Like Rain on the Mountains

June 20

Rain drops fall down, giving the leaves little earings then colliding in the streets to search for a drain. If one exit is full the rain drops four down to the next and the next until they reach a river or the sea. In a puddle the raindrops blow bubbles as if causing a chemical reaction that will purify the air and disolve the plastic bags and candy wrappers in the streets and wash the graffiti from the shop corners. The view out my window presents a concrete wall and a tangle of trees. It looks like a rain forest--wishfull thinking.

Earlier today, I needed to move--to get away. Often, I look up where the speckled houses creep up the side of the mountain like raindrops that have reached the sea and found it full. (Sorry, the ocean can´t take any more water today.) And I am tempted to walk to those people, see who they are, and keep walking. I don´t want to stop until I reach the place where there aren´t anymore houses to block my view or even trees to get in the way. Only the sky surrounds me. But first I have to walk. So what if it´s private property? Who´s going to stop me? The people on the hill? I think they would understand. They look up there every day where the earth stops and even the clouds take the time to brush by.

What is a passport good for except to prove that a person is free? And yet, the freedom costs. the little blue book of American pride requires stamps that merely give permission to the bearer to perpetuate the belief in freedom. Even then, the document belongs to the federal government and ¨must be surrendered upon demand made by an authorized representative of the United States Government.¨ I wonder who that person is.

Today I walked to the store even though it was a couple kilometers away. I didn´t need anyone to drive me. I had a passport. Visiting a Home Depot, I took great pleasure in feeling the spirit of my countrymen who want to fix things themselves. Moreover, Coldplay streamed over the PA system like whistling rockets during the 4th of July. I don´t know why I like it. I just do. Then I went to Super Wal-mart and lusted after all the American irony made right here in Mexico. Everyone spoke Spanish but I knew this was truer American soil than the embassy. Eventually, time pushed me toward the door where water bounced off the pavement and filled the streets. All the shoppers with there grocery bags of plastic happiness huddled under the awning just outside the store. I joined them while we all considered the climate controled comfort of the dry building and the proposition of challenging the force that had put Noah in the ark. Then an hombre stepped boldly forward as if the sky were clear. He opened his arms and mocked the sky, getting soaked in seconds. Suddenly, I could see what he knew all along. Behind lay perfectly plotted aisles: sparkling clean and spacious. Outside, drenched and dangerous, loomed the entire world. A moment later my clothes hung heavy from my body as the liquid filled my soul. The future lay obscured by dark water but I laughed as I ran because I knew that no one could stop me.