What We Saw At Burning Man

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Desert Rats

After three days of enduring dust storms, incredible heat and ph12 Playa dust, Greg and I were comparing it to life in the 'Stan. Jessica also asked us, was it like this when you two were in Afghanistan?" Apparently, the heat and dust were starting to bother her but she was being a good "trooper" and bearing with it. "Actually the only difference is we aren't getting shot at here or are having to worry about IED's" replied Greg. Besides wandering around exploring the variety of theme camps, we spent a lot of time meeting the neighbors. This was an activity best done after the sun had gone down since otherwise, they were either out wandering around like we were or holed up in their tent or trailer. We shared our booze with them and declined when other things were offered in return. However we had to admit, you don't generally meet people like this in KOA's Jessica met a couple girls her age, at the Virgin Sacrifice flash mob for p***y Riot of all places, who knew where a couple theme camps were located that were doing street theatre.

This is a story in itself, but it bears telling, so here goes; Greg and I had started feeling a "certain" way after seeing not only each other, but other people running around half, or completely naked, and were eager to do something about it. The problem was Jessica, if I went somewhere she went with me, as per the rule I had laid down when I discovered that she and Justin had had s*x in her tent over the fourth. Now that rule was coming back to haunt me, I had been toying with the idea of relinquishing that particular rule, especially since both of us know knew what to expect out here.

The rule started to crack when the subject of the p***y Riot thing came up. Apparently there is (or was) an all female rock band in Russia called p***y Riot (whatever) Anyway they ran afoul of the state and were sent to Siberia this was an event being staged to offer solidarity to the imprisoned women. I seriously doubted they would ever hear of this effort on their behalf being staged in the Nevada desert, but…Oh well!

I had originally intended to go along with Jessica, but Greg was getting pretty horney and frankly so was I, a little "bedroom relief" was certainly called for, so I decided to take a chance and give in a little, and since the event wasn't that far away I told Jess, the heat was bothering me, and I was going to let her go by herself. "Consider this a step towards rebuilding my trust Jessica," I said. "Here's a radio, lave it on set to channel 6 I'll leave mine on as well, any problems call me right away. Go only to the p***y Riot thing if there's dancing afterwards call me and let me know if you plan to stay over, then let me know when you're leaving for here, that's all, no drinking or drugs, I'm really counting on you Jess." She agreed to abide by the rules and rode off on her bike, in the meantime, Greg and I took a quick shower together, then headed right for the bedroom, and some much needed "fun and games."

When Jess returned around 12:30, Greg and I were "innocently" sitting outside enjoying a beer. "How was it honey?" I asked. Jess put her bike up and sat down. Giggling she began, "Well they first asked for any virgins to give up their, uh, virginity, but no one offered to do that, guess there weren't any uh, virgins. The dances and the music were pretty cool, lot of creepy guys hanging around though, I almost called you, I think they were there just to look at all the boobs. Anyway, I got to talking with these other two girls, they were afraid of the guys too, so we formed a group and they left us alone. Well, we got to talking, and they were in to theatre as well, they want me to come to the camp they're hanging at, they need another actor, and no mom, I didn't drink or anything, just water. I know you told me I couldn't go anywhere by myself but please just this once?"

I looked at Greg, "Your call," was all he would say. I looked at Jess and asked, "This isn't nudie dancing or anything like that is it?" "Oh no mom, just impromptu skits and stuff, come and watch if you want." "When do they want you there?" "All they said was in the morning, so nine maybe?"

"All right, you can go, same rules, and take the radio." She got up came over and hugged me, "Thanks mom, I won't let you down, promise!" "Was the music any good?" I asked. "Yeah, it was pretty cool," "Did these "creepy" guys try and dance with you?" Jessica laughed, "Yeah at first, but they got kinda shoved out by other chicks who could dance better, then someone told them to leave, so that's what they did."

Shortly all of us turned in, eagerly awaiting another day of "sun and fun." Greg announced that he was going to have to stick around so he could flag down the grey water truck to empty the trailers holding tank, then he would have to transfer water from the 250 gallon tank in the pick-up which was getting dangerously low into the trailer. "If I don't have to wait too long," said Greg, I'll call you on the radio, and we can meet up somewhere." Jess had already left, so I donned my hijab and adjusted my goggles and stepped outside. The wind was picking up again; thank God, we did such a good job of securing the netting. I had only ridden a short ways when I was caught in a "whiteout." Other times I had been lucky when these things hit, being is a camp or somewhere inside.

