Brantley

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Brantley - On The Road




Brantley had divided most of his young adult life roaming around the vast American landscape and life at home with his friends. Faced with a changing post war modern world, he sought to find his place, but eventually came to reject alot of the social norms. His heart's music often reflected a desire to break free from society's structure and to find a higher meaning to life.

This search led Brantley to experiment with different things that shall remain undisclosed and to embark on trips around the world. His favorite mode of travel was by train. He always fancied hoping in a box car and riding the rails, but sometimes he did pay for a ticket. His travels took him many places and he gathered many fascinating stories.



One such story found our dear Brantley walking down what must have felt like an endless highway. As he approached what appeared to be a ghost town of sorts in a western state that didnt matter, Brantley began to notice snakes laying all over the road.

Terrified of snakes, Brantley studied the situation for a short time and even tossed a few rocks toward the general vicinity of the aforementioned snakes. They remained undisturbed. They were soaking up the sun and didnt care one way or the other about a passer-by. Brantley continued his journey, hopping over the snakes one by one.

He had not traveled far past the snakes. The town was in the distance, probably a good mile away and Brantley noticed a single car traversing toward him. Its not a big deal to see a lone car passing down the highway, but this car had its headlights on and then strobes mounted on the roof of the car began to flicker blue.

The police officer stopped the car beside Brantley and began to question what Brantley was doing walking. Brantley told the officer of his intentions and the officer cut him off.

Officer: "I'll tell you what you do, son. What you do is this, turn around and keep walking in the other direction. We dont need people like you coming around here starting trouble."

Brantley began to lose heart.

Brantley: "Sir, I dont want any trouble but i figured i go into town and at least get some food and definitely refill my water pouch."

Officer: "thats a big negative boy. Nothing to eat here, go back the other way."

So Brantley had no other options. He turned back around and hadnt gotten very far when another car slowed down beside him. It was a kindly lady in her mid forties named Brenda.

Brenda: "hey there honey. its mighty hot out. Do you need a ride? where ya going?"

Brantley: "i dont really have a destination. i'm just out here seeing the country, but i'd love a ride. it doesnt matter where to."

Brenda picked Brantley up and road on down the highway.



As Brenda and Brantley flew down the highway, she began to talk a mile a minute. She told Brantley about her kids and how they liked to meet new and interesting people."

Brantley didnt say much. He didnt really get a chance to add much to the dialogue of the conversation.

Brenda veered off the highway and onto a poorly paved tar and gravel road that soon turned into a dirt path, obviously traveled by only a few cars. Dust rose high in the distance as they speed forth. They stopped at a little makeshift trailer house along the way. The home was a converted trailer with a newly modified roof and a what appeared to be an added on den.

Brenda: "this is my home. come in and meet my family. we'll get ya something to eat if you like. you can sit a spell and then be on your way. i gotta head back to town in an hour and i'll take you back to the highway."

Brantley walked into the dimly lit home and found a seat on the worn out couch. It smelled of pet dander. Brenda went about her business and her kids and pets all peaked in to see this traveler. Brenda had a four year old daughter that must have asked Brantley a thousand questions.

Brenda's younger boyfriend came home after about an hour. He threw open the screen door and skipped into the den. His name was Mike.

Mike: "WHERE'S THE HIPPIE?!!!!"

Mike almost leaped into Brantley's lap. Mikes erratic behavior definitely frightened Brantley a little.

Mike: "stay right here Hippie, i wanna show you something."

Mike ran off to the back bedroom. Brantley heard all kinds of shuffling and the sounds of throwing things about, then he heard what sounded like a shotgun being shucked.

Brenda was in the room with Mike. Brantley could scarcely make out what the couple was saying.

Brenda: "MIKE, NO! dont go and scare him."

That was all Brantley needed to hear. He slipped out the back door and jogged down the dirt road. Of course the 12 dogs laying in the shade of broken down cars got up and began following him and barking quite loudly.

Brantley wasnt sure where he'd go, but he knew he didnt want to stay one minute longer at the place he just left.

The road went no where. Brantley only had one choice really, he had to turn back around and go out the way he came. He sat down on a little rocky hilly spot along side the path and rested for about an hour, but he knew he had to get started soon because it was already late in the afternoon. Dusk was fast approaching.

