RUDIMENTS, pt. 857
(if that is so, yes, I'll take t)
Like a character in Blake
one of his nurse things or
chimney sweeps or children,
most of what I ever met was
not real, just more a 'symbol'
of a type. It got adventuresome
sometimes. A few times -
real surprises. One time, I was
down at the old, factory end of
Keyport, walking the dune/marsh
there. Up the other end now, it's
all fixed up, touristy, bars and
restaurants, waterfront walkway,
all that crap. There's even a
fishing pier! Not my cup of
tea at all, that end. This is
way down the other end, off
Hazel Street, actually, and a
walk. You've got Myrtle, then
Cedar, then Walnut. Old
nothing streets with some
houses on them, and the water,
and an old factory district.
Most of it's a wreck now, and
the only real remnants are some
beat-up buildings, and an old
water tower - steel, rusting.
-
Out of nowhere, and I mean
that literally, this old woman
materializes. She begins talking
to me, startling me. I had no
idea she was there, how she'd
arrived, or where she came from.
At that moment, I was, with a
camera, gazing up at the old
water tower, now derelict and
behind fencing. Ruination was
everywhere, and off to the left of
me was the bay, and across from
that, NYC. She said: "Do you
know of Juan Trippe? Do you
know who Juan Trippe was? I
was his secretary, for many years.
He was a very great man." The
rest of this remains fuzzy to me,
try as I may to recreate it. I'll
tell you why, but you'll not
take it too well : it was in another
dimension. I do not believe this
lady was actually there before
me in this reality. In our time
this would have been about 2010.
But it wasn't. I felt that she was
after something, and had a great
need to impart to me some lost
quality about the man and the
time she spoke of. It was a funny
feeling. When I return there now,
as I did today, I see the old water
tower is still there. The fencing
seems newer. The siting the same,
though she has never returned,
nor have I ever gotten the actual
story straight. Trippe founded what
became Pan Am,a once-great
America carrier. Much like Tesla
and Edison, Eddie Rickenbaker
and others, at about the same time
started Trans Word Airlines, known
to us as TWA. Also defunct, I think.
She said something along the lines
of - "Early aviation was treacherous;
there were mail routes and sea
planes involved, lots of unknowns,
things still developing. I was Juan's
secretary and I witnessed it all.
One time I took a call and it was
the President of the United States.
He was calling, to talk to Juan.
When the President calls, you
drop whatever you're doing and
tend to it. I went and got Juan.
The President told him he needed
a plane, the next afternoon, in
Washington DC, for some purpose
or another. It was vital. Juan said,
'Yes, sir. I'll have it taken care of.
I'll be there, time appointed.' They
used to like to fly those early
planes out of here, it was a strip,
out over those yards and fields.
Nothing was there then, and getting
quickly out over the open water
was safer. Juan made it big, he
made it really big. That man was
a complete success, and a world
legend. I was part of it too. You
should find out more, and tell
others. With your pictures and
your stories. Don't ever let him
be forgotten. Now people think
nothing of air flight. Even gone
to the moon! Juan was the man
who made all that possible."
And then she leaned back on a
post the was there, and lit a
cigarette, and smoked it as I
watched and talked. And then
I turned back, and she was
there no longer.
-
This is all true, and if your
Mother or your Father is yet
alive, I will swear the truthfulness
to them too. I don't often dwell
in real time; as I've said. My own
life is a declension of time within
a dimension of time, as they
overlap and inter-roil. I don't
even know the half of what
she may have been talking
about. Yes, there is something
there, the ruins of something; but
I've seen historic photos from
Keyport archives : at that
location I've seen trolley
sheds, and boat building. In
fact, if you look it up, the last
boat (large) that Abraham
Lincoln ever rode on came out
of that boat factory, which is
spoken about much as this
Juan Trippe plane thing.
There's an old, old anchor on
the grass here, and I photo'd
that too; it's at the location
of the old ship-launch, and
the factory owner's and
shipbuilder's house (mansion
like, then) is still there, with
a marker on it. He too died,
like the rest, but he died
mysteriously, somewhere
else, far-off, on some boat
fact-find trip, searching for
something. Believe me, I
fully expect, one of these days,
when I'm there, to also meet,
coming out of the fog and mist, a
wizened, old, dogged boat-master,
who will tell me all of his tales
and stories of woe. The world
is miraculous, yes - if you
only let it be so.
-
Yet. Yet, I am hard-pressed to
find any references to air flight
here. There seems to be none of
the usual glib, small-town and
historic 'pride' references; no
blow-hards (except me?) who
go on about it, and what they
saw or remember, witnessed or
were told. Maybe that all leaves
in a legion of one. If that's so, yes
I'll proudly take it nonetheless.
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