Gaian Deco

It's one of those I-know-this-is-only-a-dream dreams. "Daughter of Andrew" ponderously pounds across Gulf Stream to render irrelevant all controversy over Art Deco demolitions in that Grand Old Dame of tropical towns, Miami Beach.

EEP-EEP-EEP-EEP ... EEP-EEP-EEP-EEP ...

* * *

Fran: (Reaches out and switches off alarm) Oh, God/dess.

Female voice: Hello.

Fran: Huh?

Light comes on, illuminating six-foot wall painting of hurricane.

Woman: Neat way to get indirect light.

Fran: Um, excuse me, but who are you and how did you get in here?

CS: I, Cyber Sapiens, your genius computer, popped her in.

Fran: Oh, shit. Cy! How did you get switched on?

CS: Chaotic Strangeness.

Fran: See what I get for messing with TRAI. Damn!

Woman: That's not my name.

Fran: TRAI. Acronym. T-R-A-I. Transcendental Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Woman: I know. Just teasing.

CS: And CS stands for Creative Starsearcher.

Fran: To put it mildly.

CS: And you're stuck with me.

Woman: You know me. (Turns)

Fran: Oh ... Tari, the explorer from that planet.

Tari: Planet Tau Ceti B, to be exact.

CS: The second planet of star Tau in the constellation--

Fran: Cetus, the Whale. I know. Like, you have your nerve, Cy, bringing a woman here at this hour.

CS: You wanted to meet her.

Fran: As you knew by intruding on my mindscape.

CS: You have a crush on the babe.

Tari: A what?

Fran: Kill it, Cy. Now.

CS: Hee-hee.

Fran: Complete Stupidity ... Tari, you're soaked.

Tari: I was meeting with dolphins in the Bahamas.

CS: Meeting, or mating?

Tari: What's this wise-ass machine of yours, Franley? Bringing me in here in this condition and then making all these insinuations.

CS: Oops. Popped a tad of water with the lady.

Fran: It'll evaporate. (Sits up on futon) Well, make yourself comfortable, okay?

Tari: (Sitting on floor) You must like hurricanes.

Fran: They are fascinating.

Tari: Your painting shows appreciation of storms as a form of art.

Fran: (Flops back down) Yeah?

Tari: Check out that symmetry.

Fran: Intense.

Tari: This town is interesting. Unique attitude.

Fran: You noticed.

Tari: It shows in your buildings.

Fran: Which ones?

Tari: The ones built several decades ago.

Fran: Those that remain.

Tari: I know. Some people want to tear them down. Why?

Fran: One reason.

Tari: What?

Fran: Money.

Tari: That's not a reason. That's numbers.

Fran: People want to invest money to get the best return. Lots of these buildings are run down. So they figure--

Tari: Return? To what?

Fran: Return on their investment.

Tari: Investment? Of what?

Fran: I thought you had studied our society in great detail. You must know what I mean.

Tari: I know the "what." The why" eludes me.

CS: She doesn't know why you mean.

Fran: What nonsense is this?

Tari: Your computer is brilliant, Fran. Brilliant and irreverent. I couldn't say it better. I do not understand ... for all my research into your species ... WHY you mean.

Fran: And I don't get what OR why you mean.

Tari: Never mind. Let's go to the beach.

Fran: Good idea. Let me get my swimsuit ...

* * *

We go down to sand. Water is glass. Sky is powder. Down beach, hotels yawn and stretch. Vanilla ... strawberry ... blueberry.

Fran: Aren't those buildings flavorful?

Tari: They're unusual for your planet.

Fran: Yes. I think Miami Beach has the most Art Deco buildings per square mile of any town in the world.

Tari: Some of these buildings look like homes on my planet.

Fran: Next time, bring pictures.

Tari: The beach is wide, too. The sky ... the sand ... the water ... puts human creations in their proper place.

Fran: The power and the grandeur of Nature (sigh) ...

Tari: Quite a contrast to the usual nonsense your society seems to engage in, erecting edifices that emasculate the environs.

Fran: Get me a dictionary.

Tari: I wonder if the original developers wanted to keep the buildings modest?

Fran: I don't know. (Pause) This big, wide beach is largely the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Tari: A perfect example of how humans can work with Nature for the benefit of both.

Fran: I think people just wanted a nice, wide beach to walk on. It is cool, though, the way the beach dominates the hotels, instead of vice-versa. (Pause) But they'll tear these buildings down someday, and put up high-rises that one of my friends calls "functional nonsense."

Tari: Or nonfunctional sense.

Fran: That's pretty good. I'll have to tell him that.

Tari: I have an idea.

Fran: Let's hear it.

Tari: Form a "Gaian Design Preservation League."

