Pasha on the Playa Pt. 01

I opened my eyes long enough to seize Svetlana and draw her close. "You are still ok with your new American boyfriend?"

"Docheri, he wants to know if retired professor still happy with him?" She sat on my behind and beat on my shoulders. The tough, chunky body spread itself out and her tongue explored, with teeth nipping here and there. Every so often, she drove her hips into me as though she was the male and I was the female. I started low moaning sounds and she pulled us on our sides.

"Marty," her voice was very soft, "what about loving I was promised?"

I pulled her in as tightly as I could, and concentrated on being very still. She was tense, wondering what was going on, but slowly let every muscle relax and licked my face. Katarina and Elena hovered and said, "That is nice loving. Very nice."

I sat against the truck wall and pulled Svetlana to her regular position between my legs. The twins lay back on her thighs and I said, "Have you decided about work?"

She played with the beautiful heads of hair under her arms and said, "Marty, you are many good ideas, but can not chase every one of them at once. You have to buy land, buy log cabin, get permits... Will keep us very busy for weeks, no?"

I smiled to myself and kissed the back of her neck. "With smart Russian women, will go fast!"

They giggled, I tickled, and we started packing the Pashamobile for the evening's celebration. Center Camp had lots of experience with burnings of the Man, and many Rangers would be out in force to keep things both joyful and safe. We trundled slowly down six o'clock avenue, with Elena playing martial music. The Pasha banners were in place, and I sat on the throne alone, waving at my thousands of subjects, who wildly waved and shouted. One pass along the foot of the camp and we were making our careful way into a great circling of the mutant vehicles, more than a hundred yards back from the statue of the Man. In front of us was space for rows and rows of people. Many were already in place, with cushions, low chairs and picnics.

In the dark, we could dispense with costumes, and gathered with our food and drink on the high throne. Svetlana took a long drink from her beer and said, "Plumber, this is very exciting. Like nothing mathematics professor has ever seen."

As the twilight deepened, the thousands of lights and thousands of watts of sound created a surreal atmosphere around us. A steady stream of people moved down the avenue to the great circle around the Man, taking places on the desert sand.

Elena reached for blankets and we huddled together in the evening chill. Mama pressed my hand to her breast and kissed my cheek. "Nice."

I reached my hands out to rub the necks of the twins and pull on their hair. Hands came at me and pulled my hair.

Around nine, when only a faint glow was left on the western skyline, the ceremony began. A large troupe of dancers performed with lighted torches. They were very skilled, tossing the blazing firebrands high in the air and capturing them on the way down. Children in the front rows, who had come early with their parents, stood and shouted with glee.

Finally, after an hour of dancing, little trails of smoke could be seen rising from the Man. Deep inside the structure, cleverly designed, licks of flame emerged. Minutes passed as little flames became bigger, and then bigger still. The roaring of the fire was beginning to drown out the camp sounds. In a few more minutes, fire was eating away at the Man to the level of his waist, forty feet in the air. More quickly, the inferno reached for the sky and eclipsed the entire height. Fireworks began shooting out from hands and head, bursting high above the playa with loud bangs.

It was an incredible spectacle and the women hugged me tightly in their excitement. For long minutes, the fire grew and grew, an immense conflagration in the middle of the desert night.

As the peak of the flames was reached, parts of the Man collapsed to the playa in magnificant crashes. The sentimental moment had found the audience. This Man was burnt, a legacy of transient dreams and hard effort. Another, months and months away, would rise in his place, as the cycle went on.

Svetlana kissed me wetly and said, "Marty, it is so sad. The fire takes everything."

I hugged her and said, "Yes, it does. Dust to dust, like all of us."

We pulled the twins to our laps, wrapped snugly, and watched the remains rest in a flaming pyre of embers, whose heat could be felt as far away as we were.

The great crowd made its way back towards camp in fits and starts, no one in a hurry. Nearly every body was a little show of its own, tiny laser lights flashing. It was almost half an hour before our vehicle could move. We sipped another beer, and ate the sandwiches the girls had made. We were not in a hurry, either. I shut down the sound system and its generator, letting the silent electric motor move us along at a walking pace. We followed a circuitous route, deciding not to compete with the throng of people at Center Camp and six o'clock avenue.

From the truck, we could see a steady stream of cars and vans leaving, their headlights lost in the vastness of the playa. I said, "Some people come just for the big show, and race away as soon as it is over."

Katarina said, "Some people are dumb."

We had a lantern going in the truck, and clustered together, still calming from the burn. Mama's naked in bed rule was relaxed because of the cool air. I added, "Plumber not chasing girls tonight anyway." Which only made my beauties put down their drinks and pound on me. I lay back and accepted many kisses and fell asleep.

cont'd in Part 2 - Mountain Living and Loving.