Canyon Lake Monologue In Full
Canyon Lake Monologue C. Michael Tinkler Ace of Spades Comics March 31, 2003 9 pages "Ok, check this shit out." "I was listening to this late-night talk radio show… that supernatural one, ya know?" "It was the female host, so it must’ve been on the weekend." "They were talkin’ about these things called ‘Spiritual Animals’." "Well, me… being a curious guy, and a writer at that thought this might be a solid premise for a story." "They said you could meet your spirit animals on the astral plane." "This is when my eyes glazed over." "The astral plane has always seemed to me to be the deus ex machina for explaining the unknown." "I decided to ask a woman I worked with about this." "This is back when I worked for the other place, ya know?" "Now, this woman…" "Nice lady and all." "She claimed to be a witch." "Not one’a them hippie wiccan chicks." "She was like a black-arts occult type." "During a less busy evening at work, I decided to ask her if she knew anything about the Spirit Animals." "Her eyes widened, and she smiled broadly." "She was surprised by my interest." "She was quite familiar with the subject and was very happy to fill me in on what she knew." "She said, just like the radio show… you meet your animal on the astral plane." "I audibly groaned." "She laughed and said she knew I wasn’t seriously interested." "I insisted I was, but explained my problems with the so-called ‘astral plane’." "She again laughed, and thanked me for presenting her with a challenge." "She was going to make a believer out of me." "Now, I’m not familiar with ‘supernatural etiquette’, if there even is such a thing." "So, I came right out and asked what her spirit animal was." "She was more than happy to tell me." "Her animal was…" "Get ready for this…" "A Dragon!" "Okay, okay… Dragon’s aren’t real!" "At least that’s what I exclaimed at the moment." "She put her hand on my shoulder and said, very matter of fact…"
"Dragons are real, darling." "Needless to say, I was more than a little bit skeptical." "The next day at work, a new hire approached me." "I hear you’re looking for your spirit creature." He inquired. "I decided to play dumb." "Barbara told me you’re interested in the Astral Plane and Spirit Creatures." "Okay… let’s see if I can gather any information from David, the new hire." "Again, I’m totally in the dark when it comes to whether or not there’s an etiquette when it comes to this stuff… so I asked if he’s found his creature, and what it was." "He claimed his animal was a white wolf." "Okay, so far I’ve met a White Wolf and a Dragon." "Hope all the cool animals aren’t taken by the time I get around to finding mine." "After work that morning…" "Yeah, this is back when I worked nights." "After work that morning, Barbara and David were waiting for me." "They tell me about a nearby place on the outskirts of town called Canyon Lake." "They say it’s haunted, or somehow holy, for those who follow the occult." "Sounded like a good place to start my search." "Don’t get me wrong, I was brought up catholic." "Went to church every Sunday for the first 16 years of my life." "I was by no means thinking of this as a holy pilgrimage." "Just a way to satisfy my curiosity, and maybe figure out how to have an outta body experience." "Outta body experience…" "Man, if I could somehow be subconsciously awake even when my body’s asleep… maybe I can actually meet deadlines." "Nah." "My subconscious is prob’ly just as lazy as I am when I’m awake." "Anyhoo." "The three of us shared a night off during the week, so we decided to meet up." "We all met at Barbara’s pad." "When I walked into her apartment, I was greeted by a room full of Dragon paraphernalia." "It was, quite honestly… pretty damn cool." "Here was a middle-aged woman, with a house full’a Dragons." "Makes my Green Lantern and Captain America stuff seem less childish." "I was introduced to her daughter, who would be accompanying us on our trip." "She had a Spirit Animal too." "I asked her what her animal was…" "She told me it was none of my fucking business." "Maybe there is an etiquette to this…" "Barbara took me over to this occult shrine." "There were candles, crystals and statues." "She opened a drawer and took out a white candle with a white dragon on it." "The dragon was a mixture of a medieval dragon and a Chinese dragon." "She told me that that’s how her Dragon looked to her, when she astral planed." "She also told me that she shouldn’t be showing the candle to me, as it was something special between her and her dragon." "I shrugged, obviously missing the importance of what she was showing me." "While we waited for David to arrive, Barbara loaded a box of candles and crystals into her van." "David showed up an hour later, and we were finally on the road." "It was about an hour’s drive outta town." "David regaled with about a thousand adventures he and his white wolf went on together on the Astral Plane." "His stories were so similar, it felt as though he was just repeating himself." "Barbara grew increasingly impatient with him." "I just stared out the window, wondering if I was wasting my time." "Upon arrival, Barbara warned us to keep a look out for snakes and scorpions, as we were likely to come across them." "Great, as if I wasn’t uncomfortable enough." "We found a little patch of concrete overlooking the canyon and set the candles up." "Man, I was thinking… this is so not my thing." "We sat in a circle." "My back was to the canyon." "David was to my right, Barbara was facing me and her daughter was to my left." "We sat around the little pitiable shrine." "Three white candles and a few red ‘witches crystals’." "We all joined hands and Barbara started chanting." "A few weeks after our trip, I told Barbara I couldn’t remember what she chanted." "She smiled and told me I wasn’t supposed to, it was, as she put it… burnt from our memories as soon as the séance ended." "Anyhoo…" "She chanted…" "and chanted…" "and chanted…" "About a half hour later, she opened her eyes." "She looked down at the burning candles…" "She stared intently at the candles." "I was starting to get freaked out… I wanted to give up the quest and go home." "She was holding David’s and her daughter’s hands in our little circle." "As she stared at the candles, she clenched David and her daughter’s hands so tightly, popping could be heard."
