DRAGONS AT THE BURN

This fantasy is the Burning Man experience for all ages as seen through the eyes of a 12 yr old. Feel free to print out for your personal use. Suggestions and comments are WELCOME. jimboulden@yahoo.com Illustration © Morbideus Goodell morbideus@postmortemprod.com

 

 

DRAGONS AT THE BURN

© Jim Boulden 2005

 

Hi, this is Grandpa Jim again with another tall tale. I call this adventure “Dragons at the Burn.” It happened to my son Jonathan this past summer. This is his story as he told it to me.

 

Let’s begin at the beginning. My name is Jonathan and I’m an 8th grader at Weaverville Middle School. The adventure we are discussing took place in the Black Rock Desert near Pyramid Lake, Nevada.

 

This desert is one of the most barren places on the planet. It’s as flat as a pan and a hundred miles from anywhere. There aren’t any bushes or trees or grass. Strong winds from the surrounding mountains create blinding dust storms that sweep the area. Needless to say, it’s not a very nice place to hang out

 

This desert is totally deserted for all but one week out of the year. That is the week of the Burning Man.

 

If you aren’t familiar with the Burning Man, let me fill you in. It’s a big gathering that takes place once a year in which a lot of people come together to have fun and make friends.

 

I like the Burn because there aren’t any rules on how to behave. This means I can do things that I don’t get to do at home. I can eat as many chocolate chip cookies as I want. I can wear whatever clothes I want. I can play whenever I want with whom I want.

 

Also I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I don’t have go to bed early or take a bath for a whole week. In fact, most people at the Burn don’t. How does that sound?

 

So what’s the catch? Well, if you ever go to the burn, you’ll have to take care of yourself. There are no telephones or doctors or plumbers or police. There aren’t any stores and there is nothing to buy. There isn’t any television or video games. You can’t even call your friends, because cell phones don’t work.

 

You have to bring all your own water and food to the burn. If something goes wrong, you ask your neighbor for help. Like our car battery went dead and some guys from the next tent came over to give us a boost.

 

Everyone travels by foot or bicycle at the Burning Man. The only cars allowed to move are mutants and we will talk about them later.

 

So think about 40,000 adults and kids living for a week in tents, many of which are flying flags. Most everyone is wearing costumes such as dance hall girls, gorillas, preachers, Indians, and Arabs. Some of the people even dye their skin bright colors. My dad and I were dressed as Roman soldiers.

 

Some people belong to tribes that set up ways for others to have fun at the Burn. There are activities like roller skating and kite flying, but other games you have never heard of. Personally, I like the “Thunder Dome” best where fighters do combat, just like in the movies.

 

Dad and I enjoyed watching the performers in a large pavilion called Center Camp. There were jugglers, magicians, tight rope walkers, belly dancers, and other talented people. These activities went on all day and most of the nights. Anyone could participate.

 

Every hour or two a dust storm would blow through the camp making everyone rush to put on a goggle and face mask. The storms didn’t stop the celebrating, not one little bit. There was always a lot of laughter, dancing and singing. I didn’t see anyone mad or fighting, although that probably happened.

 

The one exception to all these good times was the black knight who was camped behind us. His black tent was flying a pennant with a red dragon on it.

 

The knight only came out after the sun went down and then he was in full black armor. He spent all his time looking at the sky through a big telescope and talking to himself in some strange language. I asked the knight if I could look through his telescope and he snarled at me to go away. He gave me the creeps.

 

We all looked forward to Saturday night when the Man was to be burned. The Man was a very tall stick statue covered with neon lights. You have probably seen a picture of the Man in the papers.

 

This area with the Man was bordered by at least a mile of brightly lit buildings and displays of every description. This included everything from stages with dancing girls to churches to bars to rides like merry-go-rounds. This mid-way was larger than any carnival you have ever seen. It had so many neon lights it looked like Las Vegas. For one week only, the Burning Man was the third largest city in Nevada. A week later it would be totally empty.

 

This special Saturday night I am writing about started when the sun went down over the mountains. This was when people started chanting “Make way for the lamplighters.”

 

A long line of white robed figures then emerged from Center Camp carrying hundreds of kerosene lanterns on poles across the shoulders of the bearers. As this parade came toward me, the lanterns were lifted by other lamplighters to high towers.

 

Everyone stopped to watch the crimson sunset as the light slowly faded away. Just then I saw a flash of fire streak across the sky and explode. It seemed to come from the tent of the black knight. But when I looked, there was no one there.

 

Mutant cars and trucks then started arriving to form a protective circle around the crowd. They were made up like battleships, trains and ocean liners. Some looked like pirate ships with cannons shooting flames. There were flying saucers firing lasers. All were carrying people in costume who were waving and singing.

