Polution – Path Without End

Dorothy was bored. Dorothy was lonely. Dorothy was restless. Dorothy was gaining weight. Dorothy was Jerry’s wife.

Jerry was gone to work as usual, and both children were at school. She flicked off the flat screen after watching the latest episode of finding homes for lottery winners. She would have a fine home like that someday, but what to do today?

Rising from her sofa and opening a closet door, she looked at herself in the full length mirror. “Hhmmm, I don’t like what I see, Dorothy,” she scolded herself.

She considered turning on some music, but had done that all week. Looking outside it was a cold nasty day. She didn’t enjoy reading, had tried that, too, but it just wasn’t her thing.

Once again Dorothy was drawn to her bulletin board where she had stuck an add torn out of the paper. Her local L.A. Fitness was running a special if you joined this month. The special included a personal trainer for the first six weeks. Time was running out. She looked around at the quiet house. It felt dark like a cave. It was a cave she spent too much time in alone. She needed to get out, make some adult friends, live a little. It was time. She would do it, and no better time than right now.

Grabbing her keys, purse, and jacket, Dorothy headed for the door. No looking back. This was her answer. She needed this. The fitness center was only a fifteen minute drive away. She was there in no time; and signed up even quicker after one of the trainers showed her around.

She couldn’t help noticing how fit the trainer was. His name was, Kevin. Mmmm, Kevin,” she thought. He was hot. So were a few of the guys working out, she noticed. Jerry use to be that way. But those kind of thoughts were for days gone by. Weren’t they? Of course they were! “Get your head on straight, Dorothy. That’s not why you’re here.”

Many many miles south, Lu-Lu had just finished describing to Yinney what she called Predator Cities, and the danger they posed. “They are so hungry!” she added. “They are always on the hunt. They never seem to be full or satisfied.”

Sloths are prone to lots of meditation. They spend a lot of time “not moving”, but a lot is moving on in the inside, in the soul. Yinney knew he only had four days left to find his 7th Day Tree, but now he wanted to ponder this new knowledge Lu-Lu had revealed to him. “Thank you, Lu-Lu, for a great revelation I did not know. I will meditate on your words. Will I see you again?”

“You most likely will,” she affirmed. “I like this neighborhood. I still travel around from time to time, but I live a more settled life now. I’ll be seeing you, Yinney. Good luck finding your tree,” and away she flew.

Yinney did not move. He was on his way deep within, deep in thought, as he pictured these ugly, dirty, noisy, hungry cites Lu-Lu had so vividly described.

Jerry, on the other hand, was not bored at all, and never one to meditate, he was in his element at the mill. He had been on the phone making calls, selling lumber, wheeling and dealing, and laughing all the way to the bank. Now he was very much enjoying himself as he read some very interesting statistics on the Internet.

“I am definitely in the right place at the right time!” he shouted while quickly jotting down some numbers on scratch paper. “According to this,” he continued out loud, “the average square footage of U.S. homes have nearly tripled since 1950! The average in 1950 was 1000 sq. ft.. By 1970 it had risen to 1500 sq. ft.. 1990 it grew to 2,000! And present day is almost 3,000! And all this in a time when the size of the average family has dropped tremendously! How in the world do you account for that? That doesn’t even make sense! Most families do not exceed two children, and yet? Hhmmm. Ha! Whatever the reason, it’s all good for me!” Rejoicing in his good fortune he hit the computer button and decided to check on his workers. They had a big order that needed to be completed soon, and he was hoping not to pay overtime.

The clock was ticking for one and all, as time always does. Time is a river always flowing forward. Dorothy saw her life flowing by in the mirror, asking if her best days were gone? Yinney knew he only had four days left to find his sacred tree, but went into meditation anyway, for what good is a sacred tree if one does not live in a sacred way? Jerry was worried about his bottom line. He saw time as money! Time that would cost him “time and a half” if his guys didn’t get a move on! And so it was on planet earth as a simple sloth named Yinney needed to find his tree to poo.

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