The Hotel Ezekiel
Jasper leaned into the bar. “Two whiskey wells please.”
“Sure thing, Hun.” The bartender went to pour the drinks.
Jasper turned to Tyson, who sat on the stool next to him. “Tyson! This is it. This is what we’ve wanted!”
Tyson’s face glazed over. Jasper always had this idea that they thought of things similarly. Jasper was a Biologist and Tyson was a Naturalist. He braced himself for the usual acumination of political spew. “Okay, Jasper, lay it on me.”
“I think buildings…” He grabbed the shots from the bartender and turned back. “I think buildings… need roots.” Jasper raised his glass for a toast from Tyson, who raised his glass slowly into Jasper’s, before he realized that Tyson’s expression had gone long. He thought of what the world would might be like if cities were grown, instead of built. He took a shot and smiled. Jasper saw his friend’s familiar smirk and smiled too.
2
Tyson was a tree. He was about 6’4” with an 84” reach. He leaned up against his jeep parked next to a gathering of thick brush. Their perimeter had been established and a camp for the next couple nights had been set up before the approaching dusk.
“Jax!” Tyson called across the bushes.
Three barks echoed between the trees of the forest’s edge. Birds followed the sound up and out from the canopy. Jax appeared in front of Tyson.
“Good boy, Jax.” Tyson said, and patted Jax on the head.
“That dog is a good listener,” Jasper said, “You make sure he stays that way on the hike.”
“Just make sure you can find this place,” Tyson replied.
“The path has already been drawn out. It won’t take anytime at all,” Jasper said, as he stood and watched Jax as he emerged from the trees.
Tyson didn’t trust Jasper on this. He smiled as he patted Jax on the head. His ears folded down under Tyson’s large hand. Tyson scratched his dog’s neck and stood back up. Spring was bright among them. The air was fresh and light. The low whistle of its breeze a sweet natural comfort.
Tyson loved the dirt he walked on. If he didn’t have a family and friends that lived in the city he probably would have lived on his own, in a tent, posted out amongst the wilderness. He would be just fine out in the woods, with Jax. He often visited the idea. Tyson had imagined his camp site, when Jasper told Him what he wanted to do. It was ridiculously idealistic, but he enjoyed rooting for an underdog or supporting the visions of the dreamer—a real lush. It was just an idea, but Tyson liked the inventive and minimalist nature of the plan. They were out there digging for it. They were trying to find a seed to plant. The start of new life for times to come.
There was a waterfall. Jasper new it to be a very rich source of soil nutrients. He wanted to study the surrounding vegetation to try and mimic the strongest example possible. He needed Tyson to be his survivalist consultant. Tyson had one condition. If he was going to be a part of this trip. Jax had to come.
They cooked red meat that night. They brought it along to celebrate the start of their endeavor. Jasper put the cuts on a metal rack, hung above the fire, as he said, “Here’s to harmony and nature.”
3
Tyson, Jasper, and Jax all got a cut of the steak for themselves. They all needed to be well rested in the morning, and fit with a full stomach to sleep. They would start to scout the next morning. Jasper may talk about “a path” that is planned, but Jasper was a scientist. That was why he needed Tyson. Tyson knew the land in a different way than Jasper understood it. Jasper understood how the forest existed from outside of it. Tyson knew how to survive in it, and how it existed around him.
The sun broke over the trees in the morning. It acknowledged a new day and brought potential to an empty slate. They entered the forest from three sites marked, by a bandanna tied around a branch, on the outside tree-line.
The forest was thick. Their environment blessed with movement all around them as they moved through knee high grass. “Jesus! We should’ve brought a riding mower out here,” Jasper said as he lifted his left foot from the grass past his shins.
“Toughen up, Jasper, it’s at least a threeday hike.” Tyson lifted his chest up as he used his square belly to bend a branch from the path.
“Three days of this…” he said as he struggled to move through the branch that Tyson had just moved past.
“Ha-ha! Come on! To Harmony and Nature!” Tyson bellowed out. Jax let out a Bark. The weather became denser as they curled down into sunken valleys. The air almost felt like a weight they took on each time they breathed. Each moment making them increasingly tired, their steps began to feel much more rapid.
“I’m glad to see you’re able to get out here and do this,” Tyson said.
They had hiked for three hours now and Jasper began to sweat and noticed his fatigue. He leaned against a tree. “Hold up. Jesus I need to breathe a bit….”
4
Tyson was smiling at his friend. “Got the path all laid out huh?” Tyson straightened his wide shoulders. “No time at all you said.”
Jasper shook his head with humility. “How far is it, are we close?”
Tyson being a little disappointed in his friend turned from him. “Bout two and a half days out I imagine.” Tyson took a couple fast steps forward to make sure he could see Jax. He gave a quick whistle like a spark. Jax’s head pivoted to Tyson. “Come on, boy!” Tyson called.