 

Dad and I were sitting on the ground watching all this when I noticed a kid stretched out on the ground next to me. He was dressed like a dragon and hadn’t moved for a long time. I wondered if he was dead.

 

This worried me and I tapped the dragon to see if he was awake. That was when I notice his unusual costume. It was red and felt kind of rubbery and slimy, just like you would guess a dragon might feel like.

 

At first nothing happened, so I poked the dragon again. He slowly opened his eyes which looked like big yellow saucers with red pupils.

 

When I asked the dragon if he was all right, he let out a soft moan and began to rub his head. He did this for a time and then finally sat up. He had little stubby wings and a long powerful tail. One of his wings had a nasty looking bruise on it.

 

The dragon said his head hurt from the fall and that his wing was injured. Then he started looking around like he was afraid of something.

 

I told him everything was fine and that my name was Jonathan.

 

“Where am I?” The dragon hissed through his dagger like teeth. “What’s happening?”

 

“You’re at the Burning Man,” I replied. “Can’t you remember?”

 

“No I can’t,” said the Dragon, “it must be the bump on my head.” He then introduced himself as Danny Dragon. Nervously he looked around at all the different costumes and asked: “What are all these creatures?”

 

I explained that these creatures came from all over. There were majestic kings and royal queens, lots of monsters, wizards and witches, plus strange beings of all descriptions. Danny was totally amazed.

 

Finally, when no one paid much attention to either of us, Danny began to relax. “What’s that tall thing,” he asked, “pointing to the statue of the Man in front of us?”

 

I explained that the statue was called the Man and we would be burning it that night.

 

Danny was amazed. “You’re burning the Man? What did he do wrong? He must be a very bad person that all these creatures would come together to watch him burn.”

 

“We burn the Man for what he stands for,” I explained. “When the Man burns we are letting go of our own anger and sorrow. These are feelings we want to leave behind when we go home. Also we are having fun celebrating life.”

 

It was still hard for Danny to understand why we would build such a beautiful statue just so we could burn it down. To change the subject, I suggested we walk around and see what was going on. He agreed since never in a thousand years had he seen anything like this.

 

That was our first mistake. We were being watched and didn’t know it.

 

About this time we heard a cheer from the crowd and saw sky divers leaping from planes. The flyers fought bravely against the strong gusts of wind. Several times we saw a diver almost crash into the ground.

 

The crowd cheered as the divers descended, making giant spirals in the sky. They looked like brilliant moths flying toward the flames.

Danny watched with admiration. “That’s the reason I fell,” he said, “the winds are very strong up there and something hit my wing. I don’t see how these creatures can fly under such conditions.” Tenderly Danny touched the black and blue spot on the tip of his wing.

 

Danny continued to gasp as one surprise followed another. There were thousands of voices cheering, glow sticks and neon lights everywhere, music coming from all directions. It was intense, to say the least.

 

Then the drums began and a hundred fire twirlers began to perform. They were dressed in colorful costumes and fearlessly twirling balls of fire.

 

“I thought humans were afraid of fire,” remarked Danny. “Now I see them playing with it. Even I can’t dance so well as these creatures.”

 

Not to be outdone, Danny opened his mouth and sent out a splendid tongue of fire. The creatures around us clapped and asked him to do it again. Proudly my friend opened his mouth and spouted another flame, even larger than the first.

 

About this time a devil came strutting by waving a pitchfork. Ahead of him marched six demons of various kinds. One of them was beating a drum and threatening to send everyone to hell if they didn’t step aside. Danny was terrified.

 

“What’s the Devil doing here?” Danny whispered. Are we already in hell?”

 

“Some are!” I remarked. “And some are in heaven.”

 

We walked on a little further and encountered some angels. They were singing and ringing bells as they skipped along. Danny couldn’t believe his eyes. “You have both Devils and Angels here at the same time? How can this be? They are sworn to destroy each other.

 

I explained that all these creatures come together at the burn to make friends and have fun. It is a time to let go of fear and hatred.

 

About that time, Danny spotted a lovely lady dragon. She had golden wings and bushy black eyebrows. Danny whispered that he wanted to go talk with her. I told him to play it cool.

 

Danny’s face turned sort of pink as he waddled over to the Lady Dragon. I don’t think she saw him coming, because she let out a scream when he tapped her on the shoulder. In response, Danny made a loud growl and breathed out a long blue flame. Guess that was his way of saying “hello.”

 

This was too much for the lady dragon and she went running to her friends.

 

Danny was unhappy when he returned and asked me what he did wrong. I said he had just surprised the lady and should be gentler in the future. He said he would.

 

Next we heard horns blowing and a great cheer from the crowd. The sky came alive with rockets and aerial bombs of every color. It was the biggest display of fireworks I had ever seen. It was incredible.

 

“They’re going to kill me, whimpered Danny as he fell shaking to the ground.”

