Catch Jim’s 4-minute podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/0yyMPteP56Y

or read the transcript below…

.

Life, actually…

.

CLOUD-WRANGLING IN DOWN-SOUTH HEAVENS

.

Right this minute, it is seventy-five years ago. The Village Elder is recalling a day from his Down South childhood. In his clear and present memory, this day of yore is worthy of remembrance.

.

Jimmy Three is the nickname of the long-ago version of himself. And for a few precious moments, Jimmy Three is suspended, floating somewhere between the core of the planet and the faraway skies. He is alone but seldom lonely.

.

Lying flat on his back in a bed of clover and bustling insects, Jimmy Three wonders about things. He is at his best when wondering about wonders. Right now, he is awestruck by the rolling multi-grayed clouds.

.

One cloud casts an in-flight shadow over him, then speeds away. Another cloud crosses paths with a companion, melds with it, recombines into a doubled entity that retains no memory of earlier seconds, when they were twins.

.

Jimmy Three raises his pointing finger and begins moving the billowed fluffy shapes. He molds them into pirates, then into puppies, then into scenes from Bible stories. He plays with the skies. He begins to suspect that the clouds in turn are playing with him.

.

As the shades and textures of the clouds gracefully shapeshift themselves, Jimmy Three lowers his arm, angel-spreads his body, embraces the heavens and hands himself over to them.

.

He discovers that allowing the firmament to manipulate him is just as fun as re-animating that high-up deep-blue-and-shaded world. A world above him that is so much more vast than the mere neighborhood in which he dwells. So much larger than his tiny planet.

.

Why oh why, wonders the present-day Elder…why oh why do I remember this long-past moment with such happiness, such peace?

.

Jimmy Three projects himself into the future and addresses the question.

The Elder leans forward, turning his good ear to the apparition.

.

“I’ll always remember you if you’ll always remember me,” Jimmy Three says.

.

The Elder leans back, amazed but not surprised. He sort of always knew that all the ages he ever lived were still  deep inside, are still deep inside, awaiting duty, waiting to tend to his needs. Just as Jimmy Three somehow knows that the amazing old dude he will become, will be there to mend his wounds, salve his scrapes, keep him alive and well.

.

The octogenarian and his childhood self stroll side by side to this day, each knowing they will journey together until some great embracing moment pleasantly surprises them with additional never-ending journeys

.

© 2024 A.D. by Jim Reed