Strange Journey

This story started about 6 months ago. I had this excruciatingly painful lower back pain. It was so Bad I needed my son’s help to stand and walk to my chair in the front room. I called the advice nurse and after twenty minutes of painful questions she said I should go to ER.
There the staff poked, prodded, scanned and Ivied me and came up with Oxycodone as a solution to my pain – be a doper but no pain. No thank you. Two days later they came back with a non- narcotic drug. I was to take one in the morning, one at noon and two at night. I turned it around because daytime is when I needed it most. I told my primary care doctor and now have a lifetime supply because they worked so well I haven’t taken more than about twelve.
I now have another problem; I have no desire to do anything. My day goes fall asleep watching TV, go to the bathroom. Fall asleep watching TV, go to the bathroom repeat if necessary.
I was on my way back from one of those bathroom trips when my wife said that our daughter had just called. She said our daughter had just won an all-expense paid trip for four to a new Casino opening in northern California and wanted to know if we would like to go. I told her anything is better than what I am doing now. Besides I bought a new pick-up in 2022, and it has less than 10,000 miles on it. Thay could drive us up in it. I thought about telling you about the manufacturer, but they didn’t officer any discount or advertising fees so put in whatever you want as the brand name.
They picked us up. We loaded our things in the truck and were off. Five minutes into the drive and I was asleep. The others got along without me. I don’t know how long the drive was or where we went, but when I woke, we were pulling into a parking lot. It was large enough to hold over two hundred cars. There was less than a fourth of that number in the lot. We were able to park close to the entrance and did.
There was a winding crushed gravel path lined by flowering bushes and hand carved Greek and Roman statues. It was beautiful. The entrance was marble, glass and gold trim. It rivaled anything Vagas or Reno had. The lobby was more marble with crystal chandeliers and posh furniture.
We walked up to the reservations desk and were met by two very attractive young women. “How can we help you,” they said.
My daughter slid the letter to her. She picked it up and said, “Your lucky. Since we are just opening, we have a lot of open rooms. We just so happens we have two adjoining suites on the second floor.
We agreed to meet at the buffet at 7 and went to our rooms.
The buffet was arranged by nationality: Italian, Chinese, Mexican and US of A. I headed to the Italian and got a small plate of raviolis. This would be the true test of Italian. While standing in line for salad I sampled the ravioli. It was my grandmother’s. The taste took me back to ten years old at grandpa’s cookout where he feed 50+ friends and relatives. I got out of line and got a bigger plate. I was going back for thirds when my wife said, “there’s always tomorrow.”
We finished and went to the casino. My wife and daughter headed for the slots. My son-in-law, Texas Holdom, and me to the cashier’s window. I got two buckets of silver dollars, fifty in each. I took ten out and put them in my pocket. They were for great grandkids that I would be seeing in the next few days. I found the biggest slot machine on the floor and started feeding it one dollar at a time. This casino was going to get my money, but they were going to work for it. I won a few small jackpots and lost them just as fast.
I found my wife and daughter, they were winning and holding on to their money. I told my wife I was going out in the garden for some fresh air, I’d be back in twenty minutes, she just nodded.
The garden was filled with flowering plants and had a pleasant aroma. It had dim lights that gave aa soft mood lighting affect. There was a pond that was almost large enough to be called a lake. In the water were fountains that danced to the soft music that sounded like a Brahms lullaby. There was a concrete bench next to a small juniper bush, I sat down.
I must have fallen asleep because the sun was up and it was warm. The smell was changed. It wasn’t flowery any more it was city. The pond was gone. The juniper was a tree eighteen feet tall. THE SUN WAS UP! My wife must be frantic wondering what happened to me. I stepped around the tree and saw a sidewalk, not a path. There was a street not a casino. WHERE WAS I? HOW DID I GET HERE?
I was in a residential neighborhood; it looked to be middleclass and well kept. A few houses down on my right was a man mowing his lawn. I’ll walk to him he should be able to help me. He was just finishing a pass and turning for a return trip. As he neared, I said, “good morning can…….” He didn’t stop or even look at me. I waited for him to come back. When he was close, I waved and said, “can you……….” Again, he just walked by me. I said some unpleasant thing about his ancestors am walked on.
