A Lonely Gorilla, Toxic Dust, and the Roots of the Earth

Tropical Turmoil Night 2. The main event. Jonathan-Christopher catches one of the hardest, nastiest Yakuza kicks anyone has ever seen. While this footage is not new for loyal PRIMEates, there is something unsettling that is quickly noticed. There is no sound. It is completely quiet. Coral Avalon, in that complete silence, immediately lifts Jonathan-Christopher up and hits him with the double-underhook piledriver, making the pin. Time seems to move in slow motion, or maybe it is just a trick of the camera, but the referee counts the three. Coral Avalon seems in shock. Tears form in his eyes. There should be the sound of cheers and adulation, but there is no sound. It is becoming more apparent that this camera that is filming the main event is not one of the PRIME cameras that originally filmed the scene. Even more odd, the background seems to be losing color, slowly turning to whites, blacks, and grays, but not Coral Avalon. As he is presented the title, the only color we see is Coral Avalon and the Universal Title. His wife enters the ring with their daughter, and they are black and white. Family, friends, and respected colleagues rush the ring to celebrate, and they are in black and white. Only the champion and the title show any life in this black and white, silent world. The camera begins to zoom out. It keeps the new champion in frame, but everything becomes smaller and smaller. The camera flies over the heads of the announce table, then the first row, then the cheap seats, up and up through the stadium until we get to a dark, quiet corner that can just barely see the ring. The camera pans over to show a man in a white duster and a black cowboy hat. Between the shadows of the hallway and the black and white scene, his features can barely be made out, but the ember of the self-rolled cigarette (though whether or not the contents of the cigarette are tobacco is unknown) is in full orange.

Stetson King: So that’s what the top uh the mountain looks like, huh?

“I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life.” - Mark David Chapman

The scene is now sepia. There sits a statue of a gorilla, lonely and cracked from age. The gorilla sits on a faded platform that reads “1A Football State Champs 1984”. Behind the gorilla are empty fields, a couple of decrepit, abandoned buildings, and lots and lots of cracked concrete and dirt roads. In some ways, the gorilla could be seen as a statement of pride, a monument to success in a crumbling, broken world.

But the reality is, the gorilla is alone, sad, and all past accomplishments mean nothing in this world of rot, decay, and slow, painful death.

Stetson King walks into the frame, carrying an old, dusty guitar, the same one that he had on Tropical Turmoil Night One. He sits on the platform next to the gorilla, not even reacting to the camera or anything going on. He just sits and tunes the guitar, strumming it and allowing the notes to dissipate helplessly into the lonely, dusty air. Once the guitar seems sufficiently in tune, he begins to strum a soft, somber version of The Beatles “Nowhere Man”.

Stetson King:  (with a deep, Southern twang in his voice) He’s a reaaaaaaal nowhere man, sitting iiiiiiin his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody…

Stetson smiles, continuing to play the song, but softening his strumming.

Stetson King: The Picher Gorilla. Why a group uh Okies would decide a gorilla is apropo to their sports team is beyond me, an’ lets all just be real that the reason is probably…not the best for modern sensibilities, but this furry fella is an HIS-TOR-IC lan’mark. Y’all know the story of Picher? (Stetson snickers) Course ya don’t, no one should! I mean, NA-SHO-NAIL Geographic did a story on it, but we ain’t nobody reads no more!

Stetson looks up at the gorilla as he strums the Beatles tune, turning the British soft rock song into something far more Southern and outlaw.

Stetson King: Yeah, sorry ole hoss, but you stand upon cursed soil. See…(Stetson turns his attention back to the camera) Picher here was an ole minin’ town. There’s lead in them plains, some tycoon once said, and they all came a-runnin’ to this great, pot-shaped state to see what riches could be robbed from the soil. And riches, speak ya true brothers and sisters, were to be found in this here dirt. So many minerals and metals that could be turned into bullets, bricks, and BEEEE-U-TEE-FUL works uh industry, family. VEIN-E, VEE-DEE, VITCHI as ole Jules might say, they certainly conquered the land around them. And they did it…from beneath it.

Stetson strums a little harder, amplifying his guitar.

Stetson King: He don’t have no point of view, he ain’t know where he's going to, and hell, isn't he a bit like you and me?

Stetson softens his strumming again.

Stetson King: Where’s ole Stetson King going with his, family? Don’t worry, don’t worry, I ain’t just waxin’ poetic about the nostalgic decay uh my ancestral home. I gots me a point I’m makin’, a…metaphor if it please ya and say amen. See, I watched Coral Avalon climb a mountain at Tropical Turmoil, and, if it pleases the audience, an’ I know it does, I gots ta say it was a helluva impressive sight. The mountain threw all the wind, rain, sleet, and snow that it could at our NEW Champeeeen, and he weathered it all and conquered that mountain. Hells bells and listen ta the almighty, that was quite the display of power. ECH-CELL-SIIIIIIII-ORRRRR, family, the mountain done been conquered.

Stetson strums random chords, creating a cacophony of sound to illustrate his point.

