Chapter 11 - Vallis

Chapter 11 - Vallis
When I first moved to Frome what convinced me to stay was seeing Vallis Road, Vallis Trading Estate, Vallis was fondly spoken of by locals as a rural idyll. As a Philip K Dick fan, though spelt with two l's, it was clearly a good sign. In 2/3/74 Philip K Dick was visitted by what he described as a Vast Active Living Intelligence System. He wrote a great semi autobiographical novel around the events in which he appears as himself and also as Horselover Fat. He saw Valis as a gnostic vision of one aspect of God. This book was the first of an uncompleted trilogy, the second being The Divine Invasion and the final book uncompleted before his death, The Owl in Daylight.
In the book Horselover Fat believes his visions expose hidden facts about the reality of life on Earth and a group of others follow him in researching these matters. One of their theories is that there is some kind of alien space probe in orbit around the Earth, and that it is actively helping them in their quest. It also aided the US in disclosing the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon. There is a filmed account of an alternative universe Nixon 'Ferris Fremont' and his fall engineered by a fictionalised Valis, which leads them to an estate owned by the Lamptons, popular musicians. Valis (the fictional film) contains obvious references to identical revelations to those that Horselover Fat has experienced. They decide that the goal they have been led towards is Sophia, who is the messiah or incarnation of holy wisdom anticipated by some variants of Gnostic Christianity. She tells them that their conclusions are correct, but dies after a year from a laser accident. Undeterred , Fat goes on a global search for the next incarnation of Sophia. Dick also offers a rationalist explanation of his apparent 'theophany' acknowledging that it might be visual and auditory hallucinations caused by schizophrenia or drug addiction.
Valis has been described as one node of an artificial satelite network originating from the star Sirius in the Canis Major constellation. According to Dick the Earth satelite used pink laser beams to transit information and project holograms on to Earth and to facilitate communication between an extra terrestrial species and humans. Dick claimed VALIS used 'disinhibitory stimuli' to communicate, using symbols to trigger recollection of intrinsic knowledge through the loss of amnesia, achieving gnosis. Drawing directly from Platonism and Gnostisism Dick wrote on his Exegesis, "We appear to be memory coils (DNA carriers capable of experience) in a computer like thinking system which although we have correctly recorded and stored thousands of years of experimental information, and each of us possesses somewhat different deposits from all the other life forms, there is a malfunction - a failure - of memory references.
Vallis itself just outside Frome is a green valley through which a river flows. It had been used in the eighteenth century for quarrying stone and lime. The lime kilns dot the area though most are overgrown. By day in summer it can be overused so I prefer to get there before anyone has tainted the air. After the death of Tex, my first Siberian husky cross german shepherd I had spent aimless months. There is a necessary fitness one must attain to own a sled type dog. Husky owners often keep them on the lead at all times, such is their strong prey drive and poor recall. But that's no way to treat a dog. A dog must run free, explore its sensory world. Stretch its legs. Test itself against other dogs and enjoy the sensory joy of being. I had thought but briefly about getting another dog. A husky shepherd cross can not be left alone. I gave up lecturing to be with Tex after I'd paid freinds to have him for the day. I explained he can't be left. They thought five minutes wouldn't hurt and locked him in. On their return he was gone. Fortunately I guessed where he would go. This was the final straw. I must be with him at all times. After his death the hole was immense. As they age they become so peaceful one forgets earlier days. Like when I'd first got him and attended an evening Spanish class. Locking him in the front room seemed secure for an hour. On my return, the neighbours were gathered looking at our house roof. Somehow Tex had escaped and got out of the skylight. Building a make do scaffold of old tables I was able to return him to ground. Or the time I tied him to a metal bin outside a chip shop. Though heavy, tex pulled it over. The crash gave him to think he was being attacked so he ran, full speed with a metal dustbin tied to his neck by his lead, bouncing and banging behind him. He ran between two new parked cars, the bin bouncing off one and the other, smashing off light clusters, triggering both alarms. By the time I caught him we just ran. The car owners would be in pursuit soon so I took the back ways home. You also forget a young dog of this type needs five miles in the morning, more miles later on, interaction, and at least one good play or wrestling session. If you don't fulfill these obligations you end up with a monster on your hands. Hence the high number in rescue homes.
