Strip Mall Satori

The first step to enlightenment is getting past the smell. We had formed a cloud of two behind some brambly bushes off of a dinky hiking trail to a city park. Time to seek visions. The recipe is simple chemistry. Water, starting fluid, bottle, shake and drain. I dowsed my rag and began a deep rhythmic breathing. Pictures of Buddhist watercolor flickered behind my eyelids. My head was shaved. Dangling so gently above my smooth head a needle dispensed the finest lavender chalk to track my meditations. Flash to a moment of my master showing me the chalk. It was so soft, scented like spring, delicate and precious. i held the chalk in my hand and clumsily i spilled the chalk on myself. I looked at my hand with the rag in it, repeating softly, "i'm sorry". What are you sorry about? i was back in the bushes with my cloud mate, tears in my eyes. I glanced behind in time to catch the corner of a bright orange Buddhist monk's robe flutter away into the brush.