 

Placing my hand on his shoulder, I assured Danny that no one was going to hurt him. It was all part of the show.

 

Danny said the sky was full of bullets and bombs. He wanted his momma and daddy. Then he let out a cry that almost burst my ears.

 

Far off toward the mountains, I heard an answering cry and saw two large black shadows racing toward us. Danny’s parents looked like stealth bombers traveling faster than the speed of sound. The pirates next to me remarked that the air force must be sending some planes to join the party.

 

The two dragons circled the field looking for Danny. Then they started spouting fire and began to attack the Man. When the statue caught fire, the crowd began to cheer. This confused the dragons that were used to people screaming and running from them.

 

As the Man burst into flames, the mutant cars and trucks went into action. Many of them shot balls of flame into the air. Others started scanning the sky with their lasers. There were rockets and aerial bombs flying everywhere.

 

The dragons retreated and began circling high in the air. They had never seen anything like this and didn’t know what to make of it.

 

“There is going to be real trouble if we don’t do something,” Danny shouted in my ear. “Get on my back and let’s go talk to my folks. They need to know that I’m OK or they’ll tear this place apart.”

 

I jumped on Danny’s back and held on as hard as I could. His little wings started to beat faster and faster until they were just a blur. We took off like a giant bumble bee shot out of a cannon.

 

Again Danny made his strange call and his mom and dad turned toward us. They were huge. I was sure that their wings would knock us out of the sky.

 

Around and around we circled while Danny talked to his parents. He explained that there were creatures here that come to burn the Man. He told them about the Devil and the Angels. He also told them that I was his friend and had helped him when he was hurt.

 

The dragons began to calm down and their colors changed from black to gold. They thanked me for helping Danny and introduced themselves as Gar and Agar. They were golden dragons that lived on Mt. Shasta in Northern California.

 

They said they would give these creatures a party to remember. Like bolts of lightening, the two golden dragons plunged toward the crowd. I thought that was the end. When they pulled out at the last minute, a monstrous sonic boom shook the desert. Again the crowd cheered and waved.

 

Gar and Agar were started showing off by shooting fountains of broiling flames into the air. Then they circled each other and began to dance together in the moonlight. Their golden scales glistened in the night sky.

 

Looking down I saw a big commotion in the crowd. The Black Knight was fighting with two Indian Chiefs who were trying to keep him from putting a big tube on his shoulder. The knight was terribly strong and knocked both the Indians aside. Then there was a flash of light and a rocket came soaring out of the tube. The rocket was a heat seeking missile that was headed strait for Agar.

 

It was then that I realized that the Black Knight was a dragon slayer. It must have been his missile that I had seen earlier. He had shot Danny down so his parents would come save him. Now he was going to kill the golden dragons.

 

I explained this to Danny who shouted a warning to his parents. They started twisting and turning, but the missile followed them. It was very fast and there was no way for the dragons to escape. To make things worse, the Black Knight fired a second missile and it was tracking Gar.

 

It was about this time when the Burning Man slowly toppled to the ground. This set off another massive fireworks display. Bombs and rockets were exploding all around us. These drove the heat seeking missiles crazy. They zoomed round and round, up and down, moving from one explosion to another.

 

Finally the missiles ran out of fuel and crashed into the desert, safely away from the crowd. Crimson flashes from the explosions lit the sky and the sounds rolled like thunder across the desert. It was spectacular.

 

When I looked down to see if the Black Knight was firing again, he was nowhere in sight. I guess things got a little too hot for him down there when people realized what he was doing.

 

The dragons later explained to me that the Black Knight worked for an evil wizard called Morgan. The dragons and Morgan had been waging a war against each other for hundreds of years. They agreed to tell me that story sometime. Right then they just wanted to get Danny home where it was safe.

 

You can imagine how surprised Dad was when I climbed down from Danny’s back. This was weird even for Burning Man. Then Danny gave me a scale from his tale to remember him by. I gave him a feather that had always brought me good luck. We agreed to meet again sometime.

 

Mom was waiting when we arrive back home on Monday. She had seen pictures of the burn on TV, but no mention of the dragons. I figured this was another government cover-up. That’s why I wrote this story to get the truth out.

 

Every night I rub the dragon scale that Danny gave me and think about the adventure we had together. One thing I learned that night was that it’s great to meet new friends who are a little different from me. They are sometimes even more interesting than kids that look, think and act just like I do.

 

So that’s all there is to tell. Now you know what really happened at the Burning Man this year. Keep your eyes open. You may be lucky enough to meet Danny and his parents some day. If you do, tell them Jonathan said “Hi”.

 

P.S. After writing this, I began to wonder about the Devil and the Angels. I had thought that they were in costume, but maybe they were real. What about the other creatures at the burn? Things are not always what they seem.