A little later, as he walked back past Brenda's home he was a bit relieved to find that the cars were gone and no one appeared to be there. Almost back to the highway a truck pulled onto the dirt road. It was Mike and Brenda.

They came to a screeching stop and Mike hopped out.

Mike: "why'd you run off hippie?"

Brantley: "i dont know."

Mike: "course you do. youre a thief and you were looking for something to steal. good thing i came home hippie. no telling what you might've made off with. GET IN THE TRUCK."

Mike put his big hand on Brantley's shoulder and shoved him toward the truck. Brantley hesitated, but did get into Mike's truck. Brenda was giggling. Brantley was rather nervous.

Mike: " i was kidding around buddy. i didnt think you were a thief.

Mike passed a half smoked joint to Brantley as they drove back to Brenda's.

Brantley: "no thanks man. i'm cool."

Mike: "what? i thought all hippies smoked weed man."

Brantley: "i'm not really a hippie man. i just wanted to see the country."

Mike: "Brenda, can you believe you picked up a hippie that said no to weed?"

Back at Brenda's.

Mike: "look dude, i've got something i need you to help me do, then i'll take you where ever you want to go. heck, i'll go to."



end of installment number one....


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Brantley Sweats the Small Stuff, All the Stuff


installment number two:

Mike, Brenda and Brantley made it back to the trailer as the sun set behind the range of mountains to the east.

Brantley wondered what exactly what kind of help Mike was going to require of him to grant his freedom.

As they walked in the front door an older gentleman was sitting on the couch facing the television set. He was an indian chief in his early sixties. He never really had his own tribe to be chief over to speak of, but his father and grandfather and so on had been great men, all chiefs. And so was he.

His name was Chief Squinting Bear. His name fit him. (Why would i say that? he squinted as he watched the tube as David Justice swung and missed on a ball that was just a wee bit outside and he was not only a large man but a very hairy one to boot!)

As Mike and Brenda walked to the back room, Brantley sat on the couch next to Chief Squinting Bear. The Chief was watching the Atlanta Braves pound the Cincinnati Reds to the ground. "They have the best pitchers in all of baseball", said the Chief.

"Wow, they show the Braves out here in the West too, huh?" commented Brantley.

"You a friend of Mike's?", inquired the Chief.

"I wouldnt say that."

"No?" said the Chief.

"To be honest with you, Mike said I had to help him do something before he'd let me go."

"Why you no run away?"

"I tried."

"What does Mike want you should do to help him?"

"He still hasnt told me, but i have a bad feeling."

Mike re-entered the room. "i see you met my dad. he is going to watch you so you dont run off. i gotta check on something and i'll be back shortly" Mike growled.

"You're his dad?" Brantley asked the Chief.

"I adopted Mike when he was eleven. He needed someone. He had no one and he was this frightened child. When i brought him home, every noise made him jump. We gave him his own indian name, Scared Dog."

Brantley and the Chief talked on for quite some time. He was a Souix indian. His people were all but gone. Most of the time he felt lonely, but he was glad to make this new acquaintence.

Brantley explained to the Chief how and why he had traveled from where he began ending up here. The more he talked, the more the Chief asked.

The Chief didnt just asked questions, he talked about himself too. The Chief had converted to Christianity twelve years go. He spoke openly of how he made Jesus Christ his savior and how he still practiced many indian worship rituals. Instead of worshipping the eagle or the sun, he sought counsel from almighty God.

The Chief told Brantley that he had been planning on leaving for a few hourswhen he and Mike had arrived earlier. He asked Brantley to come with him. It was dark out. Brantley couldnt see his hand in front of his face. he had no idea where the Chief wanted to go, heck he barely knew the Chief. Could he trust him? It didnt matter now though.

As they walked along the same trail that Brantley had run down earlier while attempting to flee from Mike, Brantley felt a calm wash over his body from his head to his toes. "Chief, i cant see where we are going."

"neither can i", said the Chief, "ha ha."

"The funny thing though Chief is that i dont care."

"you dont care or you arent scared?"

"i'm not really scared and i dont care, odd huh?"

"not so much, ive been praying for peace all day. Looks like it found us."

After they walked for what seemed like hours, they stopped at a fork in the beaten path next to a dried up creek bed. The Chief picked up two sticks and started tapping them together. "wooooo wooooo", cried the Chief.

