A True Tale of Supernatural Terror: Cicada Nexus ("Rated" PG13)

I. East L.A.: The 'Migra and the Dangling Burrito

My mom and I had our first taste of what our Silverdog (you can infer the real name) bus trek portended after sitting in a bus terminal for nine hours in the worst section of East L.A.
We couldn't step outside to find a decent fast-food restaurant without being circled by Chicano lowriders: like a bad version of a Cheech & Chong movie.
And that left one option for dinner, within the first of many stomach-churning vending machines.
Taking a chance on a mirowaveable burrito, instead of a moldy sandwich, my mom resignedly inserted her dollar bill.
Chunk.
The burrito hung suspended between the chute and the glass.
Rumble.
Shaking the machine proved futile.
"Hey there!" came the shout of the terminal-manager. "Don't tell me you need to shake the machine to get your chow--I just paid $1,000 to repair it; it can't be broken!"
No time to argue, we were rushed to the departing bus. And the next morning's bus-raid by the Immigration Services for illegal aliens comprised the state's fond farewell.



[edit on 16-10-2007 by tocs100]

3. "Lowriders"

4. "Vending-machine with local chicas"

5. "Vending-machine/terminal manager"

6. "Terminal & bus departing California"

7. "The 'Migra"





[edit on 16-10-2007 by tocs100]

8. "'Legal' chicas mock the Border Patrol"



[edit on 16-10-2007 by tocs100]

II. KINGMAN, ARIZONA: Kingdom of the Tarantulas

2:00 AM. Restaurants closed. Mini Mart open, but Tarantula-season warning. Visions of huge hairy legs arching-over the rim of a Big Gulp cup, or creeping-up the bus driver's shouder. Despite desperately needed nutrition within sight, a unanimous vote to not open the bus doors. A second supper-less and sleepless night. :shk:

9. "Kingman tarantula by bus's front door"



[edit on 17-10-2007 by tocs100]

10. "Amorous spiders everywhere"

11. "We've got mutha-bleeping spiders on the mutha-bleeping bus!"

12. "Leaving Kingman, AZ at dawn"

III. THE ARIZONA DESERT: Corporate Takeover of a Mohave Graveyard

"Over to your left, you'll see a famous Spanish mission whose inhabitants were mysteriously murdered," announced the bus driver; we looked, but all we could see was a tiny, sun-glint-slice of stucco.
"We'll soon be arriving at a world-famous restaurant that people come from miles around to visit," the driver promised. Ironically, a future driver would repeat those exact words two thousand miles down the road....
World famous restaurant? Try a solitary, stuccoed teepee with a crooked Taco Bell sign. The menu? bean burrito, waffles, two flavors of ice cream, and a box of cereal. And all served by a one-hundred-year-old-squaw who one could easily imagine sending smoke signals to a tribe of Indian warriors. Or their ghosts, as we were surrounded by nothing but sand and bones. (Did I mention we hadn't eaten or slept in days?)

Nearly two days had passed with no sleep, and with only one Indian burrito and one overpriced and dented, variety-sized box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes to eat. We had been harassed by police at the crack of dawn as if we were refugees in a war-torn land, and had been circled by (sleep-deprived visions of) swarms of tarantulas and a ghost tribe of Mohave headhunters.
We'll never be able to look at a map of the country again without recalling he following indignities and horrors: (1) the shouts of rude police and bus seurity who evacuated our bus once per state for a "security check" of our personal belongings, (2) the depressing sight of Chicano gangs of L.A. and Albuquerque who circled the bus depot as if it were the Alamo (where were the cops then?), (3) the sinking feeling of empty stomachs when greeted by little more than moldy sandwiches and salads within broken-down vending machines, and (4) the sound and smell of the overflowing toilet at the back of the bus.

Yep, we were living the high life.
But I've gotten ahead of myself....


[edit on 17-10-2007 by tocs100]

13. "Wow, three whole spoonfulls!"



14. "I suppose you'll be wanting a bowl with that?"

15. "Mohave desert, Arizona"

16. "Desert skull"

17. "Indian ghost vision 1"

18. "Indian ghost vision 2"

IV. ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: The Case of the Missing Driver

More bandanna-clad Chicano gangs, which for all we knew had jumped the now missing bus driver. A replacement could not be located for six more hours, during which time we baked in the 120 degree heat. :bash:

19. "The lowriders return"



[edit on 17-10-2007 by tocs100]