At Claverton wed walked around seeing nothing to light my eye. Then Dook. He had to be mine. Within a week he was. You never know what they have been through before but I believe Dook had been left all day at home by work types. He was insecure and just as with humans, if scared they get violent. The first few weeks were exhausting. Each walk you went out expecting some kind of trouble. He's a striking looking dog who always attracts attention. First bite was on some idiot who tried to touch him whilst he was tied up outside the post office. Totally vulnerable and not knowing the guy from Adam, he bit him. Second time a guy ran down a ginnel towards me, Dook jumped up to protect us tearing his jacket. Finally, my partner took him out. Two gypsys were too interested in him. He left them pouring in blood.
Clearly this could not go on. I reported in with the behaviourists who said he was a 'dangerous dog' and must die. I never rang them again. He chased a sheep and one time at the workshop I looked round to see him with one of Mags chickens in his jaws.
This was during my recovery from MXP overdose psychosis. We would get better together. Rising at dawn each morning before the rest of the world woke I took to walking him up to Vallis and round a loop of some six or seven miles. This did affect my work but it was the only way to burn off his energy. Such a lust for life lifts the spirit. His joy in just being, running free, chasing down squirrels and rabbits. No one could sustain depression when forced in to this sort of relationship. It took a year. He still has his moments. They aren't far off wolves. Most basic of dogs. It is said they have lived with man some 10000 years. The Chikchook Indians would let them go free around their camps during summer. Come winter theyd team up to pull sleds on hunting missions travelling up to a hundred miles a day. You can see how a dog like this is not for the ill or lazy. Smaller than Tex and not so powerful he more than makes up for this with agility. The first day I got him he effortlessly killed a squirrel.
During our two year abstinence I had nursed Tex last days, though I must have relapsed shortly after Dook arrived.
The early morning walks to Vallis became the favoured part of my day. Since moving to Frome I had wondered at the Valis connection. Having read Philip K Dick from my teens throughout my life I was steeped in his views on reality. That a thin veneer we operated within, if scratched at would reveal an underlying truth. The walk through Vallis begins with green woodpeckers and rabbits in the field. A pathway to a style leads to an abandoned quarry. Aged traveller graffiti reveals this has been the site of many a party. Peregrines nest here. In summer various fireplaces and dens are used by young psychedelic users and often was the day I came upon small groups, around fires or walking saucer eyed as I had at their age. As I would do again.
Past the quarry the river path follows where grey and yellow wagtails play. Kingfishers shoot past in flashes of green. Dippers sit on rocks. Crayfish are abundant here. As you make your way to the footbridge where this small river breaks from the Frome you are in to denser woodland. Nesting areas for buzzards and tawny owls. This is a used wood. Many fireplaces and secret spots are hidden for trippers to use. Turning left you go under a footbridge, past lime kilns, a railway bridge has a shrine to a boy who killed himself there. Here you can follow on to Mells or Great Elm or turn to the higher paths and loop back on the country lane above.
During my 750ug AL -LAD night walk with Dook I had taken the reverse root. The boy who had appeared as a guardian was clearly linked to the area. On discovery of the entrance to the underworld it became clear to me who he was. Jesse had sent Ely to keep watch. Ely the oldest and smartest of Jane C Dick and jesse Presleys children was ever there. Ensuring we stuck to our plan. Our oath to jesse was a burdon to carry but he had not left us to fight alone. Abel would come of age soon. Jesse had told us in no uncertain terms we must cast off al, addictions if we were to stop Abel. We must be fit, strong, clean and reshamanised if we were to murder his son and achieve archangel status.
Throughout this period of Dooks rehabilitation and my recovery Ely watched on. Often from a distance. As children he, being the older brother had play fought Abel and knew his weaknesses. Though his gyratory power at hip height was too powerful for any man to contain he could be brought to ground by the ankles. His neck and head his sole Achilles heal. Through the process of amnesia erasal through Valis, as Dick had described, the information we needed to carry out our duty was gradually imparted to us. Where Dick saw the raising of a messiah, we had the job of murdering the anti Elvis.
Around this time I remet Lipton and took him for the early dawn walk, the best time to catch Ely. Valis informed Lipton also. Finally, we took an AL -LAD trip, me two blotters, Lipton one. Surprised at his lack of bottle and the squandering of the sacrament by a one off heroin hit I was disappointed. We lit a fire but due to liptons lack of bottle, mine too failed to turn to magic. I tripped mildly till I got home. It was this night I began message ing karen. The magic did work. Wee became freinds. But at least Lipton was back on. There is no way a single assassin could bring down Abel. And each day of our recovery he grew stronger. A Loki of the Presley dynasty. The crown prince of mischief.


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