This is definitely one of the most favored story of Traveling Trails, which happens to be one of the last entries made on Airbrushes & Airplanes. Today to answer the daily prompt in a unique way, I would like to take you on a journey through the following chapters of Traveling Trails.
The entire story had been updated up to chapter 24 on this link of Traveling Trails Part 1. Ending with…
“We can’t let that happen” says the voice that just led her out the door.
She wakes up in a freight and sees Leo lying dead next to her saying that he loves her and he wished that they could have married, had a son, a family, a good life. She cries as she notices he is bleeding from the heart. Then she hears another gunshot traveling straight for her head. She wakes up in a freight from THAT nightmare only to find her and Leo lying on the floor and her foot in the dirt. Ironically the advice that man had given them actually worked. Wait, which man? Was there a man?
“You two done kicking and screaming? You been crying about dying of thirst as you swarmed over here. I hosed you two down but you been there having panic attacks for the last ten minutes!” said the owner of the building.
“Soon it will be dark! Not a light bulb in sight. I would not want to be here when that happens. Hungry creatures lurk at night hunting for food”
The fellow in his early seventies gets them two into his truck and drives them to his trailer home nearby. The drive was quite short. She had passed out by the time they arrived. Leo picked her up and carried her inside follow the new guy that Leo would now call ‘old man’ and laid his friend on a couch by herself. The old man sits on his rocking chair and Leo sits on a dining chair as the guy turns the television on. The first thing to come from the television was…
Sympathy Symphony Sounds – Traveling Trails 25
Have some courtesy and some taste.
“Describe your most memorable vacation.”
“My trip to planet Earth.” replies the interviewee.
“So you are really an ‘illegal alien’ is that what you are saying?”
He laughs and continues “the Earth is boundless with mysterious places waited to be explored and even discovered. Many people think the purpose in life is to work till you become of age to attempt to really enjoy life freely, yet limited by the condition the physical body is left in at that coming age.
I feel my most memorable vacation has been my trip to this existence and I do my best to live it to the fullest.”
She had been listening up to this point when the words started getting fuzzy and the last thing she heard from the tube was “How do you protect yourself?”
As she entered another dimension she heard the words ‘A Long Future Story’ and in a movie this is where they would probably spell it out for you to over emphasize the significance of those words to the entire picture.
She opens her eyes and sees a light shine on a child about 12 years old and hears two ladies converse about her as if they did not see her at all. She was dressed in the same outfit as they and seemed like part of the cleaning crew. One of the ladies gossips saying “she lost her dad ,Toe, in a car accident or something and he had a seizure that he did not recover from. He doesn’t remember her. He thinks she is his older daughter who is at least a decade older than her.”
The other lady speaks “My God! She is a cursed child” The first one responds “nobody wanted her after that. She went from one family member to another, but she had lost it after she lost Toe.”
She sees the guy that was speaking on the tube on the tube here as well. There was a round table with a tiny television set where the crew sat to gossip and unwind playing this vision that she decided to sit down and watch for a bit.
“I don’t intend to tell you or anybody what to do but the key words that I have been catching on to is minimizing, but exploring and discovering. Sharing. Learning. Experimenting. Seeking knowledge and applying it. What’s the use of hoarding knowledge or wealth?” said the interviewee on the tube.
“Toe doesn’t know! Let took her brother that was a year older than that girl. They moved to some paradise and left her here with no father now, and a mother that did not want her.” said the cleaning lady that was still gossiping but had faded in the background until now. “So what’s the purpose?” asks her friend. “The mother of the next leader usually arises from turmoil, from danger, from the necessity of the individual and the whole. Her story might be painful to us, but could give her strength and survival skills to give birth to the next lady that gives birth to the next female that will lead a new revolution to a better future. OR that female could give birth to yet another leader unknown at the moment who it will be.”
“Ahhh, all of that confuses me. I cannot keep up when you talk to me in your bittersweet symphony style.” confesses her friend.
The girl who was watching the television closely with very intense focus, lost interest for a moment while listening to the ladies speak. She wondered who they were talking about and when. Had what they speak of happened already, or is it future events. Seemed like a long future story to her and then a thought clicked like a light bulb. In fact, many producers exaggerate this moment with a clip of a light bulb appearing above the person’s head.
