Mindy's new-age lover

Note: this post is a special Happy Thanksgiving! shout-out to our beloved Mindy June, who is stranded in Milton Keynes, UK, with no Thanksgiving to celebrate.

When Mindy June recently made a reference to past-life lovers, I just knew I had to blog this story for you.

Mindy and I have been friends for twenty-two years, which has given us plenty of time to develop an arsenal of amusing tales. The two of us have a penchant for getting ourselves into weird-ass situations. It's like some sort of Age-of-Aquarius thing that happens whenever we're together - Jupiter aligns with Mars and all that crap. I don't know what it is exactly - we're either cursed or blessed, depending on your point of view.

We spent a lot of time together when we both lived on the West coast, she in Seattle and I in Los Angeles. One time we had a particularly bizarre evening when she was down visiting me.

My friend Cindy had invited me to a party at her friend's place out on Venice Beach, so Mindy and I jumped in the car and headed over. For those of you not familiar with Venice Beach, it can be, oh shall we say, trippy. A lot of bizarre characters. My friend Cindy is herself a bizarre character, bless her heart, but so are we - so it all worked out very nicely.

The party was held in a charming little bungalow on the beach, inhabited by Cindy's friend, Bodhi. (For some reason I doubt "Bodhi" was his given name, but I never asked.) We were greeted at the door by a lovely woman whose name I forget, and she invited us into the party, which was fairly rocking by the time we arrived. Standing a ways into the foyer was a tall, striking gentleman dressed in full African regalia. Upon seeing us enter he ended his conversation and sauntered gracefully up to Mindy and me.

"Dears, dears, it is SO wonderful to see you both!" he said, embracing us at the same time, after which he pulled back and shook my hand. After he let go, he took Mindy's right hand in both of his, brought it up to his lips and said "Darling, I'm glad you could make it. I've been waiting for you."

"Excuse me?" Mindy said, looking slightly perplexed.

"Yes, darling. I've been waiting. Don't you remember me?"

"Um, I don't think so.... I don't live here. I'm just visiting my friend Tom - I'm afraid you may have confused me with somebody else."

"No darling, it's you I've been waiting for. It seems that maybe you do not remember. Never fear, it will all come back to you. You just have to let go and let it happen."

"Ok..." Mindy stammered, looking at me for assistance. Not knowing what to do, I shrugged my shoulders and went to pour myself a drink. It looked like I was going to need one.

When I returned and handed Mindy a beer, Bodhi was busy explaining that he and Mindy had been lovers in a former life, and that they had made plans to meet there that night to be reunited.

Mindy and I exchanged looks, and then decided to let him go on to see where this would proceed. I don't remember every detail clearly, but I think there may have been mention of a shaman or some cult-sounding figure who would have been able to help Mindy obtain "clearness" on this point.

After a bit Bodhi took us both by the arm, saying "come, come, darlings, I must show you my sanctuary." He led us into a small room, about the size of a walk-in closet.

"In this room," he said, "is everything I lost as a child. It is here where I am able to reclaim my youth." The entire room was adorned with toys, some of them on shelves, some hanging on the walls. I distinctly remember a fully-boxed Spiderman action figure affixed directly to the wall next to the door. I wondered if he ever took Spidey out of the box to play with him, or if he just left it there as decoration.

Meanwhile, Bodhi was beginning to take more liberties with his hands, running them freely about Mindy's torso. She was giggling, but nervously. I decided I needed another beer, and went to see my friend Cindy.

I checked in on them every now and again just to make sure Mindy wasn't getting herself into trouble, and each time I approached I heard Bodhi cooing softly to her, Mindy responding with statements along the line of "yes, but I don't know you and I don't even live here. I really think this isn't the best time for this." He seemed so sweet though, and not at all dangerous (aside from being a complete whack-job) so I didn't really want to interrupt their little tête-à-tête.

Finally, about an hour later, Mindy freed herself, came up to me and said "OK, we're going now." We said our farewells to Cindy and our other hosts, and both enjoyed a long, slow embrace with Bodhi at the front door. "Goodbye, darlings, and just remember, Melinda, I am here and always will be. No matter where 'here' is."

Mindy was silent on the way to the car, but as soon as we were inside with the windows rolled up and the doors locked, she let out a scream like I've never heard from her before.

"Get me the FUCK away from here! What a fucking freak!!!" she screamed, or something to that effect. She wasn't exactly angry, or afraid - just a little weirded out. The whole thing had been very, very strange. When she started sharing the details of some of the stuff he had been saying to her, I could see why.

Whack-job. But a nice whack-job.

Then we went to an all-night diner for a bite to eat and to decompress, and this drugged out guy almost attacked me. But we talked him down before it went too far

Just another typical L.A. weekend with Tom & Mindy. Stay tuned for further installments.