To ease a headache...

Eisenhower Interstate System. A strange thought: I'm glad I live here; it's a sunny day. Atomic Gardens. Datura. Old memory: believing the pinging sound (of the fire alarm in the apartment above a health food store) was actually an impish boy playing a clay whistle outside. Older memory: Bird calls, like the sounds of large water drops hitting the surface of a pond. These are actually being made by a person leading the way on a path in the Amazon rainforest. Even older memory: At night, on the side of a rural road in Ollantaytambo, encountering an older woman and a young boy. She turns her back and walks quickly away. What task did we interrupt? (Me and a Japanese girl.) Memory from the island: A roomful of older women, essences in small bottles mixed with brandy. At night, a large view of water, mountains, cityscape and sky. Staring for a long time at the moon.