The whirring of a helicopter woke
me. Could be it was just the ceiling
fan. Like in Apocalypse Now. In the version of the opening scene that I
play in my head there are choppers, palm trees, napalm, & Morrison crooning
psychedelic “This is the End…” – but they’re the palm trees of Venice, &
the view out thru the venetian blinds is of the Hollywood sign.
The word “helicopter” comes from the
Greek helix (helicos) meaning “spiral” & pteron meaning “wing”.
This makes me think of Hermes, the Greek god of literature, learning
& science. He invented the lyre
& the flute—but he is also the god of thieves. While the wings at his ankles were never
reported to be “spiral wings”, I always figured that he served as a kind of
eye-in-the-sky for Zeus.
Here it was just a
police helicopter, evidently looking for someone or something. Searchlights strafing the backyard. The neighborhood dogs started barking &
off in the distance I could hear sirens approaching.