Two more indian fellows stepped out of the darkness from behind a couple of small trees and advanced toward the pair. "Yah te hay", they exclaimed.

"Yah te hay", the Chief said.

"what does that mean and who are they?" Brantley whispered.

"These are my brother and it means greetings, both hello and goodbye.

They four of them exchanged hand shakes and they walked toward where several Teepees were set up. There was one smaller dome shaped tent out by itself.

"Brantley, i know why you are here, you seek answers. Much like many people fast to cleanse the body and put their spiritual needs before their physical needs, we will go into this sweat lodge to clean out the impurities and meet with the Great Spirit. He will give you answers so you can go home."

As Brantley reflected on how the past few days had turned out and where it could take him once Mike cashed in on that favor, he thought "what the heck."

"how long do we stay in the tent and sweat it out?", asked Brantley.

"As long as it takes", one of the indian brothers spouted.

"this could take a long time huh?"

"it should and probably will", said the Chief.

"Its kinda like getting in a sauna at the ymca", joked Brantley.

Very serious now, the Chief told Brantley "there are both spiritual and medicinal benefits to the sweat lodge. Its encourages camaraderie, sharing and growing together, but without a spiritual leader, its not an indian sweat."

"thats were you come in right?" asked Brantley.

"yes and do not think this is a coincidence that you are here. we have prepared for this day for two weeks although we didnt know you'd be here."

The domed tent sweat lodge was buried in three feet of creek sand. A blazing fire was roaring a few feet from the sweat tent and hot rocks were shoveled into the tent while the four of them sat covered by a sacred indian garment that covered them as only some kind of loin clothe could.



One of the men poured some kind of brew over the stones. The sound of steaming hisses and spattering filled the darkness and they all began praying. All of them except Brantley, he just listened. This praying was different from any praying he had heard before, these people just talked and invited the Great Spirit to make habitation with them. There was nothing formal about their prayers as they chanted.

"Who is this Great Spirit?" Brantley whispered.

"The Spirit of the Lord as referred in the Bible, friend. Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Great Spirit. We seek his counsel in our lives. Brantley, you dont have to say a word, but focus on the silence and listen to what God might say to you."

The chanting of prayers grew more and more intense and the men began singing. They sang and they sang. When one of them became too hot, he went outside. There was a stream on the other side of the tents parallel to the dried creek bed. They would dive into the stream and cool off and return to the sweat tent for more.

Brantley had never been one hundred percent sure that there was even a god, but he decided he would give it a try. It sounded cool. He earnestly tried to seek counsel. He prayed. The Chief would encourage Brantley from time to time. "be honest with God, Brantley. He knows already. He just wants you to become free from former entanglements. talk to him. tell him what you think, confess whatever is on your heart."

Brantley tried it with a sincere heart. He sat. He reflected on his life and he simply talked outloud. If there was a god, he'd hear this.

The Chief sang a new song, "You see the depths of our hearts and You love us the same. You are amazing God. Your creation reveals your majesty. every creature is unique in the song that it sings. You placed the stars in the sky and named each one. Who has told every lightning bolt where to go? You are indescribable and uncontainable, all powerful, untameable. Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we bodly proclaim, You are amazing God."

As Brantley focused on the words the Chief sang, he began to sing along. The hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on their ends. He felt faint, just a little bit dizzy and he envisioned......

next - installment number three

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Brantley’s Vision


Brantley's vision or dream was about himself as an engineer on a train. This dream was unlike any other he had every had. It might not have had more significance than any other, but the detail was so vivid that he was sure he was on that train.

Brantley and R.Wilde of all people were riding in the locomotive looking out as they entered a new town. It wasnt a big town by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed very important, a gateway to someplace more necessary maybe; the only way to the destination perhaps.

Several trains were on intersecting tracks that eventually all ran parallel to the track Brantely's train traveled as they sped toward a not too distant mountain on up ahead. They could see that the tracks on this mountain had to be at a 70 degree incline. Impossible, the thing dreams are made of. No track could be that steep. It would prove to be an incredibly daunting task to traverse that rise.

