“All people, women and men, black and white, were needed to make this country what it should be. All should have a vote, because each soul is unique and important and self contained. You cannot judge a soul and its progress. You must allow it singularity.”
“Wise words, Booger,” said Hucka D. The Bee. “Red and blue — the 2 party system, can only work when each person regardless of race or sex, has that singularity, that vote. Amen.”
“I was told the pineapple could set people free, unchain them. All would be seen as equal after that. So I said: Yes, I’ll help. I’ll become the first president of the United States who is not the president of the United States. Sure — if it will help save the nation in the long run. The Civil War had deeply damaged the nation. I took it into a probable reality — that the word? Variant.”
“Don’t worry Booger,” said Hucka D. “Baker and I have problems with that terminology as well. Here, do you want another corndog? Would… do you need some extra mustard?”
“What of Ruustre?” I asked.
Hucka D. hastened an excuse for my actions. “He’s always thinking of the Ozmo characters, Booger. You’ll have to forgive him. Soon he’ll ask about Skillet, then Eye, then Square. It will go on.”
Booger wipes mustard from the tip of his mustache with a conveniently placed handkerchief as he continues to gnaw on a corndog. “Well it’s understandable. The maps and all.”
“I mean, you’re eating a corndog after all, Mr. President,” I tried to continue. “Sorry… Booger.”
“Yes, call me Booger for certain. Or Hayes even. Just Hayes. Or just Booger.”
“Will you, for example, be presiding over my Table now?”
Booger smacks his lips. I didn’t like it but I of course didn’t say anything. Table manners are subjective.
“Who do you have there already?” he queried.
“Well, let’s see. The Kniks, which are only 1 Knik really. Marty of The Beetles and also Lemon, I suppose. Then Peter Gabriel.”
“He’s the one that’s not a variant, Mr. Pres… er, Booger,” explained Hucka D. for me.
“I’ve heard of those,” came the reply. “Listen, how much ready cash does this… group… have on hand?”
“Not much,” I answered. “Maybe 50 bucks a month. That would be about 5 dollars to you.”
“No, I understand the conversion,” he answered confidently. He peered up into the corner of the Big Chimney cabin in thought. “What’s your ultimate plan?”
“I thought I would view the carrcasses as time capsules of sorts. I would create them in the here and now, to be opened or re-created, as I put it, in the future. 2052 is a loose date for the opening, Booger.”
“How many of these… carrcasses do you have?” I then realized he looked a bit like bad guy Dr. Worley from SID’s 1st Oz.
“Oh close to 40 now, Booger. Enough to begin tracing a musical history of at least rock and roll.”
He continued to munch as he polished off the current corndog. Hucka D. came back from the small kitchen in the rear with another. Booger thanked him, grasped the new dog in his left hand, and handed Hucka the bare stick of the former with his right. He then bit off the top of the new one.
“How does Winesap play a role in this?” He paused, smacked his lips again. “Is Winesap also a carrcass?” He looked straight at me.
“I don’t know, Mr… Booger.”
“Because,” he continued, “you’ve got to get to Winesap, the crux of the biscuit.”
“Oh, and Zapple is at The Table as well, Booger,” I reinforced.
“Good, good. I know Zapple, or have run into him a couple of times. Good man. Negative but good. Will turn it around over time, I’m told. So this is his penance, these… carrcasses.”
“Maybe… dunno” I answered. I looked over at Hucka D. but he was busy making tea in a corner of the room.
“Tell you what young man,” he then said to me. “I’ll send this Zapple around to you and get the gist of this biscuit.” He rose and simultaneously winked at me. Was this it?
This was it. Hucka D. returned with tea for us, but it was just a white background now. No Booger, no island retreat with its Big Chimney, no Ohio evening chill.
“What was that Hucka D.?” I asked while sipping his overhot tea very gingerly.
“He wants to know how to penetrate Arkansas,” came the answer.
Sunklands 