THE BLIND MEN SHOUT LET THE CREATURES OUT

               Moments before waking this morning I was far away from my warm bed . I was packed like a sardine in the tight , narrow tail gunner's nest of a large bomber , my legs too near to a heater without enough room to move away . The upper half of my torso was cold , numbed in the big , round bubble , my view was of the hand grips of the big machine gun .

              My only communication was through the crackling of my headphones , apparently we were somewhere deep behind enemy lines , the lines that generals and other officers saw on maps so clearly defined were blurred and hard to discern from way up here . Our large , explosive payload was putting a strain upon the  big propellers , the usual deep drone of the engines was up a tone or two . A burst of crackling static and the shutting down of the little overhead light makes me grasp the gun grips , my eyes frantically searching the skies , and then " There " I yell to nobody . Like flies they zip past the big , clear nosecone , most too quick to track , flickering fire dances from their wings as they swoop toward larger prey .

                I feel the impacts first , angry bullets whizzing through the thin skin of the bomber, none finding the explosive cargo . My legs finally have a relief from the too close heater as freezing wind screams in ... I struggle toward wakefulness feeling the icy cold on my legs , a freezing pain gnawing at the affected one and the last clear image before I revert to an old man needing to pee , is of a fighter streaking toward my bubble wing guns blazing , the big , double barrelled armament bucking hard and fast in my hands . I squeeze the triggers hard enough to hurt my fingers , trying to will more rounds out of the seaming barrels that way . As I shuffle through the dark room , trying not to step on the cat and wake my love , I step quietly into the washroom an old fella with very cold legs . I share this to explain my dear fellow survivors how it is that I learn from my brain even as I sleep . My right side worked hard all day the day before , my calf on that side burns a bit while my ever present nerves make the affected side feel cold . I leaned too hard on my cane all day and it's feel is like that of a pistol grip , my right wrist aches .  See ya in the skies Phil .