This Mythos, MDCCCXXV
“Are you breaking up with me?” asked the bear.
That was not his plan, but Ben took the chance; “I guess so,” he said. He stepped out of the car. With his lower back tensed and his shoulders slouched, he took the few steps across the dirt-yard to the cracked and mended concrete-block steps. With every step, he expected claws and fangs. He made it up the steps to the slab porch. He opened the never-locked door and made it inside. The fumes of rat urine bit into his sinuses.
He knew that he had not made to safety. Universal love and a never-locked door offer no protection in the daily waking life. Not from bears — not when they are patient in their hunger for meat that they have claimed.
Tinkatink, the Unsacrificed, 6
On Famuhlay,
rivers ran like glass
for curious creatures
who sometimes wondered
why their loved-ones found them beautiful
and others ran.
Sometimes, they would stare
into the dark, tannic, glass-like waters
until something from underneath attacked.
Varvel Un-Numbered
The angel rises on arcing pillars of electric water to meet the souls as they find him; he exults in his recovery; he is completely unaware that the moon is headed for the Sun. He does not fathom that he could be trapped in fire forever.
From Dream
I awoke abruptly from a vivid dream.
I was back in the lab — somehow rehired or demoted.
Joe was still a supervisor; Wendy was still a manager.
The lab had been remodeled; it had grown; as the dream progressed, it seemed to go on forever; people from high school appeared; they were young and healthy.
An irresponsible fool had taken my place. He led me to his office, where he sat at my old desk and told me I had broken it. He had melted the rubberized surface and carved words into it. He insisted that I had ruined it; he pointed out slight indentations where my curving letters had carried through paper.
I found Wendy and sought a moment of her time so I could call him out. He followed and placed himself close while I waited for a moment alone to make my case. Eventually, I had to ask for privacy and chased everyone out. Wendy told me that everyone was making their numbers.
I tried to lead her to the destroyed desk, but struggled to find the office. I pointed out a tangle of wires that ran across the floor. “That’s a fire hazard,” I said; then, I asked her if she missed that. We kept wandering around the lab until we found the supervisor’s office. The backdoor was open. A young woman with perfectly smooth ebony skin asked about an empty spray bottle. I guessed that it was for the shower curtain on the back door. The young woman smiled a wide and self-conscious grin, as if it should have been obvious.
The fool was perched on a chair. He knew that he had been gas-lighting me about the desk. I asked for privacy. He left the office. Before I could make the case against him, a large crash and hollers announced that he had fallen and drug down a series of condensers. I walked over and picked up some of the glass. I asked if it needed to be saved for the investigation. Some folks thought I was joking.
Then, it was back to following Wendy; the lab got larger and larger. I saw A---- K---; she noted how young and healthy she was. I told her, “Not as young and healthy as [No Name].”
The lab transitioned into a room with wood-paneled walls. Two flights of wooden stairs with black railings zig-zagged to and from a landing. I saw B-----G--- R--- and we greeted each other with long-time-no-sees. Wendy went up the stairs and I awoke abruptly.