“So you are saying we shouldn’t have sympathy?” asks the friend. The gossip girl says “a synphony of sins that comes from that family! No need for sympathy for the devil.”
The conversation these two were having seemed judgmental, she thought, along with so many people that she has ran into along her journey. Had she listened to anybody, she would have died after she began her journey or after her grandmother had passed away. It disturbed her that these two gossip ladies would speak of that child so harshly, and about her family. This could be anybody including someone in her family line that they were discussing about. These people who tell others not to judge but quickly judge others for being different and thinking different. So many things are not due to wickedness but more on survival instincts. She felt touched by the little girl’s grief and all the tragedy that she heard that poor child have at such young age.
For a moment she thought of memories from her childhood. Then she tuned back into the television set.
“So you are telling me about the most memorable vacation” comments the host and continues “most people would mention the beach, another country, mountain hike… Symphony sounds of traveling trails.”
He responds “every day is a blessing of fresh air and abundance all around you. Every day should feel like a vacation. Every day should feel like a day of work and accomplishments. Every day you should live, feel, think, or learn something new. Think about that for a second.”
“Not every day can be a vacation, we all have job to do, earn a living and pay our debts!” confesses the host.
“Do you remember every detail of your favorite vacation? Defining one moment to a whole experience in Malibu or Bahamas, for example, is not so simple without ignoring the mundane details or the mishaps of that event. A story of the most memorable vacation seems quite boring if it was just expressed as the time when I went to take a picture in front of a rock. All went well, no issues with the path, the driver, the food, the weather or any other external circumstances. That is usually not how it happens in a vacation. There are ups and downs, recordable moments, embarrassing moments, painful moments, cute moments, and kinds of experiences that make these journeys so memorable. If it was just another trip to take a selfie in front of another pool of water, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, what makes it so memorable?”
She thought of the many times she had been by a beach, a river or a lake. She would see people from a distance sometimes enjoying themselves in her eyes. She imagined them doing cool songs and dances as groups and having a good old time. It seems that it should be easy to just walk up to strangers and say “riding the waves” or something clever that would show you are relatable and they should allow you to join their circle.
The reality in her eyes is that she did not smell appropriate, she was wearing the same outfit undergarments and footwear days at a time. She thinks of how many people go to these beaches to swim, dance and have fun. How she wished she could see life in that perspective. To be able to say with her future family that they have put in the effort for long enough and it is time for a memorable vacation. Grab your shades, sunscreen, bathing suit, and leave your worries behind.
“I guess I have had a martini or two that did not meet my standards” replies the host. “Tell me this, you consider yourself America’s adopted child. Explain that to me.”
“I was brought here as an illegal alien and went through the process of becoming a resident to a citizen, therefore being adopted by this country becoming their problem good or bad. And this country throws its problems in a cell somewhere stored as corruptable files and malware that can alter realities and must be contained. Bad programming they call us when we are the ones with the power within us.”
As she kept tuning into the set and her thoughts now she begins to wonder how the girl that these ladies who were bad mouthing her was feeling at the moment with all her future dreams shattered in some ways. But then she began to think that she has been alone most of her life as well, even at that age. In fact, this child is a reminder to how resilient she had been even at a young age. She wondered what that child’s future holds for her, and even what does destiny have set for herself as well. This could be a long future story she thought to herself and decided that she would call her book just that. She wakes up and hears the television.
“Illogical nonsense you speak of. Not only that, Earth is your answer. It is still puzzling and in need of clarification I think.” demands the host.
“A lightwave that traveled and made a conscious decision to come down to this planet and observe how it feels. Come see the spectacle of the show for myself. I hear that I have front row seats to the damn thing.”
She is still trying to grasp what is real and what is a dream. She can’t tell truth from fiction. The host’s voice begins to say words that became very distorted as she began to think about that statement and played this little video in her head or in the tube instead. Hard to tell.
I – Traveling Trails 26
“She uses that word all the time!” yells Leo at the television.
“What is a word you feel that too many people use?” voice on television.
“Not the letter or the numeric symbol. The word “I” referring to first person perspective. Right?” babbles Leo. “She is so focused on herself. Always me, me, me. When anyone suggests anything it is always ‘what I want’ you know what I mean?”
“Aye” says the companion.
“I know what I am saying but I totally get ignored!”
