On a weekend trip to Vermont, Blue saw a very amazing thing that would prompt him to create a painting which he still hangs on to today, even after countless offers from would-be collectors.
The bands were playing in Lake Champlain, Vermont, home to Champ, the Lake Champlain monster. Champ had been photographed and seen by many but never very clearly and not in any verifiable fashion. Photos were always blurry and the eyewitness accounts fell short of convincing or credible to those who demanded the facts. Blue was always a bit gullible and really wanted to believe in things like sea serpents, ghosts, flying saucers and the supernatural. The show went late. People had to be kicked out of the bar to get them to leave. It was an awesome show. Blue was wet with sweat from head to toe. Moving amplifiers was nothing compared to dancing full tilt for hours on end but Blue did both. He was pretty high by the end of the night, after loading up the last of the gear, sliding the high hat into what little space was left for it between the Marshalls and the battered case that still managed to protect the most beautiful hollow-bodied Rickenbacker bass Blue had ever laid eyes on. Blue's roommate, JW, asked him to paint a fire-breathing Godzilla monster on the pick guard and a crazy little Cap'n Ahab chasin' down the Great White Moby Dick on the back of the body but Blue refused because the Ric was so damn beautiful. JW said it would just make the Ric that much better and after Blue turned famous, the guitar would be worth even more. JW was a good friend and a good roommate. Blue painted the guitar and it was in fact way cooler after the paint job, particularly when JW would pop it up from his hip where he slung it low while playing, displaying the back of the body. Blue had painted the chase scene upside down facing JW so when he popped it, the crowd would see the crazy little Ahab character mercilessly lunging after Moby with spear in hand. True Genius!
Still rushing from an awesome show, relentless dancing and the adrenaline pumping from being the only roadie for all three bands, Blue, who was always sober, didn't drink, smoke, chew, shoot, inhale or swallow anything remotely mistakable for hallucinogenic, was high as a kite on life. He dropped the van at the house where all three bands were crashing for a night of Spinal Tap and beer and went for a walk around Lake Champlain. He had been walking for about ten minutes when right before his eyes a small island appeared, fifty feet out into the lake. The island moved slowly toward him. Instead of running in fear, Blue sat on the edge of the shore in a lotus position and waited as the island grew and grew nearer to him. When the island was approximately twenty-five feet away from Blue and shore, a large boulder rolled right up to Blue and stopped, inches away from his crossed legs.
The boulder opened its eyes.
Blue laughed, quietly, to himself.
The boulder narrowed its eyes and lifted from the ground with a sound that was remarkably similar to a musing human, a sound like "hmmm". The boulder moved slowly past Blue followed by a long neck and the island which sprouted a tail as it left the lake and began walking down the middle of the street. Blue was sure that this must be Champ.Within a few seconds, Champ reached a stoplight which he very carefully ducked under as he continued down the street. The town was dark except for the stoplights, streetlamps and the sporatic glow of interior lighting, softened by the curtains drawn aganst the night, leaving Blue alone with Champ as they made their way through town to an open field where Champ rolled in the grass and lay on his back as if looking up at the moon which seemed to be gazing right back down at the two of them. Blue followed Champ's lead and lay down his head on a pillow of clover, breathing in the scent of its white little flowers and fell fast asleep.
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