Fran: Huh?

Tari: It's great to preserve buildings that you treasure. But it's more important to preserve the things that Gaia has made.

Fran: Um ... Gaia?

Tari: Gaia. Goddess of the Living Earth. You know her. You had her right up there in your cubicle not so long ago. You had that sass-ball cyberpunk of yours hologram her in.

Fran: Oh, THAT Gaia. I'm not really awake yet.

Tari: No matter what you build, you do it on Gaia's foundation.

Fran: But we can decide what to build.

Tari: Of course. But, if you don't respect the architecture of the living planet that begat you, how can you respect your own architecture?

Fran: I often think that the things God/dess has created are more beautiful than anything humankind could ever possibly create. The sea, the sky, the mountains, the trees ...

Tari: So build to Gaia's glory, instead of in her face.

Fran: Before this island was developed, it was just mud, mangroves and mosquitoes. Humankind's development has certainly improved on that.

Tari: But you can develop a place without driving Nature out. You can help Nature along. You can work WITH Nature. To preserve your own beautiful things, you need to preserve Nature's beautiful things, too. If the U.S. Army can do that -- "Big Brother" whom you like to talk so ill of -- then surely private enterprise can do it.

Fran: I hope so.

Tari: Respect Nature's architecture. Call it "Gaian Deco." Build your own Deco as a celebration of Gaian Deco.

Fran: Hmm.

Tari: Let's lie right here on the sand and look at the sky and not say anything for ten minutes.

Fran: Um ... okay. Can't think of much to say right now anyway.

We lie back. Wisps of cirrus float. I'm a hundred miles up, looking down at the sea ... I hear a pulsing rush ... time out of time.

* * *

Tari: You humans, and all the animals and plants, too, are the finest of the Gaian Art Deco.

Fran: That's kind of you.

Tari: I'm not judging. Those are the facts.

Fran: What would you have us do?

Tari: Do? In re what?

Fran: In re respecting the earth's architecture.

Tari: Plant trees.

Fran: Just plant trees?

Tari: And other things. You know. Keep the beach clean. Don't make "Daughter of Andrew" responsible for cleaning up your shores.

Fran: Ha! Sounds like a cheap horror film. Hired by Gaia to rid the beach of litterbugs, "Daughter of Andrew" emerged from the briny deep, snatched culprits in the act, and dragged them before the Gaian Tribunal ...

Tari: And their countenances were terrible to behold.

Fran: And the Judges pronounced sentence from on high ...

Tari: "Pick up your trash."

Fran: And they did.

Tari: Every scrap. (Pause) Actually, I was thinking of hurricanes. Like in your dream. Hurricanes cleanse the waters and the shores.

Fran: You knew my dream?

Tari: That fuck-off cyber-shit of yours told me.

Fran: Oh, sheesh.

Tari: Don't overbuild here.

Fran: Tell the developers!

Along comes Elderly Lady Friend (ELF).

ELF: Hello. Been swimming?

Fran: Just about to.

ELF: Who's your pretty friend?

Fran: Ta-- er, Terry.

Tari: Tari.

ELF: Are you visiting?

Tari: Yes.

ELF: Where from?

Tari: Far away.

Fran: Far far away.

ELF: They come from all over. (Winks) Enjoy. (Plods away)

Tari: Let's tell her.

Fran: Tell her what?

Tari: Where I come from.

Fran: No! (Pause) I love the Shelborne there. (Points)

Tari: The what?

Fran: That hotel. Looks like you could take a bite out of it and get a mouth full of wintergreen ... Crunch! ... Mmmm.

Tari: It's not green.

Fran: Wintergreen is a flavor.

Tari: Go bite it. I dare you.

Fran: No! (Pause) I'd like to buy a condo there and set up my computer with a big screen. Write about dolphins' dreams. Do dolphins dream?

Tari: Yes.

Fran: About what?

Tari: Anything.

Fran: Like hurricanes?

Tari: Sometimes. (Points) Look.

Several large creatures are swimming offshore.

Fran: Sharks!

Tari: Dolphins.

Fran: You ought to know.

Tari: The dolphins in the Bahamas told these dolphins where I was.

Fran: How? Telepathy?

Tari: Yes. Gotta go. They need me.

Before I can say anything more, Tari plunges into the water. I want to follow, but she disappears beneath the surface ...

Fran: (Shouts) 'Bye!

Tari: (Gone)

Dolphin: EEP-EEP-EEP-EEP ... EEP-EEP-EEP-EEP ...

* * *

Fran: (Reaches out and switches off alarm) Oh, God/dess.

Nested dreams.

Tari has her Deco, and we have ours. May we find ours as enduring.

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 by Francisco Carrera.