"I looked at David, and saw a tear rolling down his cheek… same with Barbara’s daughter." "They were, however, so entranced that they didn’t even wince with pain." "What I failed to immediately notice was the shape of the candle flame." "The middle candle’s flame was split into three peaks, like this." (\|/) "The candles on the side’s flames peaked sideways instead of vertically, like this." (<-|->) "Suddenly, the trance seemed to either break or get stronger, I couldn’t tell." "They all looked at me, and, as they put it… fed my aura." "After a few uncomfortable moments of this, Barbara’s eyes widened… and she started to panic." "She yelled ‘CLOSE GATE!’ several times." "CLOSE GATE!" "CLOSE GATE!"
"CLOSE GATE!" "I totally freaked out and turned around to see what had startled her." "There was this thick-thick fog over the canyon that wasn’t there when we’d sat down."
"After she finished yelling for the ‘gates’ to ‘close’, the fog enveloped itself and disappeared." "Poof." "Gone." "She told me to look into the ‘witches crystal’." "Inside the crystal…" "Was the fog..." "The fog that had covered the canyon seconds earlier." "I looked at Barbara’s face, not believing what I’d seen." "She was bleeding from her eyes." "Like… crying, only with blood instead of tears." "Okay… Check Please!" "Let’s go home!" "I was done for the night… this was way too far out for me." "We pack up, and head back to town." "Nothing of note happens on the drive, besides David’s belaboring over his White Wolf." "We get back to town an hour or so later." "David went home." "Barbara’s daughter fell asleep." "Barbara asked me if I’d learned anything." "I told her I wasn’t sure." "She told me I needed to change my life." "Be less cynical." "Not take on as much responsibility." "Immediately, I went on the defensive." "She laughed, as she knows my demeanor, and how I react to criticism." "She assured me she meant well." "She was only telling me these things because she found my animal." "But, she had to dig through dozens of layers of crap in my psyche to get to him." "She explained a very basic floor-plan of the astral plane." "Being a guy who is more comfortable with tangible things, I was disappointed to hear that nothing on the plane was, or ever could be." "She asked me where my comfort zone was." "I played dumb…" "Well, I wasn’t really ‘playing’ dumb… I honestly wasn’t sure what she meant by her question." "She described her comfort zone as a big tree that provided shade for her and her dragon. Her big tree overlooked a slow moving river, and sat in lush green grass." "I could only equate my comfort zone as the Bat Cave." "Somewhere behind several locked doors." "Not likely to be intruded upon." "As safe and secure as you could get." "She smiled." "She said she knew I’d say that." "She told me that was my problem." "I needed to peel away the layers in my life." "I need to become more free." "I guess I’d always known I’d been closed in." "Not comfortable sharing my emotions." "Maybe not even comfortable dealing with them myself." "I asked her what my animal was." "She laughed, and told me it was none of my fucking business." "I laughed." "I realized I had to find it myself." "Before I left, Barbara told me we’d never see David again." "I was surprised, as I’d thought we’d all grown pretty close in our adventure." "I asked what she meant." "She informed me that he wasn’t well… and she found a few things about him during the séance that he didn’t want anyone to know." "Sure enough, that was the last time we saw him."
"He apparently grew quite ill over the next few weeks." "We’d didn’t have much contact with him, save a few phone calls." "Within a month, the calls stopped and he disappeared." "No one could find him." "All the while, I was still looking for my animal." "I was convinced I’d never find it." "Until the night…" "That I did." "This was a good three years ago, however, I remember it more vividly than I do yesterday." "I remember getting up outta bed." "No, I didn’t look down at my body."
"Even my subconscious hates clichés, it seems." "I left the house and headed towards my brother’s school." "Ya know, the one around the corner from the house?" "I don’t know why I was walking in that direction, but I was." "Suddenly, I saw it." "My animal." "It swept down next to me, as if to say…" "Hey, howsitgoin?" "My spirit animal was a brown owl." "I remember laughing." "I remember feeling whole." "I remember feeling relieved." "And, somehow… for, like, a split-second…" "Everything made sense."
"Everything." "Not just this spiritual stuff… I mean everything." "Life." "Love." "Me." "My past, present and future." "I know how this must sound." "But, I assure you…" "I’m prob’ly the most skeptical and cynical guy you’ll ever meet." "But, somehow… I was able to walk the all too cliché ‘Astral Plane’." "And meet my ‘Spirit Animal’." "The next time I saw Barbara, I excitedly began telling her my findings and experience." "She stopped me before I could even start, and scribbled something down on a piece of paper." "She folded the paper and slid it over the table to me." "I unfolded the paper." "Scrawled across the scrap-paper, were three letters." "O-W-L" "I laughed hysterically." "I was completely beside myself." "Every second I spent living through this quest, I was trying to figure out how I could get it down on paper, and eventually into print."
"I was hoping to integrate it into my comic book series."
"However, I’m not sure how." "It seemed more appropriate to do it as a monologue." "Maybe one day I’ll fit it into my comic book." "Then again…" "Maybe one day I’ll actually sit down and start that damn thing." "I really wanted to end this thing on a profound note." "Doesn’t look very likely though." "Oh, I know." "I can tell you what ‘became’ of David." "I was finally able to coerce Barbara into telling me what she’d found out about him." "She told me she’d found his animal." "’The wolf?’ I’d asked." "No, not a wolf." "He was never a wolf."
"Well what was he?"
"As it turns out. David was ashamed of his animal." "Ya see…" "David." "Was… a frog." "Barbara visits the plane regularly. She said she’s seen him there." "Curled up in the fetal position, crying." "He can’t find his way back." "He may not even want to come back." "I’ve only visited the plane that one time a couple years back." "So, I’m by no means an expert." "Sometimes I think I’d like to find him." "Maybe help him back." "Then again…" "Maybe one day I’ll actually get this comic book finished."
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