A Book of Dreams (4 page)

‘Oh, I didn’t tell him about the flying saucers or anything. We just talked about making rain and stuff. His dad works on farms and since it doesn’t rain here, he has to go far away to get work.’

‘Ja. That is interesting, because I think we shall be able to bring rain to Tucson, finally, and break the drought. Then your friend’s father wouldn’t have to go away.’

‘And maybe Ray could come and be a cosmic engineer with us.’

Daddy smiled and leaned back while the waitress came with our plates and served the food. She leaned very close to me and winked at me. I smiled and looked away.

‘Will there be anything else?’ She smiled at us.

Daddy said no, and she said, ‘Well, if you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.’ She winked at me again and was gone.

The swirling lights went around and around in the mirror over the organ.

‘Daddy, why is there a desert in the first place?’ I squeezed the lemon over my swordfish, and began eating.

‘At first I wasn’t sure,’ he said. ‘Driving out here I saw vegetation dying everywhere. It was clear that something was attacking the atmosphere. At first I just thought it was a natural phenomenon, much like dry spots in the human body, and that the cloudbuster, like the accumulator, could get it moving again. But then I began to wonder if it wasn’t the EAs that caused the desert. Now I think that fallout from the bombs they are testing
makes DOR too. All the DOR from the EAs and the bombs is slowly killing the earth’s envelope of Orgone Energy.’

‘Is that why we always take rock samples and wood samples?’ ‘That’s very good, Peeps. Exactly. When the DOR became very concentrated, the rocks around Orgonon began to crumble. You remember we looked at the rocks on the observatory together and saw them crumble. That was just an example of how the healthy atmosphere is being destroyed.’

‘Do the EAs know about Orgone Energy?’

‘I think so. I think they use Orgone Energy for fuel. That would explain why they are silent and that silver-blue colour. It would also explain why they respond when we draw with the Orur.’

Daddy had an experiment called Oranur. He put a radium needle in a big accumulator but something bad happened. Instead of making good energy, it made bad energy. It also made the needle very charged and sometimes we used it on the cloudbuster. It made the cloudbuster stronger.

I squeezed more lemon on my swordfish. We ate for a while and then Daddy said, ‘Peeps, I know this is all a great deal for you to understand. If you ever become afraid or want to leave, tell me, and you can go back to Mummy. I know it is very difficult for you, for we are not only being attacked by the government, but now by flying saucers. You must be brave, sonny.’

Daddy said things were building up to a big battle but I wasn’t scared. I was a sergeant in the Corps of Cosmic Engineers with sergeant’s stripes on my pith helmet and a qualified operator of the cloudbuster.

‘I’m not afraid, Daddy. I mean, the Air Force is on our side, isn’t it?’

After Daddy began making reports to the Air Force about his work with the EAs, Air Force jets came over Orgonon a lot more, sometimes real close, sometimes far away.

When they were high in the sky, they left long white vapour trails. After a while Daddy said he thought the Air Force was helping him by telling him where the DOR in the atmosphere was, because where the DOR was bad, the jet vapour trails disintegrated quickly, and when there was good Orgone Energy, they stayed for a long time.

Daddy was really sure the Air Force knew and understood what he was doing, and on the way out West, Bill and I stopped at Wright Patterson Air Force Base to talk to a general about the flying saucers. But the general wouldn’t see him and he had to see someone else.

‘Ahem, ahem ahem,’ said Daddy, finishing his shrimp. ‘I think the Air Force understands, but for some reason they still can’t help. They seemed so interested in what we were doing at first and then all of a sudden there was nothing, even though their jets continued to fly over Orgonon. That sudden cutting off … it is very much like the Einstein affair … sometimes it all seems like a conspiracy. The changing attitude runs through everything like a red thread.’ He shook his head.

‘What Einstein thing?’

He looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head again. ‘Nothing, Peeps, nothing. I was just thinking. Would you like some ice cream?’

‘Yup. Coffee and strawberry.’

‘Okay.’ He waved at the waitress. She came over and while Daddy ordered the ice cream I went over to the man on the
organ sitting beneath the bright coloured lights. He was big and fat and smelled like a cigar. When I stood next to the organ he leaned over and winked at me.

‘Hey there, young fella,’ he said. ‘Is there a special song you’d like me to play?’

