gnat was his nom du guerre although that was only in the noosphere. the noosphere, a magical land divided in three . Two sides of the noosphere started out identically. same trees same lakes same small tribe of humans. they were allowed to evolve independantly... one half of the noosphere was distopia , , Babel Land where the laws of man apply and the other was called nootopia and where the laws of nature are followed. The city in And the gem of nootopia was a town called Greem...
here in ordinary reality his name was Bob....
some time ago bob had had the distinct pleasure of exploring the noosphere and met many wonderful people. But they had receded in his memory like a dream....it felt like a dream a very nice dream.
he thought of the people he'd met there :
a girl named Butterfly in the redwood tree called Luna,
sweet Lonnie at the store and his escape from the robot enforcers
Charlie at the music gazebo and later in the green submarine
the fabulous Bubbles and the many songs they played together
the indians with their tipis, strange language, and fabulous food
the laughing surfer dudes
and the all the wonderful folks in greem
but it wasn't a dream, it was real and everyday he wrote poems and lyrics about his experiences there. if the lyrics were strong enough he would set them to music by playing his guitar into a DAW (digital audio workstation) and a song was born. soon he had so many songs he wanted to share them,so he started building a web site which grew into "getbacktogreem.com" which maybe you've read and this is a sequel.....he wanted to have a voice...a voice for nature and a voice against the attack on the earth and all its creatures including trump himself. And a voice against him and all his minions,,,,Alot of his songs were protest songs....he wanted to sing in public.
every morning he'd write and later in the afternoons he'd go to the vienna coffee house for an hour and then the library for an hour......at the coffeehouse it was nice. He'd get a cup of decaf and a scone...the tables were comfortable and the people there were very nice..it was nice to be in public where anything could happen...the coffee house had a small stage with an upright piano. Jim noticed a sign that said there was open mic every thursday from 7 til 8:30 pm. Well, when the very next thursday arrived, he told himself he might go and so that morning he loaded his guitar into his SUV. he was very nervous all day, waiting and waiting anticipating.. . . ...finally 7:00pm rollied around and he brought his heavy guitar case to the show. he signed up. he was the second one on the sheet, so he placed the guitar case on an out of the way empty table and waited. He had memorized 20 songs, so when he was invited onstage he sat down.. they plugged him in and they adjusted the mic....and he belted out three songs ,one of his own called "bucket of rust", with no problem. The applause was good . He loaded up the guitar and .then he left.
he played many times,, until sadly enough he got on stage with a new song and using a music stand to hold the lyrics, he belted out the song... it was sad and very political. It was about he who shant be named and Jim's sadness at the thought of him running the country into the ground....written that day....fresh off the press......At the end of the song there was silence....no one clapped..
Jim:: "Thanks alot" he said sarcastically...and then they applauded enthusiastically.....
he got ready to play the next song...when the MC asked him to step down .. which he did...he went backto the table...and decided to leave.....and he didnt go back to open mic.....
the events of 2016 were awful...... trump was elected president. If nothing else it was bad for the planet...the health of planet was the most crucial topic on the agenda although few in government or in politics ever even mentioned it. Except to say global warming doesn't exist. a lie repeated so many times that many people were coming to believe it. against all the evidence..
So he wanted to write protest songs about and against trump the demagogue. But it reminded him of some information he'd picked up from god knows where...that the Beach Boys were worried about their songs being all about surfing.....so as additional subject matter they included cars... He wasn't sure he would have the same problem...and even if he did, he was writing protest songs, not songs about surfing and girls and powerful cars ...he wasn't there pimarily to entertain or to make money...at least not yet...
that night, just as he was going to bed, there was a knock at the door...he put on his robe and slippers..when he answered the door he found a box on the porch......thats all ... He brought it inside and opened it . there in an envelope was a single magical Grin seed....and a card which read "take this if you dare." Well he dared....He went back to bed and popped it in his mouth and chewed it and swallowed it....then he fell into a restful sleep......next thing he knew.....................