I pulled the hijab tight around my nose and face leaving just my goggles uncovered, I panicked at first, "Should I keep moving, or stop. If I kept moving chances were that I'd run into someone. If I stopped, someone might run into me." I literally couldn't see s**t! Trying to remember where I was, and where nearby structures were located; I attempted to move towards my right where I had seen a camp. Even though I had, the hijab pulled over my mouth and nose the dust was choking. I felt myself bumping up against something, which turned out to be a bus. I turned my face towards the vehicle and just stood there sitting on my bike waiting for the storm to blow itself out. I prayed Jessica was inside somewhere, Christ! It never got this bad in Afghanistan. Originally Jess and I only planned to wear these hijab for a short while, but these damn dust storms changed all that, they turned out to be the only effective way to keep the dust our of our mouths and nostrils, as well as our hair.

After the storm blew out, I looked at myself. Completely white, looking around it resembled Logan after a major winter storm, un f*****g believable, starting the day covered in white playa dust. I brushed what I could off and continued on my way, other souls were emerging now, and all looked like ghosts. I made my way over to a camp called "Strut your stuff." Jess said this was the place she was going. Sure enough, she and her friends were here. I took a seat on a crude bench, next to several others watching the performance. Jess later told me that when you sign up they give you fifteen minutes to come up with a story figure out who is going to play what, then go "onstage." Everything is strictly ad-lib, and if the "audience" likes your performance, you get to do another one.

The performance had already started, so it took me a few moments to get up to speed with what they were doing. Jessica was sitting on the small stage holding another girl like a doll, then I realized she was supposed to be a doll. Another girl lurked menacingly slightly offstage as Jessica spoke to the "doll." It finally dawned on me that she was playing the part of a terrified girl seeking comfort in her doll, telling "it" her fears. Fears generated by the other girl, who was playing her drunken mother threatening to beat Jessica for disobeying her. The play turned out to be quite good; the girl who played the doll displayed an unusual talent for facial expressions that supposedly the doll was expressing to the sadness she was hearing. I was amazed at Jessica's performance; she poured her heart and soul into the performance. Judging from the audience's reaction, they would get to do another play.

The people running this camp announced them a winner and directed them to the back to rehearse another play. Meanwhile I watched a man and woman portray a john and a prostitute trying to negotiate a price for a night of s*x. Apparently, it was the guys first time, and he was embarrassed to tell her what he really wanted. Surprisingly it was pretty funny and they too received a loud ovation. Jessica and her friends returned after this second group were told they too had a second play coming. This time Jessica sat on the floor in the middle of the stage, the other two girls sat behind her on either side. This time Jessica played a girl whose boyfriend had gotten mad at her and slapped her around. The other girls were her friends, and they pretended to be talking to each other on the phone.

Basically, the play was reactions of the other girls to what Jessica's boyfriend had supposedly done to her. Shock, anger, disbelief, feelings of guilt were all on display. Jessica was acting from the heart, she obviously had talent I never knew she had. Because there were others now waiting to perform, Jess and her friends were going to have to wait awhile. We stepped outside for a moment to talk, after introducing her friends, I said, "Jessica you were incredible in there, all of you were." I could tell my words meant a lot to her, "Thanks mom I really appreciate that." "So are you going to hang around until they let you guys have another shot?" Not all three shook their heads, "any," replied Jess; we're going over to a place called "Painting Your Potootie, to get painted up for a play we want to do over at the Brain Dead Cockroach camp." "Anything you don't want me to see?" I asked. Worried expressions quickly appeared as well as nervous giggling. "Uh mom…" I gave her my best "concerned mother" look, "I'm going to watch your play Jessica, we'll just let the chips fall where they may." None of them liked this, but we parted company with the understanding that I may or may not watch them perform.

I rode around for a bit looking at various art displays and even taking time to chat with one artist about his art car which resembled a giant bug. I then got sidetracked at a camp asking participants to share a ten-minute personal story. Thinking "Why not!" I debated between an incident that happened to me in Afghanistan, and the day I saw Jessica standing along side the highway. In the end, I decided to tell Jessica's story. I didn't embellish or exaggerate, in the end, everyone wanted to know what became of Jess. When I told them I became her guardian and then adopted her, there was clapping and cheers all around. I stayed a little longer to enjoy an offered drink and chat, then remembered the time and pedaled off to find the cockroach camp.