Stetson King: Now, you might be thinkin’ that ole Stetson King is going to say somethin’ about how this Ozura fella is my first step on my way to the top uh the mountain, that one day I’ll reach the peaks and dethrone ole Coral Avalon or whoever might have found themselves plantin’ their flag at the peak, but no family, that ain’t the Stetson King way. See, getting to the top uh the mountain is one way to take charge and show power, but Picher, Oklahoma here…the home uh my good friend the loneliest gorilla…it represents a different kind of power. The mountain peak is a place of beauty…but mountains got deep, deep roots family.

Stetson coughs a little, causing him to miss a note while playing, but he recovers well enough.

Stetson King: Ozura, hell, your name is fun to say hoss…

Stetson changes the song and starts playing “Oh Susanna” enthusiastically.

Stetson King: OHHHHHHHHHH-ZURA now don’t you cry for me…cuz I’m coming to Boise to kick in all your teeth WOO!

Stetson laughs as he transitions back to “Nowhere Man”.

Stetson King: Yeah, you’re a funny fella. I liked all your dragon cats and beastly men and whatnot, but don’t think I ain’t smell what you were steppin’ in. Nah, hoss, I caught the metaphor. You got a problem with your thinkin’ there, though, cuz PRIME ain’t full uh monsters. There’s some scary, wretched souls walkin’ about these halls, but they ain’t boogeymen and goat-suckers waitin’ in them there shadows. Nah, hoss…

Stetson stops playing the guitar. All the light-heartedness and jubilation in his voice is gone, and his eyes are dead serious.

Stetson King: They’re just men, hoss. Just a bunch uh men tryna climb that mountain and plant their own damned flag. But…see…like I said…that’s only one kind of…power…

Stetson coughs some more, a much harsher cough.

Stetson King: Picher represents a different kind uh power. It ain’t matter how rich this town made a few souls. It ain’t matter that the Picher Gorillas were the A-ONE CHAMPEEEEENS of the state in a sport that every-damn body cares about. Nah, hoss, none uh that mattered…

The corner of Stetson’s lip curls into a grin, a mean, sinister one.

Stetson King: …once the evil got into the roots uh the ground, none uh that mattered at all. See…these strip miners, they came and conquered the ground by ripping every damn thing out of it, keepin’ what they could sell and tossin’ the rest. Now, if you’ve noticed, ole Stetson’s been hackin’ up a lung here and there. That’s cuz the air here is toxic, family. Piles and piles of this poison, chat, fills the air. OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA where the chat comes flyin’ in yer lungs, YIPPEE! Now, Picher is abandoned. Can’t no one live here, breathin’ in toxic dust and hopin’ that the mines underneath don’t completely collapse and drag every bastard to a dark, muddy demise. Not only that, but every damn body in the entirety of Ottawa county gots to worry about lead poisoning in the water. See, it's one thing to claim a territory, any fool with a couple of guns and a few desparate bastards can hold a patch uh dirt for a time. That’s what y’all are tryin’ ta do, right? Make your mark, win a title or two, do the WRASSLIN’ thang! I respect it, I do, believe that I speak true or may some power shush me ferever.

Stetson spits on the ground.

Stetson King: But its another thing entirely to salt the Earth. Its another thing to not only lay claim in your life, but ruin the land for all future generations, so that no other person has anything to lay claim to. See, and here’s the thing about that. Any son of a bitch can claim that power. Truly, it is a form of power for the people, for every single one of us brothers and sisters, say hallelujah and may all the gods kiss us sweetly. See, The Beatles had their own power, the ability to sway whole countries and inspire generation after generation, and that’s somethin’ to behold.

Stetson’s grin becomes a little wider.

Stetson King: But Mark David Chapman ruined all uh that in literal seconds. Paul and John would never reconcile because ole Marky Chaps got his grubby little fingers in the soil, in the roots, and he spoiled it…all. Hell yes family, it is one thing to climb to the top uh the mountain and plant your flag…

Stetson begins to strum “Nowhere Man” again slowly.

Stetson King: But it's a whole nother thing to tunnel into the mountain and make it collapse. The power uh INDUSTRY family, the ability to see the greatness of a mountain…

Stetson lets the music fill the air, allowing his words to vaporize in the toxic dust breeze.

Stetson King: And to burrow right through it. To get into the roots of it and rot it at its core. So, Ozura, which sounds a lot like a state near me, MI-ZUR-UH…(Stetson laughs to himself) that’s my plan fer you, hoss. Now, I’d say, you ain’t exactly a mountain, but yer a hill that I’m happy to go through, not over. I plan to get my dirty little fingers into you and rip out a piece of you that don’t grow back too easy, I hope ya catch what I’m pitchin’ yer way. Ain’t no monster comin’ your way, Ozura, just a man. A man ridin’ a pale train called ruin…and progress.

Stetson makes a face like he had almost forgotten something.

Stetson King: Oh, an’ by the way…I will eat you asshole first, hoss.

Stetson howls with laughter which quickly becomes more coughing, but this time he does not lose track of his song this time. As a small amount of blood drips from Stetson’s nose, he sings again.

Stetson King: Nowhere man, the world is at your command…

The scene cuts to black.