Do you want to play some eight ball?

Skip finds a location he likes. It is on the side of a hill. He starts digging and ripping vegetation out of the ground. He punctuates his dirt and foliage rearranging with swigs off his 2-liter plastic bottle of Dr. Skipper soda. Then he rips open a machine rolled clove cigarette and dumps the tobacco on a tin lid. Skip blends the tobackey with the wackey and rolls it all up with a Zig Zag. He places the rolley in his mouth and lights it with a florescent green lighter. He crosses his skinny legs and communes with the carbon dioxide that he is releasing with his shovel. Then he's back spinning around like a tornado digging, exploring, sorting rocks, stacking rocks and then he stops and builds a fire. Skip drinks some more soda and rolls another cigarette. He grabs a twig that is burning on one end and lites his spliff. Skip gets up and collects brush, branches and twigs and throws them on his fire. Embers ride the waves of heat, shoot into the sky and blink out into flimsey grey ash that rain onto the ground in slow motion. The coyotes begin to sing in their way and Skip smiles. This is where he will sleep tonight.

Skip hops into his old grey compact Toyota and speeds off. He's heading to one of his kivas in Meiner's Oaks. He sleeps here on occasion. Less than he used to. His friend John is the owner and his apprentice. John has allowed his back yard to be the focus of Skip's machinations. The kiva initially was pretty small and unobtrusive. As John's inspiration grew so did the kiva. One day Skip and John put their heads together. They decide to dock the kiva to the house. It will be an addition. Don't worry about inspections or zoning laws. This is art baby!

John gets more and more inpired. Pretty soon, he's got three more kivas for a total of four. Too bad he only has a 1/4 acre to work his land altering magic. He must feel the need to expand because one of his kivas is starting to grow onto the neighbor's yard. Yep, so what if there's a fence in the way, just dig under it.

And of course, the earth is pretty big. Damn big. Why not dig a tunnel? There's no water around here. John digs and digs and digs. Pretty soon he has a tunnel that travels 23 feet down and is 92 feet long. This is where John will make his pool hall. Not for swimming, We're talking billiards, cueballs, eight ball. It is kind of like getting a ship in a bottle. John carries all the pieces thru the tunnel and then builds it in his newly dug out pool hall.

In his eagerness to play some pool, John does not leave enough room for the cue stick when the cueball is near the edge of the table. Get back to work John, shave down those walls. Finally, there is enough room for some eight ball. John waits for Skip to return from his adventure in the state of New York. The day arrives and John finds Skip at his own personal commisary: Antonio's.

John tells Skip that he has something to show him. Skip agrees to meet John at his place. Skip finishes his giant burrito and guzzles down a giant icey margarita and smokes one of his roll ups. Now he's ready to see what trouble his apprentice has been up to.

He arrives in his tiny car with a rush of air and the sound of tires skidding on sandy asphalt. The gate to the back yard is open and he walks on thru. The kiva's wall is made up of green, brown and clear bottles. There are multi-colored christmas lights which circle the the roof and proved a bizarre carnival atmosphere. Still no sign of John, Skip enters the exanded kiva and walks down the steps. He can see the tunnel now and does not know whether to be concerned or excited. He can hear a familiar sound but he's not sure what it is. Rock's clicking? hmm. The tunnel keeps going and Skip has to stoop his shoulders and hunch down. "I hope there won't be an earthquake." He mutters. Finally he can see the light at the end of the tunnel and then he is walking into the brightness.

John smiles: "Do you want to play some eight ball?"