I was almost ten minutes late, although this play turned out to be around twenty minutes in length. The girls were slumped on a battered cough and appeared to be heavily tattooed; obviously, that's what they had done at the body painting camp. Two of the girls were smoking, although Jess wasn't although she appeared to be slugging on a fifth of vodka. The premise seemed to be about three prostitutes taking a break and talking about their "clients." Their use of frank and profane dialogue bothered me, although It was nothing I hadn't used before and most definitely had heard before. Jessica had her back to me so I don't think she saw me, and her friends weren't looking toward the audience either. I took the opportunity to duck out before they finished.

Riding back to our camp, I mulled over what I had just seen. The similarity of the three plays troubled me, was Jessica acting out her past? Was she portraying incidents in her life? I knew I'd hate myself, but I decided to have a talk with her later this evening. Upon returning to camp, the grey water truck was just pulling away, so I helped Greg fill the trailer's fresh water tank. While we worked, I told him of the whiteout I got caught in. "I was out in it too," he said. "Jeezist! I thought It was suddenly winter and I was out on "15. I don't know about you but I think I've had one too many dust storms, I don't recall it ever getting this bad in the 'Stan." After we finished filling the tank, I said to Greg, "Do you think you could make yourself "scarce" later this evening, I need to have a chat with Jess." "She go off the "Reservation" again?" I shook my head, "Not exactly, I watched the impromptu plays she was in today, they all dealt with rather troubling subjects, I'd just like to talk with her in private." Greg patted m on the shoulder, "Say no more Nick, there's a guy down the way who's having problems with his mutant vehicle, I suspect he has dirt in the carb with all this f*****g sand blowing around."

Later, after supper, Greg went off to find the man with the art car problem, Jessica had acted like nothing had happened when she returned, so I said, "Sit down Jess, I think we need to talk about some things." Just as I figured, she went on the alert immediately. Grimacing, she looked down at the trailer floor, and said, "It's about my performances today isn't it?" "Which I thought were excellent Jessica I'm really proud of you, however I did manage to catch the last part of that play you did over at the cockroach camp." Jess made a face, "Uh." "I'm just curious Jessica, the subject of the three plays I saw all seemed similar is there a reason for that." This brought on a wrangling session going around and around, back and forth, back and forth. Finally she broke down and admitted they were things form her childhood. "I used to have a friend who lived next door to me in Three Rivers, her mom used to get drunk a lot and beat her I was over at her house one time when her mom came home drunk Tracy told me to hide in the closet, that play was made up of stuff I heard while I was hiding in there. The other one was about Jason and I, and when he used to hit me for no reason, like that night he left me in that campground and drove away."

"And the third one?" I asked. Jessica hung her head, "Just stuff I remember hearing my Aunt telling my mom once." And they say kid's don't remember stuff from when they are younger. I had heard enough, moving next to her, I embraced her in my arms, "I'm so sorry Jessica, I had no right to grill you like that, please forgive me." Jessica started crying, I kissed her face, "I love you so much Jessica," I whispered. We embraced some more in silence, Jess stopped crying, and sniffed, "So you really thought I was good?" I looked her in the eye, "Now that I know the background to those stories, I thought you were brilliant, all three of you were terrific, to put something like that together is the time you had was incredible, you certainly have talent young lady." Jessica then looked up at me, "You're not mad at me about the play we did at the "cockroach?" I grinned, and said, "Just try not to get in the habit of using language like that, I'm your mom now, and it's my responsibility to steer you away from talking like that."

We then fell into a discussion about the sand storms and white outs, then she surprised me, "When are we going home?" I smiled, "Don't tell me you've had enough of Burning Man already?" "Ugh," replied Jessica, "I'll never get clean again, that "hadjj" thing I've been wearing is the only thing that's keeping all that crappy dirt out of my mouth and hair." "Well Greg and I did want to see the "man" burn, but that's not until Monday." Jessica remained silent for a moment, then said, "My friends told me about a really neat place to dance; they play some really cool beats." "We'll be sure to check it out tomorrow," I replied, that is unless these blasted sand storms don't blow us away.