Once upon a time in a very hot and humid land where palm leaves the size of elephant ears grew close to the ground and candy-pink and lime green coleus sprouted everywhere like fireworks against the wet, green velvet, lived a young boy who shinnied up coconut trees for the milk. He was called Mowgli... and if he wasn’t called Mowgli, then he was called something that sounded very much like Mowgli. He had seen "Jungle Book" once when he was very little in a terribly cold and bitter land and halfway through the film, he fell asleep on his uncle’s lap.
But this young boy grew up mostly in this very hot and humid land where tiny chameleons clung to screen windows and strong dark vines dripped from banyans. And this boy had a wonderful, magical pair of shoes and on each of these shoes was a buckle and both of these buckles were tiny, circular zodiacs.
Aries: likes soft drinks, clumps of grass and antiques--usually busy people--hyperactive--attention focused on eyes
Taurus: likes gold, wears excessive amounts of jewelry--compulsive people--prone to circulatory problems
Gemini: scatterbrained, witty, defenseless--likes picnics and dancing--powerful spirit--doesn’t belong on this planet
Cancer: these people are generous and humane by nature but feel that no one and nothing deserves such attention--likes hot & spicy foods, sunburns--attention focused on legs
Leo: able to stand on own two feet--will fight only if provoked--night time people--extremely sexual, attention focused on groin
Virgo: born travelers, loves trains, boats, planes, anything that moves--interested in the sky and outer space--prone to irritability
Libra: calm, peaceful--likes classic art, music, literature--loves birds--morning people--health problems with hands
Scorpio: restless and undirected, usually in trouble with the law--afraid of fire and snakes--loves money--prefers to write with pencil
Sagittarius: likes soft things to touch, needs stable atmosphere--easily influenced--very dogmatic--prone to mental illness
Capricorn: winter people, likes ice, snow, ice cream--frequents parties--a “do-er”, excitable but tires quickly
Aquarius: health conscious, eats right, exercises, likes to swim--very good with numbers--extremely logical, often to the point of being illogical
Pisces: has an aversion to water--depends heavily on olfactory sense--musical, usually plays an instrument--likes circuses, card tricks, forests--attention focused on lungs and heart
One night after the boy went to sleep, Albert Einstein appeared in the boy’s room and stood by an open window. He blew into his palm and closed his fingers, saying, “Put the past in your hand... and blow it into the future”. Raising his hand to the window, Einstein opened his hand and blew the past across his fingers, as though blowing a kiss.
Now the boy is older. His hair is very long and dark. He is on a bus at night reading fairy tales. He is traveling across America... and if he’s not traveling across America, he’s traveling across someplace very much like America. And he’s wearing the zodiac buckles on a chain around his neck.
©JEF 1985 - 2012
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