The Tiger behind the Door

I heard this amazing piece from Hugo Montenegro on KCRW today.
“You’ve got it bad, Girl” – A real Funk-based 70’s Moog Synthesizer piece – Beautiful stuff.
Gotta buy it!

The day just seemed to vanish into thin air. Did I wake up too late, or just piss the morning away fiddling with the computer?

I found myself in a Midtown Restaurant for a Birthday Party, feeling rather under-dressed…Never listen to a driver when it comes to Dress Codes. The phone rang:
It was Jeremy, reaching out for a chance to meet up…
How nice.
I was getting a bit tired of always feeling like I’m chasing my friends around, but this trip seems different, somehow. They’re calling, driving down to see me, picking up tabs…
What happened?
What changed?
Jeremy the twice-around father, the original Ladykiller.
I told him I was in the middle of a dinner; he said: “There must be a pack of beautiful babes”
I said I needed to hear that he was happily married; I can’t take anymore bad news from my friends.
Walking back through Times Square – ( Jesus Christ ! Times Square has exploded into a completely demented electrical Wonderland ) – I felt light. What am I so happy about?
I should be suicidal. I should be feeling sorry for myself. Nothing is really right, and that’s the best thing I can say, yet, I feel fine – almost content.

Could it be…?

This is one of my favorite stories.

Alejandro Jodorowsky told this, years ago; it stuck for some reason, long before I became able to grasp its meaning – fully.
Strangely, it involves tigers, as does another favorite story of mine: Frank R. Stockton’s
The Lady or the Tiger?

This one is shorter, though, and presumably comes for Hindi Folklore – or is it Sufi?

It goes like this:

A young Monk is strolling happily through the tall grass, when he hears the roar of 2 large tigers. He begins to run, but is soon dashing for his life, as the ferocious beasts are almost upon him.

He runs, and runs, for his life, feeling the hot breath of the Tigers inching ever closer with every passing second.

Finally he comes to the edge of a cliff, and without hesitation, he leaps into the void as a claw lashes out at him.

He falls over and catches a root that juts out of the side of the cliff. A few feet above him, the Tigers lash out at him, and as he stares down, he suddenly sees 2 hungry Lions circling about. This young Monk’s life isn’t worth much anymore.

Suddenly, the root on which he hangs begins to give way.

The young Monk feels his own weight pulling him down slowly. He looks up at the Tigers, then down at the Lions, then, suddenly sees, on the side of the cliff, just a few inches from his face, a wild strawberry growing out of the foliage.

Tigers above, Lions below, he reaches for the strawberry and eats it.

The screen of my computer shows this Real Time image of the Earth from Space. I can see a sunrise over the Eastern edge of the Globe, caressing the City of Sofia.