EvoCine

(28 May 2007)

One: Dragon-time

In the cool salt air mixed with the scent of orange blossoms, of sorts, the sense of smell gave way to visual overload of gigantic bat wings flapping a leather flop. …But bat wings attached to a large alligator of unusual proportions.

Or, should the average motorist say, an elephant-sized alligator with bat-like wings—even to the presence of claws on the leading edge and towards the end of each wing.

Mayoral responsibility, being what it is—even in liberal areas like San Francisco—quickly gained the focus of many citizens intent on keeping their air unspoiled by visual effluvia  like bat-winged, elephant-sized alligators.

However, the limits of governance, even self-governance, soon became clear when the mayor herself announced over radio and television that the threat of this being—some called it a dragon with others not being so sure—had not been established clearly.

Two: Georgette’s Calling

The mayor suggested in strong terms that any threat would be handled quickly. But meanwhile, the mayor’s legal advisors were charged with locating precedence that established the grounds for invoking the California National Guard, as well as any SWAT teams available—to “save the city.”

The “dragon” as our alligator cum bat soon was dubbed by press and citizens alike, had a peculiar habit of flying around the tallest point on the San Francisco coast line, namely, Coit Tower, located on Telegraph Hill and built in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify San Francisco with it’s two hundred and ten feet of reinforced concrete that looked like a fire hose nozzle.

One citizen in particular took notice of the pattern of flight. She had a background of dragons from her study of Nazca lines found at the high altitudes of the Peruvian plateaus. Nazca pottery showed images likened to what she viewed in the sky ofSan Francisco.

This more-or-less academic researcher had even published her observations on a set of Nazca “lines” which were in reality stones and pressed earth that outlined paths tracing animal images of several hundred feet in length—upwards of a length equivalent to a huffing runner carrying a leather ball the entire length of a football field (American football, that is.)

Our researcher, who we will call Georgette, though not French, sought confirmation in the sight before her, that indeed a beast of untoward proportion and weight could indeed propel itself aloft by mere wings—wings that did more than flop with a leathery flapping noise.

Three: The Slaying

But like a leather bullwhip, which the expert stage artist can use to snap a cigarette from the red and bilious lips of his beautiful assistant—and simultaneously startle his mesmerized audience into movement by the loud crack, or “snap” of the end of the bullwhip, —likewise our very own dragon-of-Coit Tower also resounded forth with cracks and snaps at the tips of his bat-like, leathery appendages exceeding the speed of auditory comprehension (we call this “sound” in other contexts).

Lest we digress, our Mayor, her honor (and loveliness and courtesy, as well) at last heard the pronouncement of the city attorney, bless his soul.

Forthwith, and in glory of our civil law, the Agency of Government has been found to be without jurisdiction over the flight of our alligator-cum-bat-of-the-size-of-elephants.

Our citizens, upon hearing the legal conclusion over the television, radio, and even word-of-mouth, stood still. The thought of sovereignty of this beast held their minds (collective and individual) in a still, unformed cloud.

The cloud attached one citizen to the other in a manner not previously seen—or heard—or for that manner felt.

A union of transfixation, we could say, enveloped these kind citizens, who upon gazing at events in the air around that landmark—the Coit Tower—found that their vision of transfixation joined their minds so that no one person acted on his own or her own.

For that moment, the dragon had indeed captured the city and for all intents, its citizens lay slain of their miscellaneous thoughts.

Four: Her Remonstration

But recall our researcher—the one named Georgette—who by chance had wondered if such a beast had ever, if ever, really traversed the sky over any continent.

To end our short observation of the event, let us just record that our dear Georgette herself did not join the citizens in their status of mindful union or transfixation, as we mentioned.

Our dear Georgette herself lifted up, softly, so softly, yet visibly, in her own empathic union with this dragon-like creature flapping his (or her) great bat wings.

Five: Nazca Redeux

So, may we leave our reader with this finding that Georgette went on in her life, knowing her feet had indeed left the earth in wonderment because she had indissolubly linked the truth of the past—her lines of Nazca—with the truth of her present vision at the Tower of Coit.