The Bonnie and Clyde Files 3

I walked out of the probation office into drab sunshine. I felt dizzy, on the verge of collapse. I had just spent a half hour inside a small windowless room where a human misery pinball machine was played deftly by an unknown being. I was inside the machine, one of the rubber bumpers. Other men were the steel balls. Careen. Collide. Ring. Ding. Bells. Lights. Game over. No score except negative numbers. Have you ever heard the sound of human misery pinball machine being played? Have you ever watched a game?

The Talking Heads’ “Take Me to the River” entered my mind. I hadn’t heard the song in 25 years. I never really liked it but there it was, playing in my head, with its slow gospel groove.

Take me to the river indeed, where Bonnie and Clyde are, where I can walk and talk with them, release everything into the water. I might even jump in!

I drove to the sanctuary and didn’t get a ticket. Bonnie and Clyde were waiting at the gate. Clyde tried working up a howl. He knows who I am now. I stuffed my pockets with treats, unlocked the gate, and we made for the river. I walked faster than usual and the old outlaws kept up with me. I heard a bald eagle make its twerping sound overheard. I didn’t bother looking up. It was there and that was enough. We kept moving through the tall grass and I occasionally glanced at the Lewis and Clark River to our right.

The river floweth. I feel compelled to type an old word like floweth because “flowed” wouldn’t suffice, not after that game of pinball.

I saw two people, a man and a woman, near the ODFW fish trap. Joy! I would quiz them on their study and get the dope.

Twenty minutes later, I had the dope: chum salmon research. The biologists were young and hailed from North or South Dakota where wild salmon don’t exist. They were thrilled to be in Oregon studying wild fish. They were thrilled to meet Bonnie and Clyde. We shared the river together and parleyed about matters of keeping the river alive. Then I left them alone to get on with their gig and Bonnie, Clyde and I headed back.