I nodded. ‘Do you know the song from
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon?’

‘I sure do. Why? Do you like that song?’

‘Yup,’ I said proudly. ‘I saw it five times and the fifth time I got in free.’

‘Well, in that case I’ll have to play it for you.’ He gave me a big grin and a slap on the back.

In the mirror, Daddy looked at me and smiled. Then he nodded to the organ man and the organ man nodded back. I went back to the table and started eating ice cream and the organ man started playing ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’.

The ice cream was good. As I ate it I listened to the song and watched the organ lights spin through different colours onto the organ man. I thought about Toreano, my scout, and our cavalry fort at Orgonon. I had decided to leave Toreano in charge because it was too far for him to come to Arizona. It was fall and Toreano would be out riding his pony across the rainy fields, guarding Orgonon.

The waitress came and sat down next to me in the booth. She put her arm around me and squeezed her breast into my shoulder. It felt good but I didn’t know what to do.

‘Do you like this song?’ she asked, squeezing.

I nodded and scooped the last of the ice cream out of the dish. Daddy was watching us and smiling.

‘I bet you’re a good cowboy,’ she said. ‘And I bet you’re fast on the draw, aren’t you?’

I nodded and she laughed, squeezing me again.

‘Well, if you ever need a good cowgirl, just let me know.’ She smiled at Daddy and slipped out of the booth, picking up the money Daddy had put on the check. Smiling at both of us, she said, ‘Thanks, now, and you come again,’ and went away. On the way out of the restaurant, we waved at the organist and as we got into the car, Daddy chuckled.

‘Do you know why that waitress was flirting with you?’ he asked.

‘Is it because she likes me?’

‘Well, of course she likes you,’ said Daddy, ‘but the real reason is that she wants to make love to me and she doesn’t know how to come out and say it. So she lets her love out on you.’

‘Oh.’ Daddy always knew what people were doing and what they were thinking. Once we were sitting in a restaurant and all of a sudden Daddy poked me in the ribs. He nodded to a couple sitting a few tables away with their backs to us. ‘In a minute,’ said Daddy, ‘that man will turn around and stare at me.’ Daddy looked back at his plate but I kept looking around the room as if I were not looking at anyone in particular and sure enough in a few seconds the man turned around very slowly and gave Daddy a long, mean look. When he turned back around, I whispered to Daddy, ‘How come you knew he would do that?’ And Daddy smiled. ‘A few minutes ago his wife was flirting with me, looking at me and smiling. As soon as I smiled back, she turned and said something to her husband. I am sure she said, “Turn around and look at that strange man who is staring at us,” because he did.’

But I couldn’t figure out why the waitress was flirting with me, unless it was because she liked me.

When we got home, I started to do some long division but it was hard and I felt like there might be an EA or something in the air, so I went outside and up on the observation platform.

I stood there for a long time, switching from telescope to binoculars, looking for flying saucers. On really dark nights we could see the rings around Saturn and Jupiter’s moons and it was funny to watch them and then hear a coyote in the hills or a long train rumbling along towards Tucson. Sometimes we saw an EA to the southwest of Tucson. It was a pulsating red-and-green ball hovering in the sky. It came so regularly that we called it the ‘Southern Belle’. Sometimes it went back and forth, sometimes it got brighter and dimmer and sometimes it moved fast across the sky, dodging the draw of the cloudbuster.

I was just about to go back downstairs to my long division when I saw it, hovering in the south. I watched it for a minute. It pulsated and glowed. Then I ran down to get Daddy.

He was sitting in his workroom at a long desk, writing in one of his big red ledger books. It felt like a cavalry movie walking in and reporting.

‘Daddy, I spotted one. In the east. It looks pretty big. I think it’s the Southern Belle.’

He pushed his chair back and stood up. ‘Let’s go and look.’ We both went up on the roof and Daddy looked at it for a long time through his binoculars. Ahem.
AHEM
ahem.

‘Peter, go downstairs and call Bill and Eva. Tell them to come over immediately. We are going to operate.’

I raced downstairs and into the house. As soon as Bill answered, I said, ‘Bill, it’s an EA. Daddy says to come over right away. We’re going to operate.’

When I got back upstairs, Daddy was looking through the telescope. ‘Here, look through. See if you can see. I can make out a thin cigar shape with little windows.’