Jax bullied through a couple large rubber bushes. He came out the other side, running up to sit directly next to Tyson’s legs.
“Good boy, Jax.” Tyson encouraged.
“Three days, Tyson?” Jasper only responded out of shock. “There is no way! I looked it over on the map.”
“Did you account for how slow you’d be moving?”
Jasper shrugged. “I guess I made some rounding errors.”
“Yeah, sure. It was a rounding error,” Tyson said, as he used a machete to clear a path through the waist high plants in front of them. A couple days before the trip, Tyson sharpened that blade for two hours. He hacked out a path with steady swings working with his stride. He cut into a clearing where the canopy was opened and the sunlight illuminated the smallest of particles floating in the air. The array of pollens and fibers floating loose trough the hot years of springs reproduction.
As Jasper entered the clearing he wiped the sweat from his forehead up through his hair. “So how long until camp then?” He asked.
Tyson shrugged and adjusted the pack on his back. “Not until Jax gets tired.” He looked at the sparsely filled bag strapped to Jaspers back. “Did you bring everything you need?”
Jasper didn’t respond.
Tyson sent Jax up ahead of them.
Jasper cursed that dog through the end of the day, hoping to break the dogs will early. But as he struggled Jax drooled in Jasper’s face and wagged his tail, only to turn and trot on.
“Damn, mutt, tired, aren’t you? I see it in your eyes you, Beast!”
“Come on, Tyson said to Jasper, “Jax didn’t do anything to you.”
“He means to kill me, Tyson. Do you give him steroids? He is built like a horse.”
“He appreciates the compliment.”
Jasper turned to see Jax on his back in the grass folding to his own weight. His tongue hung drooling from the side of his mouth, falling with the direction of gravity over his canine teeth.
“See, he was just waiting to know he had you beat.” Tyson said, pointing to Jax.
“Oh, I’ll beat him.”
“Hey, Harmony and Nature, friend, remember?”
“Mmm, yes, Harmony and Nature.” He tossed his pack onto the ground. “Let’s make peace for the night with it.”
They set up their tents that first night 14 miles from their Jeep. The Jeep still miles from the main road. Certain pockets of the forest held the heat better than others. They slept in a cool opening with a couple of trees to keep them from rain.
It rained, coming down in gallons at a time. Before Tyson could calm Jax down he howled at the loud roar of the water on the tent. Jasper couldn’t sleep. His consciousness consumed with the thought of his tent flooding in. The roof of his tent tearing at the unrelenting pounding it took. Jasper felt more helpless than he cared for as he watched the thin material that separated him from the elements quake. He finally committed to the idea of sleeping his sudden fright away, and lulled himself off to sleep.
It was such a violence he had never heard before. Jasper, Tyson, and Jax lay in their tents. Jax curled up next to Tyson, after he stopped barking, and the sides of the tents whipped with the available slack they had in the wind.
Jasper waited for the wind to tear the side of his tent open.
5
He watched wave after wave come with the rain. Eventually Jasper passed out, as his eyes slowly lost focus of the seams of his tent.
They all arose the next morning, to the sound of each other. In lieu of the night’s terrors, with pale faces, they stepped from their tents. The grass seemed to have grown an inch from the rain in the night. It beamed more brightly, like they could still see the light bounce off the water soaked into the blades of grass.
“Some shower last night, huh?” Tyson asked.
“Yea, it was something for sure.”
Jax ran over to Jasper to say hello and rubbed his nose on Jasper’s leg. He ran around Jasper once and let out a bark.
“Guess it’s time to go then,” Jasper said, and leaned down towards Jax.
Tyson enjoyed the friendly competition that Jasper shared with Jax. A person will compete with anything, he thought. Tyson enjoyed a good show of man involved in an intimate relationship with an animal.
Jax wagged his tongue in Jasper’s face, then jogged back around him—only to sprint up ahead again. Jasper loved that dog. Tyson knew this. Jax knew this, but Jasper was unaware. Jasper would have never survived the trip, if he hadn’t had somebody to push him. His inner drive, not to be bested by a mutt, was what got him by.
The second night they camped, it rained again. Jasper was very happy that Tyson had caught them some fish for dinner from the stream, which they had followed up hill to find the site. Jasper found it was easier to sleep in the rain, when he was sincerely full.
They reached the waterfall at the end of the second day.
“Ah! Christ! It’s beautiful. I’m so thankful we don’t have to walk anymore!” Jasper shouted.
“Hope you can work your magic here,” Tyson said.
“Science is the new-world’s magic,” Jasper said, and grinned. “I’m like a wizard.” Then tossed his pack down next to a tree that stood at the opening of the path.