She is unconcious to their knowledge but she seems to be hearing this whole conversation and others, depending on what dimension she is in. At the moment she is hearing Leo and some stranger and the television on the background.
“I had a place for us but it was always I, I, I. At the end we were kicked out because she could not comply.”
“I go this way, she goes that way. I say this, she does the opposite. I have a plan to go to California and she keeps going the opposite direction over a theory or a dream or an illusion. A mirage or some, I don’t know. I try and I try.”
“Yea she has a problem talking only about herself, huh” the stranger asks sarcastically.
Leo continues “I am not saying that she is totally wrong. I agree with her. I try to be helpful. I give in to her a lot! I just wish she would…”
And he continues “I bet if I didn’t care so much about her. I saved her life you know. I told everyone I would not let her die out there alone. I have noticed that this whole time it has always been about her. I never get to express how I feel, what I think we should do and why. I have been told to ditch her several times. I did not listen to anyone. I kept helping her. I kept letting her decisions contradict the ones I had made that all had agreed to. Am I talking too much?”
“What is it you seek?” asks the stranger.
“I am so glad that you asked! I finally get to talk about myself. I want a truck. And a woman that listens. And I want a, a, a… I guess I had not thought about it much. I had been so focused on not dying, I never gave thought to much else. I guess it is a woman who makes all those plans. Who cares about all that. I, I, I guess I don’t know!”
“I was married, got divorced. She left with everything. Parents died and left this junkyard for me. I think I need medical attention but I don’t know how to contact anyone of my family.” confesses the old man real fast, almost all in one breath. Leo looks at him crazy and says “dude! No one asked you to tell your sob story! You need to learn to talk when it is your turn! Right now I am sharing! I don’t get to share. Or be heard.”
The old man gives him a mug as Leo continues “I haven’t scored yet. She won’t give me the play.”
“Loser”
“No wait. I keep striking out and I don’t know why I keep following her. I am going up against some fantasy guy that only she sees or something. I mean where does she get these crazy ideas that some invisible being is helping her with very little evidence or true direction in where she is going.
I told her I have family in Cali. We get married and I can get a truck and she can have children. I am helping her. Not some guy who she dreams up or something. Me! Iiiiii!”
If he could see her right now she would be rolling her eyes at him not listening to himself yap about himself. If anyone says and thinks “I” a lot, it is he. “You’re so vain, you think everything is about you!” she yells in her mind to him.
The television tunes in:
“Try to get out of yourself for a minute. Stop letting the worries of failure or any effects you are afraid of. Accept them.”
Then Leo’s voice in front of the television projects louder. ” I don’t know. I do not feel I am being selfish. I think I am giving and she should recognize.” There was a slight pause then he continues “if it was not right then why, what is the point of traveling with her? Why do I keep chasing her? What would you know about women”
The old man got quite offended. If this were a movie that song by Carly Simon would be playing. In fact, since her eyes were closed and all she could hear is sound anyway, her mind had that tune playing while these two were arguing about themselves and “I”. “You’re so vain. You probably think this song is about you! Don’t you! Don’t you! Don’t you!”
Of coarse, she was quite offended by the speech Leo gave, one could probably see her as a ghostly figure on a screen also dramatically yelling at a couple fellas that cannot see or hear her whatsoever. But there she goes screaming “What do you mean I only focus on I. If I had not kept going in the direction I have been going, you all would have probably died in the caravan. I did not think it was a good idea. I got us to safety! (pause) and what do you mean I only focus on I? I do not…..”
MEANWHILE…..on the tv set.
“You have to see yourself on the IMAGE first. Most people get this wrong, you see. They focus on the observation first is the third dimension, then they create the image with their observation and the mirror has no choice but to reflect the image you have created. So people who start with observation first, keep getting stuck in this loop of observing, creating image, reflecting what you are observing, which is a lot of what you do not want.
Do you understand now?”
Read the continuation on my next post in Pearls-Empire.blog named, I – Traveling Trails XXVI (continued)
or catch up and read where we left off in the story and going with it on the link below.
Pain won’t make you cry – Traveling Trails 27
“Just sit down and answer me this…What brings a tear of joy to your eye?” ask the old man.