Three houses on there was a driveway and a car in it. There was a women putting something in the back seat. She finished and got behind the steering wheel. I walked to where the driveway and sidewalk met and waited. She stopped at the walk to let me pass, but I waved her on. I wanted to speak to her. She pulled up and stopped. Her window was down. I said, “could you help me?” Without saying a word, she looked to her right and then back at me. Still silent she backed out into the street and drove off. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
I walked to the next corner. It was an intersection controlled by an electric signal. Across the street was a café. I wasn’t hungry, but a cup of coffee and answers to my questions sounded like a good idea. I pushed the walk button and waited for the light to cycle. The traffic light turned green but the “Don’t Walk” stayed red. Modern engineering? I pushed the button several times and waited, with the same result. Once more and if it doesn’t change, I walk anyway. You guest it and I walked only to be brushed by a car turning left, some more ancestral comments.
I went to the café and could see people inside eating and talking. I knew I would need cash to pay and leave a tip, so I reached into my pocket for some silver dollars and nothing. I’D BEEN MUGGED AND DIDN’T KNOW IT?
I reached for the doorknob. It was smooth brass and cool even for being in the sun. I turned the knob, but my hand just slid around it. I tried again with the same result. I pulled and nothing. Then I heard, “doesn’t work dose it?”
Behind me was a man. He had a sad look on his face. I asked if he could see me and he said he could. We talked for a while and during the conversation he told me he was seated at a bus stop waiting for the bus when he fell asleep. He said he woke a short time later in a park on a bench watching children at play. Like me he tried to ask people where he was and the same story no one paid him any attention.
Then a woman’s voice, “can you see me?”
“Yes,” I said, “and we can hear you too.”
It seems that her daughter is getting married. She was with her while she was being fitted for her dress. She fell asleep. She woke on a bench at the bus stop down the street from where we were now standing.
Then there was a Yellow Cab parked at the curb facing the wrong direction for traffic. None of us saw it pull up. The driver’s window was down and the driver said, “you’ll look lost. I think I can help. Why don’t you all climb in the back seat. We’re not far from where you need to be.”
I opened the door behind the driver and the lady got in followed by the man then me. The driver said, “all set? We’re off.”
We drove six blocks and turned right. Then another two blocks and a left into driveway with two large buildings, one on either side of the road. “This is your stoop,” the driver said. We got out and the driver turned around and disappeared. You heard me he disappeared.
We were standing in front of a very large building it’s wall was at least twenty feet tall and seemed to go on forever. We walked until we came to a glass wall with two very large glass doors, each door had the word “ENTER” printed on it. The glass was covered by drapes on the inside. The man said, “this looks like my stop. He reached for the door, it swung open. There was nothing but black behind the open door, and if you saw Harry Potter getting onto platform nine and three quarters you will know what I mean when I say he was absorbed.
The woman began to walk to the door, and I took her arm. “This doesn’t feel right. I’m Not going in here. I’m going to try the building across the street.” I let go of her arm and crossed over. I never saw her again.
I walked until I came to the glass wall. This was different from the other wall. I could see through the glass. There were people inside. The word on the door didn’t read ENTER: it was WELCOME.
As I neared the door I heard Tuning. That was a name I hadn’t heard in over eighty years. It was the name my maternal grandmother called me when I was a little boy. She said it meant little Tony in her pre-Mussolini Italian dialect.
I reached for the door, and it swung open. “Anthony! Welcome! Come in come in. We were expecting you hours ago.”
“I was lost,” I said.
“Well, you here now, and that’s what counts.” I was looking at a man six-five with long white hair and a white beard that reached his chest, a muscular chest. He held his hand out and when I took it, I tingled all over. “You’re going to be here for a while, but time will fly by. Then everything will be ok. You’re home now.”
“Then this means………….

“YES.”