Rest Stop Paintings

They pulled into a rest stop and got out to stretch their legs. They followed Joe inside to a little diner where men were talking in growling voices over coffee and half smoked cigarettes. They took seats next to a couple who were arguing over money and settled into a couple of menus.

"Did you guys ever see the Guernica?" Parker asked through the laminated paper of his menu, "I would guess not," he continued not waiting. "The Guernica is a painting that sort of symbolizes all of Colorado,"

"Symbolizes?" 

"It's a word," Parker said putting his menu down. Joe was laughing at him.

"I'm sure,"

"I've heard of the Guernica but I've never seen it," Mali added.

"Its this painting by Picasso that really only makes it in Europe. Its supposed to be about violent tragedy. That is Colorado,"

"Colorado is beautiful," Said Gordon and Parker nodded.

"Yeah but beautiful is a lot of things, you know?"

"Ah fuck, are you being born again on our table because I don't think they've got enough napkins for your cesarean," Gordon said.

No, but I'm trying to tell you that what Picasso was showing with his painting is exactly what we have here. colorado is a mixture of too many things. There is so much going on at one time you wonder how anything can be going on at all. Look at the mountains. They are covered in snow and cold and beauty. But if you stood on that mountain and looked down you'd see the valley below, warm, snowless, green and equally wonderful. Its a nightmare of beauty, so to speak. Everything that exists here shouldn't exist. You can ski and swim in the same day. You can ride a horse the same day you sit in a kayak. Its senseless place where anything can be the same thing. Violence can be peace, love can be hatred and all of it in the same moment. The Colorado you wake up to one morning could be the paradise you learn to hate the next. Its an embodiment of what struggles God and the Devil must go through every moment of the day. You can get anything you want here. Take Boulder for instance. Where else can you get prostitutes and preachers together in such close quarters?

"Vegas?" Mali interjected and Parker sighed.

Yeah but doesn't that just add to this? Colorado is God's country, through and through. A real Mecca, an American Jerusalem. The Brethren Church meets here every year for a worship fest yet it isn't much better than living in Vegas and praising the lord, you know? People flock here to have an evangelical moment and are confronted by the reality of, well, the world I guess. People come here to seek God and the Devil at the same time.

"So Guernica?" 

"Yeah," Parker sighed, "Just like that painting," 

"I think you need some sleep or something mate," Gordon laughed, "Soon as you start seeing God in the paint you need to have a lay in,"

"Maybe," Parker admitted, "but I'm not letting up on this. I'm going to show you guys how it works,"

Mali put a hand on his arm and smiled, "I'm sure you will, why don't you order first," she said and Parker smiled.