Incense Cedar

            I did my gig in Venice on Saturday. Tree Man sat in with us again. I love Tree Man. Oddly enough; I was on my way to dip my toes in the ocean on a break when I saw a man standing on a flatbed truck in the parking lot. He was moving what looked like infant pine trees around.

            “Are those pine trees?” I asked.

            “Incense Cedar,” he replied.

            He was a volunteer for an organization called Vietnam Vets for Trees or something like that. He was wearing a cowboy hat and had on a pair dark sunglasses. He proceeded to give me a lesson on Incense Cedar Trees. Then he gave me a seedling to take home. I was happy to have the tree. I walked the tree to my car and placed it in a cup holder for safe keeping. It looked like a little hitchhiker sitting there.

            I didn’t get a chance to dip my toes in the water, but on the way back to the bar I saw a man in leopard skin shorts dancing on the boardwalk with two sacks on his head, a sack of beans, and a sack of rice.