“How could you tell me that you know I have not had a lady in my life. A job. Respect. A life. I am your elder and I can see through your youthful eyes that you walk around hoping that your friend over there will see you as more than just a friend. And you insult me! In my house?” jumps the old man with his finger pointing at Leo.
Leo leans back on the chair as if afraid and says “okay. Okay. You are right!”
“You don’t know nothing chico!” yells the old man. Then he turns his back on Leo and continues his speech “you want it all young buck! Never stop when you have it. The wife, the kids. The career. But that gets boring! Why chico? Why? Why do we mess up what beautiful things we have by demanding that they act like our properties. And greed. What does that get you chico? What does that get you?”
“Hey. Dude? Are you awake? You look like you are passing out. Sit down!” jokes Leo at his bored towards the story.
The old man does indeed sit and continues his story:
Prestige. And side dishes. Each having their own wants and needs. So many secrets and so much money passed around like it is nothing. Fancy cars. Beautiful beautiful… Pools, Tvs, parties, drinks and everything. Do you know what everything means chico? Everything you can poison yourself with. You take it all for granted. You take the wife and the kids for granted. Everything. Money. It is all taken for granted. Friends. Taken for granted. Food! Feed the poor! But no. Taken for granted. Thrown away like everything else.
You take it all for granted. You pray that a drug shipment goes well. You pray you defeat the enemy thus killing people. You pray your wife does not find out about your mistress. You pray that you don’t find out your wife is sleeping with the pool maintenance man. Because you feel that is truly drawing the line. That is going too far. You sleeping with other women is a god given gift to man but your wife cheating on you is the biggest disgrace in a man’s life.
You are up in the mountains so high trying to ski all the time. You think it is all under your control. You think it is all your for the taking and using and abusing so there is no harm no foul. You are going to ask for forgiven and your hands will be clean. You start fresh. Do you know how I know all this chico?”
Leo responds ” because you were married and went through all of that stuff you said and you lost it all because you were an idiot?”
“Nooooo” replies the old man. “She was ashamed of me. But I could not stand for it. It was not right.
“What did you do? Kill her? She is not buried in the back yard is she? Why did you bring us here? Please. Please don’t do anything crazy!”
“Shut up you imbecile! So I saw all of this happen and I could not stand it any more. I could not keep working there any more.”
“Wait! What!” jumps Leo. “So you are not the rich person in the narrative you just gave me?”
“Haha. I wish.”
“Sooo. What? How does the story have any relevance?”
“I worked there for 48 years. Getting kicked around. Getting food thrown at me. Getting treated like I was garbage. I was told to throw out the garbage and do dirty works that were disgusting. Just because the boss lost his temper again. So I snitched.” confessed the old man.
“You are a rat!” Leo panicked in an almost sarcastic kind of way but being serious.
The old man tries to ignore being called names and argues “you are missing the point. You keep wishing things were. Wishing they go your way. Seeing only what applies to you. Have you ever asked your friend what she really wants? What makes her cry? Better yet what makes her cry tears of joy to her eyes?”
“Dude you are a rat!” replies Leo. “You don’t know nothing!”
That is where I am with the story traveling through 27 chapters written in total on today’s date of September 5, 2023. It was suggested this story have a theme song and I wrote a verse to such a song if it was to exist in the future to a movie or series made in the future. Who knows, right? If you’d like to check on the lyrics though, here you go
I imagine this song going through following verses where Leo and the protagonist go on a mini rap battle in the song. We will see. ICT – Makavenna is promising to make new music.
Interesting tidbit about the author lol, I did travel a similar path once from El Salvador with my mother. Only thing is that I was a baby of a year old when I went down that journey. I can relate to many who travel to the United States thinking the land of the free, opportunity for you and me and our family. Reality is that it is not so easy even when you are here but the struggle continues. Much love and respect for all those who travel through the trails trying to find a home and better future for their children.
The furthest I have traveled as an adult is Ireland. What adventures I had in Ireland. Maybe one day I will tell you about it. Or maybe I did, lol.
Another interesting tidbit (my daugher would have a laugh at that one) this chapter 2hr Smartphone limit – Traveling Trails Part 4 was inspired by my journey walking in Ireland trying not to waste my battery so I could use it for directions.
Thank you all for reading
#AlexAirbrushLuna
It feel like a Traveling Trails night so I might write another chapter. Keep up if you like
PEARLS EMPIRE 
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