As the trains came together, all the tracks merged. The tracks were elevated on a dirt mound raising them high above the flood plain; the way became narrow. The distance on the left side of the tracks was equal to the width of the train plus a foot or two.

Brantley and Wilde looked down and stared as the ground rushed past. The gravels between the timbers under the tracks got higher and higher filling the tracks to the brim. Strange. The train then, for whatever reason derailed.

Not sure how one would even begin to steer a train, Brantley did everything in his power to correct the path of the train and get it back on track. It began losing speed but never actually wrecked when it derailed, although the two were in great fear that it would.

Brantely got the train back on tracks just as another train came speeding past on the left. It had derailed as well and it crashed down the side of the elevated path and into a deep ravine.

Up the steep mountain the train traveled. The speed had declined greatly and the train never made it completely up the mountain. Most of the cars did get to the top as three quarters of the train leveled out and came to a halt. Brantley noticed that it was still not completly on track and called for some help.

As the vision or dream or whatever it was faded, Brantley saw the Chief. There were three of him and they were all spinning. Brantley had become severely dehydrated while sweating it out in the tent. The Chief called it purification.

The Chief and Brantley left the tent, drank plenty of water and slept the rest of the day. As they hiked back to trailer, they noticed the sheriff was parked out front.

The sheriff met them and explained why he was there and what had happened. That favor that Mike had planned for Brantley had gone array. Mike had apparently lost patience waiting on Brantley and decided he didnt need help for his plan. He and Brenda had attempted a heist at the local hayseed farmers and merchants bank down the way. Unfortunately for Mike, there was a trigger happy teller there to meet him. Brenda was being held in custody until her trial.

The sheriff drove off a few minutes later, while Brantley stood there speechless, the Chief begain to talk.

Chief: "i didnt get a chance to tell you Brantley, but i had a vision too. I saw Mike in a funeral parlor all laid out there in his Sunday best, but there were no mourners there wailing, not a soul ceptin me."

The Chief turned and walked inside the trailer. Brantley obviously didnt know what to say so he decided the lest he could do was to stay a spell and make sure the Chief was ok. Mike had been his son for pete's sake.

Brantley was beginning to get the itch. He needed to get away....for good.

Brantley didnt see the Chief much for the next four days, but the trailer reeked of whiskey and urine. Brantley found things outside to keep him busy. He began to tinker around with that old fifties model ford pickup sitting behind the trailer. It appeared to be useless except for the shade it provided to the mangy dogs that hung around.

On that fourth day as Brantley was knee deep in the hood of that old truck, the Chief came out and whistled at Brantley.

Chief: "come on, i want you to go with me someplace."

They climbed in the Chief's car and as they rode down the highway the Chief explained to Brantley that he owned a string of self serve car wash shops in the greater area. They had to make a few stops, check the suds, and make a deposit. He also told Brantley that he had been a fall down drunk, an embarrassment to his people for almost 13 years now to the day his wife had passed away. Brantley didnt know the Chief had been married.

The Chief had been having lots of visions as of late. He was scared he was running out of time. He wept for not being able to save Mike from his own destructive nature. His visions were about judgement to come.

Chief: "i know i sound crazy, but what if any of its true. i met an old preacher man few years back; we have coffee a couple times a week. He claims to be a man who works in prophecy like Jeremiah or Isaiah. A gifting he calls it. He claims to have seen visions of the calamity already passed. Says he can prove it. There are bunch of men like him and they are predicting some awful things to come."

Brantley didnt interupt, he just kept listening.

Chief: "Brantley, normally i wouldnt so much as balk at the notion of all this, but i've been dreaming lots of dreams. I had a dream that someone called the home phone screaming for help. When i asked what kind of help, they replied to hurry up, the antichrist is coming quickly, hurry, help."

Brantley thought of his own dream that was so real and still fresh on his mind. what did it mean? getting off track? needing to call for help? he pondered on a bit and still, he listened intently to the Chief.

Chief: "and Brantley, you gotta know, i am telling the truth just as sure as i am a standing here next to ya. I saw Mike laid up in that parlor just as sure as shooting. I dont know what to do next. oh, if you coulda seen him lying there, if you hada heard that woman screaming on the phone Brantley."

Brantley had chill bumps come up on his neck. he wasnt sure what to make of all this yet. Maybe it'd come to him. Maybe he'd just leave......