An Old Friend

    It is pouring so quickly and heavily that I can barely see what is directly in front of me. Luckily I have a black bird that soars against the gray sky as my guide. It turns it's head slightly every now and then to make sure I am still following. As I'm walking I notice the small pools of water gathered in the pot holes. I watche them fill up. I examine the falling water splashing into pot holes. There are all sorts of patterns emerging. Swirls, angel wings, and sometimes smiley faces. At this point I don't even realize I'm standing still, lost in the patterns. I'm transported to my bedroom. I'm five years old and can not sleep , so I fix my eyes to the wooden bedpost and stare at the natural swirls in the wood. All sorts of images bounce out. People, creatures, aliens, trees, you name it.
The crow fly's back into my perspective. It lands down by the pot hole. It looks at the pot hole, then looks at me, then back to the pot hole again. I can tell it's confused, but I really don't feel like explaining my actions to a bird. So I start to walk again. The crow takes the hint and leads the way once more.  This time, however, it does not want to give me the chance to stop and look at anything. It flaps its wings as fast as it can possibly go. The crow is now just a black dot in the sky. I throw down my umbrella and try desperately to chase after it. I'm stomping through all the puddles and I'm soaking wet, but I don't care. I must not let this dot out of my sight. I must find out where it is going.  Eventually, the dot stops moving and appears to be hovering over some location off in the distance. I slow down to catch my breath. Feeling almost certain that the black dot won't move from location, I go at a more leisurely jog. It stays at that central point the whole time. After a few winding roads, and a couple of hills, I have caught up to the crow.  It floats high above a dilapidated shack. The crow swoops down in front of me and squaks at me to open the door. The door is only attached to the shack by a single hinge. It creeks and nearly falls off the hinge as I open it. "Took ya long enough."  I look to the center of the room. It's pumpkin head. Pumpkin head is an old friend of mine. We go way back.  I should be very clear here. He looks nothing like a pumpkin. He is a suburban biker. Jeans, white T - shirt with the cigarettes in one sleeve, and a du-rag. I don't think his name is a reference to a literary or cinematic characters by the same. I think he thought it sounded cool. " You were waiting for me?" I ask. " "Yeah." Pumpkin Head walks over to the corner and picks up a shovel that was resting against the wall. "What's this for?" Pumpkin Head points to an X by my feet. " X marks the spot." "What's buried?" "Treasure for you." I stare at Pumpkin Head blankly. "Don't worry, it's a good treasure. You'll like it." He reassures me. I shake my head and start to dig. Being one of my oldest and closest friends, he could very well be playing a trick on me. With my luck I'll dig up dog shit. Or what looks like some sort of red cloth. I pull the cloth out of  the dirt, unfold it and hold it up. It's a red hood and cape. "Pumpkin Head, did you murder Little Red Ridding Hood?" "Don't you remember it." "No." "It's you." "What, I'm not a hero." "Fuck off, I never said you were." "I really don't remember this." Pumpkin Head puts out his cigarette on his black work boots. "Put it on." He demands.  I throw off my hoodie and put on the red hood and cape. The cape is a lot longer than I expected. It goes down to my legs and is taterd, but I like it like that. The hood casts a dark shadow over my face. No one can see in, but I can see out. Clear as day. "Now do you remember?" He asks. "No, but I like it." He laughs to himself.  "Don't worry, you will." Pumpkin Head opens the door to the shack. He walks back to his bike, hops on and revs the engin. "You comin' with?" "No, I think I have something to do." " I knew you'd say that." Pumpkin Head snaps his fingers. The crow flys in, lands on the handle bars. "Don't worry, I'll come back when you need me." With that he takes off into the distance.Leaving me alone in the crumbled up shack. But I don't mind.