- Donna Locke - White-Trash Mystic
Once upon a time there was a wondrous, emerald-green land called
West Cobb, an enchanted land of verdant fields; deep, secret forests; and quiet, curving paths that all led, as if by magic, to a high hill known to all the peasant folk as
Lost Mountain.
Long ago, in the year 1971, a girl with long flaxen hair and wide, earth-brown eyes wandered down from the hills of her birth into a village that contained a statue of a large chicken. All about the statue, as far as the eye could see, pilgrims traveled to and fro in loud, belching machines, rushing to make offerings to the large chicken. It was said the pilgrims made this journey daily, for if they did not, plagues might be visited upon them by the large chicken. Perhaps the loud, belching machines would be taken away.
The girl paused and contemplated all this, and then continued her journey, wandering west into a village ruled by a king of whom it was said that everything he touched turned to
Goldstein. The girl gazed upon the tranquil village square, its tall Dutch elms, its cobbler's shop, its myriad apothecaries, and then proceeded west, as though drawn by a strange and persistent force. She traveled until an ancient marker told her she was indeed headed due west, and found herself drifting past scattered dwellings of kind old settlers, who pressed upon her magical red fruits that grew miraculously on vines in their humble yards. Still, the girl roamed on.
She crested a hill that delivered her into a quiet, mysterious valley, where the trees whispered as she followed a narrow lane to a small blue house hidden deep in a woods far from the armies of loud, belching machines. The girl stood in the garden of the little blue house and breathed the sweet woods air. "At last, my journey is ended," she said. "In this place I will find peace." She made a pact with the Goddess of the Leaf and with a powerful spirit called Lender.
Several years passed, and the girl lived happily in the little blue house. She learned to grow the magical red fruits and made friends of all the creatures in the forest.
Then, one day, during a dark age called Disco, a leviathan suddenly appeared -- screaming, roaring, and devouring the very ground. Aghast, hardly believing their eyes, scores of the gentle peasants abandoned their homes and fled in terror. The leviathan flicked its long, scaly tail, and a horde of foreign invaders leaped off it and began building fortresses called
Tennispoolcommunity, while demanding the peasants deliver unto them a substance called mulch. The armies of loud, belching machines began to multiply as if in league with the leviathan, and the peace of the shaded village to the east was no more. Messengers brought word of horrors occurring in the land of
East Cobb, and the settlers of West Cobb were sore afraid.
In the year 1978, the girl, known to some as
Cassandra and to some as
Hippie, dispatched a message to the town crier in the shaded village of
Mayretta to the east, warning that the leviathan was devouring all in its path and would soon turn upon its consorts, the foreign invaders. But none in the kingdom paid heed.
The years passed.
The leviathan advanced and surrounded the girl's small blue house, and she fled to another forest in the land of West Cobb. But the leviathan followed.
In the year 1985, the girl dispatched an urgent message to the town crier in the lost city of
Atlan, a place whispered of in myth but not known to exist; some said it had been taken by the wind. The girl warned of the leviathan and made pleas to a savior called
MARTA, that the savior might ride forth and rescue the Cobbites from the armies of loud, belching machines.
The savior spoke and said, "You must come to the high tower."
Puzzled, unable to reach the high tower, the West Cobbites huddled in the remaining woods about Lost Mountain, powerless before the leviathan and a merciless giant known as
CountyCommissionersandRezoningBoard, which had grown tall and fat from the morsels kicked to it by the leviathan.
The years continued to pass.
The leviathan gobbled all in its path, and its foul breath poisoned the air for miles around. Gone was the fresh, sweet air of yore. The early settlers died, and their children offered up their land to the leviathan that they might be allowed to escape.
In the year 1999, a tall young man clad in a knight's shining armor suddenly appeared -- out of nowhere, it was said. The young knight rode about the kingdom loudly proclaiming his quest to save the land of West Cobb. Astonished, the peasants rejoiced, and the hearts of the older settlers were lifted. The boldest among them flew the knight's pennon in their yards, and the good tidings were carried to all people. Though it was rumored the young man had once petted the leviathan, the dwellers of West Cobb conferred and saw no other hope: they anointed him. The young man -- call him
Louie Hunter -- drew his sword and ventured into the leviathan's lair -- call it
Byrnam Wood. The West Cobbites held their breath.
Out in the far, desolate reaches of the border country to the west, the girl, now a middle-aged woman, slowly closed the door of the last remaining barn in the land of West Cobb. She looked into the distance. A horse was galloping hard into the sunset...just a blur now...just a memory.
The End
Donna Locke is a former journalist and current freelancer, the former leader of the
Georgia Coalition for Immigration Reform, and currently, on-hiatus leader of
Tennesseans for Immigration Reform. She is an activist for environmental protection; civil rights, including women's and gay rights; animal rights; and church-state separation. She identifies with no political party.
She lived in Cobb County, Georgia for 31 years before escaping to her native Tennessee. She can be reached by e-mail at:
Tennessee Coalition.
