coke. Yes I said sorry to be so gloomy it is Savannah hinge of the world I should be happy to see it.

Winter days sang an old man a street performer sad and lonely he sang. It were a song from old days why did he sing it at this very moment.

I were trying to be happy but I were suddenly very angry about everything. I were angry about how I had nothing no car no family no nothing. Then I decided if Old Dan were drunk with his lemon coke then I would be drunk with my corn whiskey. I bought some I drank it in a coconut shell fuck this I thought fuck the future.

Old Dan were looking at me he were thinking. Now he said would you not better enjoy your time ashore if you did not drink so much corn whiskey. I pretended to think he were joking haha I said. We discussed this he said now ask yourself did you enjoy sleeping in the mud in Baltimore. It were not so bad I said. Very well he said I will tell you in advance the best cure for reseca is coconut water. Oh is it I said and what is reseca. Aha he said sorry that is what we called hangover we called it reseca which means dried out because reseca is when your brain is dried that is the cause of the headache. Interesting I said. Remember for tomorrow he said.

He were right about my brain. I were intending another visit to Mimi’s Round the Clock Bordel but I woke up in the mud again I did not make it. Now I were broke for I had drank all my money and maybe some were also stole from me. I had terrible reseca so bad Old Dan took pity on me though he were annoyed also. He went down to get me a coconut he bought one off an old man who looked reseca himself. Old Dan said give me your machete I will do it. He took the machete he begun swinging wildly which I thought was very dangerous but eventually he had cut off the top and made a hole. I drank the water inside it were delicious. Then Old Dan he cut the nut in two. I ate the white meat it were very good full of calories vitamins carbydrates but it sank through me like a stone in water and I were very sick. Old Dan were sorry he apologized it seemed fresh fruits was not safe this century after all. No matter I said it were good to have a cleanse I were shitting out the toxins. Very good said Old Dan good for you. I lay down whereafter I heard Joseph say to Old Dan and the captain he said my friends I would not be young again for anything it were no picnic being young.
No doubt this did appear true for I were shitting myself inside out and Lun-Biao were reseca as well. He lay upon the deck asleep and there were a great blue knot risen upon his head. We was two young men in port and Peaches the other young man he were praying by himself almost crying no better off it seemed.

This morning I rose at 6 o’clock. I ate milk for breakfast, I danced my dance, and before sitting down to this writing I took a ramble in the garden, for I am an old man now and I hunger for the sun. There I stood, beneath the apple tree, when a cloud darken’d the morning. It was not a storm, no, but a great flock of those birds which are called wild pigeons or long-tailed pigeons, passing overhead in a clamor, their faeces like snow. For all of an hour we rushed about beneath a roiling tempestuous living sky, and there was one man hereabout who said he brought down sixty of these creatures with one shot, but they were all flown away by dinner, which today was hashed mutton.

There are those who say these flocks are much diminished, when in old days their passage required most of a day, or two days, and in all this time one saw only the birds. I know this cannot be true, for it is absurd to think that in the vastness of the world such creatures, which have like man a divine origin, could grow more or less numerous than they are. Perhaps it is only that they wane here as they wax elsewhere. Yet this morning I realiz’d that such an observation – that the pigeons are vanishing from the world – is truly concerned not with pigeons but with man himself, who does the observing, and with man’s faculty of seeing what he wishes to see, or wishes not to see, in accordance with his view of the world and of his place in it. Therefore I see this morning flock as an admonishment of the muse, but not an admonishment such as you might expect – not an exhortation to tell the truth, & keep well clear of the distortions of time – but rather a reminder that each story has a human truth, which is the real kernel and meat of its importance, so that even though it cannot be true that pigeons were formerly more numerous, it is true that when a man says so, he
feels
it to be so.