... I walk towards the painting and step into it ... (to be continued) ....
There was a feeling of a slight, soft but yielding resistance ... like trying to squeeze through tightly packed fur coats or velvet fabric ... and then ... POP! ... just like ears clearing on an aircraft ... there I was ... not at the top of a stairwell ... as I thought I might be given the painting ... but standing at one end of a dimly lit corridor ... on the other end was an open elevator door ...
I walked towards the elevator ... it was about 15 meters from me ... the interior was brightly lit but not very spacious ... maybe three people at the most ... I gingerly stuck a foot across the door threshold to test the elevator floor with some weight ... the elevator dropped about a half a meter and I cascaded in ... the door closing behind me immediately ... as I got up, the elevator started to descend ... I quickly glanced at my watch to time the descent ... it was spinning furiously backwards ... not just the hour hand but the date and month numerals as well ...
My guess is that the descent was in the order of 90 seconds ... then the elevator abruptly stopped and bounced on it's cables like a yo-yo ... the door opened and I was presented with what looked like a large machine shop ... without thinking I stepped out of the elevator into a large open area ... and just as soon as I did that, the elevator door closed and the elevator ascended ...
I glanced at my watch ... it indicated 7 July 1947 ... 8:37 PM ... had I just entered the multiverse? ... the room ... if it was indeed a room was cavernous ... similar in size and scope to the the underground expanse near Eunice, NM .... but it was set-up for heavy machine work ... I mean this was large equipment ... all of it seemingly vintage ... meaning of the 30s and 40s ...
There was tubing and valving and fittings everywhere ... what looked like a pile of missile nose cones was in one area ... what looked like engine assemblies fed by a myriad of tubing in another ... large components insulated in what I would call mylar today ... I am not sure how the room was illuminated .. I could see no lights but there was just enough light to give definition to the equipment edges ... the shadows were long and dark ...
As I walked deeper into the space ... I could see a large object on a long bench ... it looked like a meccano set of parts ... pieced together in a way no one had seen the like of before ... maybe a prototype for a missile ... I don't know ... I am not a rocket scientist ...
I could see an alcove to my left ... just as I started towards it the elevator door opened ... I quickly slid into the alcove and turned so I could look back in the direction of the elevator door ... from my vantage point I could see the bottom '1 meter' of the door and the lower part of the pathway I had taken ...
I could hear something being wheeled along the floor ... and soon I could see a gurney being pushed along and directed my way by two individuals ... from the waist down ... the gurney had what appeared to be a glass top or container on it ... because of the reflectance, I could not see what was inside ... indeed, if there was anything inside ...
All of a sudden I realized they were wheeling that gurney towards the alcove and were probably going to either place it where I was ... or transport it through the area I was occupying ...
I turned to see what my options were ... and there it was ... the painting from the museum ... everyone in it reversed except for me ... I didn't hesitate ...I stepped into it .... and .... that soft velvet resistance ... and ... POP! .... there I was laying in front of the painting on the museum floor ... it's a damn good thing I was the only person in there ... I could smell soot like something was burning ...
What the hell had happened ... had I blacked out or fainted ... this has happened to me before in the SW ... I quickly looked at my watch ... the same time that I had stepped into the painting originally ... and the same date and year .... right now ...
I quickly got up ... organized myself ... signed out of the museum and went to the truck ... I started it, pulled out onto the highway and was just trying to sort out what had happened ..if anything .. and what to do ... when ... the cell phone rang ...
I answered it but there was no one there ... of course not ... it was a text ... well not a text but a message that was simply an attachment ... a jpg attachment ... I opened it ... I kind of smiled while the hair on the back of neck went perpendicular ...
The photo was of me ... in the 'machine shop' ... it gets better ... reflected in a nose cone is a distorted 'Phil S' using a not so 1947 cell phone to take the picture ... and it gets even better when you remember that 'Phil s' has been dead for some time ... or so we thought ...
So now what ... how the hell does all this hang together ... what am I .. some sort of Alice in Wonderland .. that walks through paintings, climbs down sinkholes ... sees all this stuff ...stumbling across one find after another ... yet nothing linking all of it together .. except 'me' ... myself ...
I add a little speed to the equation as I head out of town ... I glance at the shoulders of my jacket ... they are burned ... more speed is definitely required ... time to hunker down for a day or two and re-think what I have seen and what the next step might be ... for sure ... I'm just a burned out figure of art on a black horse heading straight to hell ...
To quote from verse 1959 of the Krome Koan,
' ... I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way ...'
The Ale i.a.n. Hunter
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