Pai had been hypnotizing me for quite a few years now. I am sure we had more experiences than I remember, but I have documented all that I do. This experience was to be our last.
Our rock n roll band, Ye Old Forest, was actually quite large. Jim, Max and Paul on guitar, Bud on bass, Mikey on drums and Ricky could play anything he touched from flutes to finger pianos. Pai and I sang. All week we would practise then play, pancakes at Sambos and swings at Bollinger Park till midnight. Many a pet rat was raised under my collar and hair, even when we played somewhere. A few dollars worth of gas got us around town, including a snack at Jack in the Crack.
One night, on a swing at Bollinger Park, Pai put me under. I don't even know why. Then, I went away. Far, far away. Pai could not get me back, regardless of what she did. Eventually, I came back, and she was scared. I was scared. She vowed then and there, this was the end of it. We did not want a repeat performance of that, ever. I felt a pang of regret, but I knew she was right.
What do I remember? Like most of my experiences, after enough time has passed and you are submersed in real or normal life, you often wonder just how accurate your memories are. But if you think back, really think, you know it really did happen, a bad B rated horror flick. Time didn't change the event, you just tend to not want to believe things like that really could have happened as you change a diaper, wipe up spilled milk, wash clothes and pay the bills. Literally fourty years later, I finally tell the tale, with a gulp even now, knowing how rediculous the story sounds, yet able to remember the details of the night with vivid fear. Still.
I went to a very dark universe. There was no ground, just dark space all around me. I was distinctly lost. There were what might have been called stars, lighter objects way out in the distance, discernable objects. Pai's voice was one of them. I could hear her, sort of, but could not turn towards her voice or connect to it. It was if translucent blinds were put up around the sound, enough to know it was there, not enough to make real contact. I had to ignore her, I was made to ignore her. I was elsewhere. The six guys, the park, even the swing set framework was not there, yet the swing I sat on was very present. I remember starting to swing, hard, viciously. Non stop. Higher and higher, harder and harder. Pai had no choice but to get out of the way and watch. A normal night would include the challenge to swing 'above the bar' which we did easily and repeatedly. I was going above that, one way or the other. I chanted something, over and over. Fiercely. I have no idea what. I have never asked.
Out of the blue, I was let go. Whatever, whom ever held me, and I do mean 'held me,' let go. I heard, felt, knew the thought, "Ok, go now." I can go back home!!! I stopped the swing, slowly, finding my bearings again. The normal valley night sky and our vivd pre-population stars, familiar grass, same old park, good old swings, and frantic faces. I told Pai, "I got lost." and broke into tears.
I still have absolutely no idea what happened. I know I never want to go there again, where ever it was or is. It was a real, demented, dark, incarcerating, unearthly space.