Freewriting Ethnic Fiction: Visions of The Past and Visions of the Future in the Present Moment

Kevin M. Scrima

Ethnic Fiction—Professor Murabito

2/6/15 

Visions of The Past and Visions of the Future in the Present Moment

 (I wrote a bunch of bullshit to get this assignment done. Freewriting, or throwing up, as they’d call it. Enjoy my bullshit).

   The Native American girl told him that he had to go on a Vision Quest. He liked the girl. Eh, he more than liked her. That’s why he decided to go. If he learned that emotions are stupid and from some Real Social Dynamics instructor, like someone who taught guys how to get girls and the techniques behind it, he would have had a vision that his mistake was foolish, beyond foolish.

   The girl wanted company. That’s all. She didn’t want to go on this Vision Quest alone. Her family were really adamant about it, despite her not believing in it. Maybe she would lie about it and say some things, form some story about following a rabbit to a hole in a dream, kind of like Alice in Wonderland, and try to discover some deep philosophical meaning to it.

   He, Connor, was hoping he could find a way to get closer to her. Maybe she did want to get close to him, too, instead of it being just company. She seemed like a needy person. She always needed someone to hang around with. Girls are needy in general, he thought.

   As they walked into the woods, his blue backpack bounced up and down. He wore a red, plaid shirt and blue jeans. He glanced at his friend, Aiyanna, her two long, black braids bouncing and swaying, her tan, smooth skin, her brown eyes focused straight ahead. She wore a tan-colored Native American costume, one he thought he saw in the costume section during Halloween, or something that could be bought off Amazon. He thought she was so beautiful, that if there were a Native American magazine, she’d be the model on the front cover, or she probably could for any other women’s magazine. At least he thought.

   “So… we’re going out here to a random spot in the woods, and we’re going to sit and talk, you know, eat, sleep, like we usually do, and suddenly a vision is gonna come out of nowhere, right?” Connor asked.

   Aiyanna giggled. “Yeah, pretty much. I mean, maybe we’ll see something, who knows?”

   Connor made his way over a fallen tree, and his shoes crunched on the leaves as his shoes made contact with ground. He turned to help her over, held her hand—“Thanks,” she said—and didn’t let go of it, wanting to keep holding on to it, but reluctantly let go of it. That brief touch excited him, because he was inexperienced, but her hand was also warm.

   “So…” he said again. “Did you bring cannabis or something?”

   She laughed again, as he knew she would. “No, my parents would kill me.”

   “It was a joke, anyway. Or maybe a video game or a YouTube video? There’s this one game, called Destiny, where you enter this portal to the Black Garden—racist name, I thought—and the whole screen has this weird, rainbow psychedelic effect. It’s pretty weird. I recorded my reaction on YouTube. You totally have to check it out sometime. Google “Destiny Psychedelic Experience.” It’s hilarious.”

   Aiyanna laughed again. “Okay.”

   Wait, didn’t this mean he already had a Vision Quest? If finding the place where the protagonist had to go counted as a Vision Quest. “My friend did shrooms once,” Connor said. “Actually, he did a lot of drugs. He once showed me some trippy YouTube videos, and recommended certain things to watch when you’re high. I think he told me he stared at the same thing for one hour or something. But we’re not friends anymore.”

   Aiyanna gave a short laugh. “Aw, I’m sorry. And Connor, I think we’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

   The air was cool. A creek rushed water between two large trees nearby. Connor stepped on a stone, and another, the water forming around it. One was round, so he had to keep his balance, but the rest were flat, as if they were made for being walked on. Once he made it to the other side, he helped her over. “I hope so,” he said, then reluctantly gave her hand back to herself. “I’m starting to get tired. How much further to walk?”

   “Not too far,” she said. “The area is more safe and secluded. I’ve come here before sometimes as a kid. I always liked adventure and going to new places.”

   Connor smiled and looked at her beautiful face, her long eyelashes, her crooked, upturned nose. “I can tell. I’ve… been more interested in staying put.”

   “Here,” Aiyanna finally said.

   Thank God, Connor thought, as if He granted his desire to stay put, even though he didn’t believe in God, or any supernatural thing. Evolution and past events brought everything to this point. It made everything weird and his mind hurt, so he tried not to think about any of that. “Cool,” he simply said, and looked around. It was a round and wide, spacious area. Thick grass on the ground. Wide trees surrounding the area. A cliff jetting over that had a tree on top, but underneath was a huge hole, like a mini-cave, which might be good to sleep in.

    “I’ve never camped before,” Connor said, even though he has told her this. “So you may need to help me with the set up. But I Googled it, so I should be fine.”

   Aiyanna smiled as she set her beige backpack down. “Alright, Modern-Boy.”

   Modern Boy? He wondered. “Okay Out-Of-Date-Past-Girl,” he decided to say.

   Aiyanna giggled. She pulled the tent from a bag and began setting it up.

   Connor took his out and tried to follow how she did hers. But for some reason, his kept falling down. “Ugh!” he shouted in frustration.

   Aiyanna looked at him as she finished putting hers up. “Need help?” she asked with a smile.

   Connor, stubborn, wouldn’t give in. “Nope, I…” his tent collapsed. “Yes, fine.”

   Aiyanna chuckled as she came over. “Look, like this…” then she proceeded to show him how to put up a tent. Connor observed, sulking, his arms across his chest. “How did you learn how to pitch a tent so well?” And as soon as he asked, his mouth contorted into a smile, and he made a weird sound with his mouth and nose as he tried to hold his laughter in, then quickly brought a hand to his mouth.

   “Well, I…” she looked up at him. “What’s so funny?”

   “Um, nothing,” he said, contorting his face back to normal and biting his lip.

   Her eyebrows narrowed. “Ew. Gross.”

   Then he burst out laughing. “Sorry.”

   They put their sleeping bags in their own individual tents, laid a few thick, wool blankets outside so they wouldn’t be sitting on the ground. As he sat with her, he said, “Okay,” he clapped his hands together. “Let’s have this vision!”