The water was like endless sapphires spilling over each other. They pushed and splashed as they tumbled into the river to make room for more. The river carried them away with the slope of the mountain. The waterfall crushed them together at the bottom of the fall like an avalanche, misting that blue into white-light water settling as dew on the surrounding ground. The plants closer to the fall seemed vibrant and to be true examples of vitality. Their green color noble in shade. Their stalks and branches without flaw, showing integrity of a stable and sturdy growth.
6
“Going to get some good research done here,” Jasper said, and eagerly set to work roping off his test sites. He divided the location into sectors and labeled the plants of focus. Several small plants were marked, but you could see Jasper’s jaw go loose as he roped off a tree that stood just before the water dropped over the fall. The tree’s roots dug into the earth atop the edge. The water constantly moved over the location.
“So how long on your end?” Tyson hollered. Jasper had just finished setting up a cooler fit to hold 16 chilled samples. Jasper didn’t even turn to his friend, but raised a finger. “You can’t rush science, or a good thing, Tyson,” he said over his shoulder.
Tyson yawned, rolled his eyes, and slumped down against a nearby tree. His chin tilted into his chest. Jax trotted over to him and nudged his cheek with his wet nose. The evening came and the orange light from the sun ran down the river like an amber paint had spilled into the water, becoming warm coals that mixed over the cool blue sapphires. Tyson watched Jasper clip his first couple of sample branches and run them through certain chemicals to record the reactions. Jasper dug wide holes around certain plants, to reveal half of the plants roots below the surface, without removing them completely from the soil.
Tyson had almost fallen asleep in that warm evening light, when Jasper approached him with two shovels slung over his right shoulder. He tossed one on the ground next to Tyson. Tyson shook, sitting up straight. As he did he tossed Jax from his lap. Tyson glared at his friend. “What the hell?”
“You’re not done yet,” Jasper said, with a small huff, as if Tyson should have known.
“What are you talking about?” Tyson stood up leaving the shovel on the ground next to his feet.
Jasper smirked. He looked like he couldn’t stop himself. He pointed up to the tree that stood like a Guardian above all the other plants surrounding it. In a relationship, equal with the river. It’s base sitting right on the bank.
When Tyson and Jasper had reached it on the top side of the water fall. They could see its roots stretched like twisting iron through the rushing water, which curved folds in the way that the cool sapphire blanket lay on the ground. Only on the river’s folds could you see that this was a body in motion. It very swiftly, prompt in judgment, made its way around the tree’s stout roots. You could feel the cool mist kicking off those folds caused from the iron-roots dug through to the river bed. Water marks started to appear on their cloths, on their right sides, as they both leaned over to consider what they had deemed the center of their research.
Night approached and Tyson immediately regretted not paying closer attention to Jasper as he had prepped the previous examples in the site. Those had been much smaller and suitable learning projects. Jasper started explaining to Tyson how his patience and care was important. “We’re cutting around it,” he said, as his arms traced a half circle around the perimeter of the roots’ structure. It marked the area that they could dig around that wouldn’t compromise the river bed.
“Your strokes with the shovel need to be gentle or your you will slice the roots in half.” Jasper swiftly demonstrated a light touch, as he scooped a soft patch of the grass off the top.
“I get it, Jasper, don’t hurt the thing. Can we start now?”
Their shovels moved like a song. They seldom spoke, as they begun to clear away the dirt form the structure of the roots. They played the steady sound the metal made, as it chiseled into the ground, plush under a point. They softly spread the earth below them. Both became a witness to what it housed below.
Tyson briefly felt like an archeologist. He brushed the dirt from small roots he had uncovered to delicate to work at with the shovel. As more ground came up around them, and the moonlight had a chance to settle in, they became deeper entwined in the cursive knots they tried to dig up. The frame of dirt they maintained for the trees support became more fragile as they worked.
Jasper had a couple of gardening spades he had used on all the smaller bushes and plants. As the work became more delicate so did the tools they used. Tyson looked annoyed when he saw Jasper pull out brushes from his pack. Tyson paused, holding his dirty shirt that he had chosen to use as a rag, to brush the dirt away carefully. But Tyson couldn’t get mad, as he watched his friend fully submerged in his work. They both found themselves constantly stopping to give reverence to what they uncovered. They respected the commitment and endurance of life that was able survive in one spot. The tree had dug deep and supported itself while it stayed in balance with its surroundings. Jasper wished this sort of beauty and union in his community. He wanted the many to feel like a one, which supported each other in ebb and flow.
They had dug a half moon out under half of the tree, with a long ramp fashioned from the bottom of it out the side. It was essentially a viewing chamber under the tree. The start of its roots from the trunk hung over both of their heads, turning like huge streaks of lightning down into the ground.
