gardentime

The Path

The ranch where the story began and ended, within the world where he learned the languages of heaven and earth.

The hotel where he worked, within the mountains where he saw shards of the future and found the garden of heaven.

The savage mountain few had successfully climbed, and none on the route he and Tom Elliott chose.

The street where the world changed in the name of love and hate.

The Florida swamp where hell itself was born and two people were forever scarred.

The train that took him out into the world while he sat in the engineer's seat.

The top gun aircraft carrier and the sailor town where men, planes, bombs, touts and angels maneuvered at various courses and speeds while occupying the same physical space.

The college where death and deception were required courses.

It should be said that the seeker's path has no true point of beginning and no definitive ending, that all directions are calculated as the crow flies, and that while the days and nights appear at close range to directed by chaos, the puzzle of the way is perfection.

College Avenue, Tallahassee, Florida photograph courtesy of the State Archives of Florida. The aircraft carrier USS Ranger and Olongapo City, Philippines photographs courtesy of the U. S. Navy. Tarot card images are from the Crowley Deck by U. S. Games.