Chapter 25: Friday Evening at the Movies

The Cheese announces...

"Cough, hack, hack ggggggrrrrrrgggghhhh, cough, hack," spit..."eww!!"

"Eww!! Cheese!?!?!" Jo remonstrates...

"What? what? Huh?" Cheese questions...

"Disgusting!!" jo expostulates...

"What? ... oh ... ooops." Cheese realizes...

"Oooops my ass! Scrape that up!" Jo demands...

"Eww!! Scrape it up? Eww!" Cheese rebels...

"No!! Don't cover it up!! Scrape it up." Jo commands...

"Errrrrrrrrrrrgggghhh ... hack ... haccccckkkkk..." Cheese continues...

"OUTSIDE WITH IT! Take this other one with you!! Cheese?!? How could you?!?!" Jo has her turn to question...

"OKOKOK ... gimme somethin to spit this in. Gawd, I'm gonna be sick!" Cheese gags...

"NOT IN HERE!!! OUT! OUT! OUT! GET OUT!" Jo explodes...

Spit..."eww! it's got eyes!" Cheese expectorates...

"Hahahahhhaaaa, Cheese, you're so damn funny ... Disgusting! But funny!" Jo laughs...

"No! Jo, look ... see ... eyes!" Cheese points...

"Oh my goddess! it Does have eyes! You have been smoking too much pot." Jo continues...

"No, I swear. It's the fires"

"Fires?"

"Yes, fires, forest fires, west of here. Huge fires. Lemme grab a couple of chairs."

"Chairs?"

The Cheese snatches a couple of willow backrests and tripods.

"Yup. Ok. Come on."

"Lemme get the kid."

"Yup ... load up. Come on, before it's too dark, Vick, wanna come?"

"Where you going Cheese?"

"Up on the prairie, come on if you're coming."

"Hey!!" The Cheese shouts to the camp, "anyone want to go to the movies?"

The entire camp wants to go. Everyone wants to see the Cheese present his latest weirdness.

"Everyone grab a seat and lets go! I'll come back for the rest."

Kurt grabs the big carpet, "if everyone sits on the edge I can take 15. Get seats and follow the Cheese!"

"You all. Get situated," shouted the Cheese." ... look west ... setting sun."

Up on the prairie, everyone got seated, Moms feeding babies, men wrestling while laughing and shouting back and forth, giggling and tickling, roughousing around. The Cheese is watching the sun near the horizon. "OK, LOOK WEST EVERYONE!"

"Oh my goddess!" "WoW!" "Trippy" "Amazing" "Marvelous!!" "Only you, Cheese, only you."

The brilliant sun sank slowly to the horizon. Yellow from north to south, tinged the ash laden clouds. The fires to the west had loaded the sky with particulate. The yellow deepened slowly to brilliant orange and the sun settled below the straight edge of the world. There was a deep green flash and suddenly the orange settled into magenta, to red, to light purple, to deep blue, to deep purple to black and it was gone. This was happening in different parts of the sky, at different times and at the same time, with shading from intense to translucent. The stars peeped and the people still sat, mesmerized, silent, marveling at the movie the Cheese was presenting for their enjoyment. The stars spun their age old web of fascination.

"Everyone turn around," hollered the Cheese!

A muted pure light shown over the tops of the eastern mountains. A yellowed silver sliver slid slowly up, up, up and expanding revealed the faces of the moon. It seemed as though the orb stuck, just for a moment, on the mountains. It was yellow. a seeming shudder as it broke free from the impaling spike. The family sighed and shivered, totally impressed.

"Who wants to see the Saturday morning early show?" shouted the Cheese!

Jo announced, "full moon tomorrow night. Party time!! Movie first then hot tubbing, drumming and dancing!"

"Fucking and sucking til morning!" shouted Chione.

"YEA!!"

Very late the next night, the advanced scouts of the invading Asians peeped over the edge of the bluff, "Now, THAT'S what I call a party!! Who is going back to warn the tribe?"

"Not me!"

"Me neither!"

"Don't even think it!"

"Skunk smells his stink first!"

"Gawd, Lookit the tits on the white skinned babe!"

"Hah! I want some of that!"

The Two Voices spoke, "if you're friendly, I can get you a ride ... If you're not, I can push you off this cliff."

"Friendly! We're friendly!"

"HEY!! Cheese, Bill, Kurt, grab a carpet, they're here! Lori!! Get some rocks. Fly cover!"