Jax was barking from the bottom of the water fall. They heard him, as the barks echoed around in the viewing chamber.
“Jax!” Tyson called. “Here boy!”
Jax barked twice in reply, and they heard foliage split from his path, as he trampled his way to the top.
“Here Boy!” Tyson continued to call.
Jax trotted down the ramp that they had made into the half moon, dodging between the roots, as he approached Tyson.
Jasper took a deep breath and placed a hand on one of the roots. “I’ll name it, Ezekiel.”
“Why Ezekiel?” Tyson asked.
“It’s a strong name.”
Tyson didn’t say anything and turned to watch Jax run around the cave they had dug out under the tree and illuminated with lanterns. They stood amongst the vines and watched as the lanterns’ light they had hung ignited the underbelly of the tree.
It was this behavior Jasper and Tyson wished for their resources back home in the city. Steady, constantly gaining strength, and something dependable they could nourish. They stayed at the camp collecting data and samples for two days. They had been on the trip for five days now, and both had already started to lose track of time. By the third day they had long lost track of their city routine. The grind and drive down the same morning streets to work became forgotten minuets. They both saw something change here. A lag in their belief as it became renewed in a new light.
7
“So long, friend!” Jasper said, and hugged Tyson. “Hope to see you at the end of the project!”
Tyson nodded, and confirmed, “I wouldn’t miss it.” Jax barked at Jasper from the back seat of Tyson’s Jeep.
Jasper took slow steps up to Jax and rubbed his head with both hands. “Until next time, ole boy!”
Tyson stepped up into the driver seat and they drove off. Jax’s tongue dangled from his mouth as the wind came over the jeep. Tyson’s left arm hung out the driver’s window, flopping against the air like Jax’s tongue. Tyson got home and fed Jax. He sat down on his sofa, and turned on the T.V.
Jasper’s sample bag had been filled with all it could hold. He had taken a good combination chart of the minerals involved in the nutrients development of the plants. He would use the samples to track the rate of decay each sustained when separated from its source of nutrients. Many months in a lab laid between Jasper and his synthetization of a root structure that would be efficient enough to produce the energy to sustain one building the size of an average hotel.
(9 months later)
Tyson’s phone rang. He slowly made his way to the receiver and with little enthusiasm he asked, “Hello?”
“Ezekiel!” a voice yelled through the Phone.
“No, no Ezekiel here…this is Tyson.”
“No! Ezekiel! It’s done! It’s finished, Tyson!”
“What?”
“Tyson, it’s Jasper. I’ve done it. I’ve finished Ezekiel.”
“Good God, Jasper. That’s brilliant!” Tyson took a deep breath in. He wanted to say something else, but he wasn’t sure what.
“Tyson, I want you to come to the ceremony. Tyson, you have to help me plant The Hotel Ezekiel.”
“Ha-ha.” Tyson laughed. “Hear that, Jax! We done it!” He shook his head. “Jasper, Congratulations! To Harmony and Nature!”
“It’s two Fridays from now. Come prepared, my friend.”
Jasper and Tyson told their families. Told them they had done it. The told their best friends from their college days and bragged to their mates from high school. They had changed the world. They said, “Watch out, boys, things are going to change!”
Hundreds of people came to witness the planting of Ezekiel. The first building on the grid planted into the earth. Not built on top of a concrete foundation that was poured over the ground. Twenty-three steel cables worked in a series of hydraulic pulleys tied to Ezekiel, which then lowered the building into a crater that had been dug out, as Tyson helped sow the roots underneath with Jasper’s staff.
Jasper spoke from a podium on an erected stage, as Ezekiel was planted. “I hope this is a moment history remembers that man can integrate with nature and live with it in peace!”
Ezekiel’s base had finally been sewn into place and the staff and Tyson cleared out from underneath it. Its support cables where released and it sunk another foot into the earth from the shifted weight. Ezekiel was a trunk-like, hexagonal, stout building. Soft vibrations were felt beneath the feet of the guests as Ezekiel began to glow. It illuminated as the lights radiated out of the long windows. The thing turned on like a spud powered light bulb. It beamed without any electric line ever routed to it. It was feeding through its roots. It had a direct tap to the earths abundant energy.
Jasper concluded, as he tossed his hands up and the building shone like a beacon. “I give you, The Hotel Ezekiel!”
Drinks were served and catering was enjoyed. The unveiling turned swiftly into a celebration. Ezekiel like a disco ball beamed as the people danced at its base. They danced and they failed to notice the leaves on the surrounding trees started to lose their green. They danced and they didn’t notice the surrounding plants start to wilt. Ezekiel shone, like an idol. Their light and hope for eternity. They danced and in the light, they could not see that the surrounding nature had died. Ezekiel shone, and they danced into a man-blinded white that bleached out the night.