I looked through the telescope and focused it. It was bright, bright blue and glowing, but I couldn’t see the windows.

‘Do you see it?’

‘Yeah, but I can’t see the windows.’

‘Well, they are there. Run to the cloudbuster and make ready. Unplug all the pipes and pull them out to full length. I’ll be right there.’

My boots pounded against the dry dirt. My jacket was open, and each time my arms went back the sides of the jacket flapped against me and the fringes sounded like rain. As soon as I got to the cloudbuster I jumped up on the platform and started unplugging. The pipes were like an old-fashioned telescope and had two more sections inside that pulled out. Bill and Eva drove up just as I pulled out the last pipe. They parked near the truck.

Bill pulled his binoculars out of the case and put the strap over his neck. ‘Where is it?’ he asked.

I pointed to it and Bill raised the glasses. He whistled.

‘Boy, it sure is something,’ he said, handing the glasses to Eva.

She looked for a while and said, ‘I knew it would come. I felt bad all day and said to Bill that I thought there was something in the atmosphere.’

We stood there waiting for Daddy to come, and I felt good
and excited, as if we were about to do something adventurous and secret. I wished that Ray could see me, about ready to draw from a flying saucer. But he’d never believe it. He wouldn’t understand.

Daddy came down the road with his big grey Stetson soft in the starlight.

‘Ah! You came quickly. Good! Let’s get to work.’

Bill got up on the platform and the rest of us stood near the side of the truck. It wasn’t good to be too close for too long.

Daddy said, ‘All right, Moise. Direct the pipes at the EA.’

The little rubber plugs at the end of the pipes swung gently as Bill cranked the wheels around so that the pipes were pointing right at the cloudbuster. We waited. It didn’t do anything. Sometimes they went from side to side when we started drawing, other times they’d just get fainter and fainter as if they were on the end of some long yo-yo string being pulled back into the sky. Bill usually did the drawing but I did it too.

‘I feel terrible,’ said Eva. ‘I can feel it reacting already. I get that salty taste in my mouth.’

‘Ja, I feel it too,’ said Daddy. ‘Do you feel anything, Moise?’ ‘Mmhmm,’ said Bill, ‘I can feel it starting in my stomach a bit.’

‘I’ve got a kind of choking feeling in my throat,’ I said.

Ahem.
AHEM
ahem. Daddy took off his hat and pushed his hand through his long silvery hair. ‘I wish I knew if this was an attack or if they are just observing Earth and don’t know what they are doing.’

We all watched the EA, sparkling blue, growing brighter, then dimmer, then bright again.

After a while, Daddy said, ‘Pete.’

‘Yes.’

‘You know where the Orur needle is kept, ja? Go and get it. Make sure you carry it very carefully. There is a flashlight in the truck.’

It was scary, walking down past the shadowy, dark cactus, but the flashlight helped. The needle was hidden under a little pile of rocks in a dry riverbed. I took a couple of rocks off and shone the light against the dull lead container. The needle was inside, tied to a string that hung over the side. I picked up the end of the string and holding it as far in front of me as I could, I went back to the cloudbuster.

‘Here it is,’ I said.

‘Good,’ said Daddy. ‘Now hand it carefully to Moise. Ja. Good.’ There was another lead bottle right at the base of the cloudbuster where the metal cables came up to the pipes.

‘How do you feel?’ asked Daddy. Bill said he was okay but Eva said she had to go back to the house. She was supersensitive to Orurizing.

Bill kept the cloudbuster trained on the EA but it didn’t go away. I was itching to get up and try it because I had an idea that might work.

‘Daddy, can I relieve Bill?’

‘Ja, it might be good. He has been up there a long time. Take a rest, Moise.’

I climbed on the truck and stood next to Bill for a minute, feeling like John Wayne or Clark Gable or somebody taking the controls from Robert Mitchum or William Holden.

‘How is she going?’ I asked.

Bill kept his eye on the EA. ‘Well, I’m just holding pretty steady on her.’

‘Okay.’

Bill got down with Daddy and they both stood next to the cloudbuster with their binoculars trained on the EA. I had one hand on each wheel, one for making the pipes go up and one for making them go down.

‘Moise,’ said Daddy, ‘please go to the car and get the Geiger counter. I want to see how much the count has risen with the EA.’