Keep your fingers out of my eye.
While I write I like to glance at the butterflies in glass that are all around the
walls. The people in memory are pinned to events I can't recall too well, but I'm
putting one down to watch him break up, decompose & feed another sort of life.
The one in question is all fully biodegradable material & categorized as 'Rael'.
Rael hates me, I like Rael, -- yes, even ostriches have feelings, but our
relationship is something both of us are learning to live with. Rael likes a good
time, I like a good rhyme, but you won't see me directly anymore -- he hates my
being around. So if his story doesn't stand, I might lend a hand, you understand?
(i.e. the rhyme is planned, dummies). The flickering needle jumps into red. New
York crawls out of its bed. The weary guests are asked to leave the warmth of the
all-night theater, having slept on pictures others only dream on. The
un-paid extras disturb the Sleeping Broadway. WALK to the left DON'T WALK
to the right: on Broadway, directions don't look so bright. Auto ghosts keep the
pace for the cabman'searly mobile race.
Enough of this -- our hero is
moving up the subway stairs into daylight. Beneath his leather jacket he holds a
spray gun which has left the message R-A-E-L in big letterson the wall leading
underground. It may not mean much to you but to Rael it is part of the process
going towards 'making a name for yourself.' When you're not even a pure-bred
Puerto Rican the going gets tough & the tough gets going.
With casual sideways glances along the wet street, he checks the motion in the steamto look
for potential obstruction. Seeing none, he strides along the sidewalk, past the
drugstore with iron guard being removed to reveal the smile of the toothpaste
girl, past the night ladies & past Patrolman Frank Leonowich (48, married, two
kids) who looks at Rael in much the same way that other Patrolmen look at him,
and Rael only just hides that he is hiding something. Meanwhile from out of the
steam a lamblies down. This lamb has nothing whatsoever to do with Rael, or
any other lamb -- it just lies down on Broadway.
The sky is overcast & as Rael looks back a dark cloud is descending like a balloon
into Times Square. It rests on the ground & shapes itself into a hard edged flat surface,
which solidifies & extends itself all the way East & West along 47th Street and
reaching up to the dark sky. As the wall takes up its tension it becomes a screen
showing what had existed in three dimensions, on the other side just a
moment before. The image flickers & then cracks like painted clay & the wall
silently moves forward, absorbing everything in its path. The unsuspecting New
Yorkers areapparently blind to what is going on.
Rael starts to run
away towards Columbus Circle. Each time he dares to take a look, the wall has
moved another block. At the moment when he thinks he's maintaining his
distance from the wall, the wind blows hard & cold slowing down his
speed. The wind increases, dries the wet street & picks up the dust off the
surface, throwing it into Rael's face. More & more dirt is blown up & it begins
to settle on Rael's skin & clothes, making a solid layered coat that brings him
gradually to a terrified stillness. A sitting duck.
The moment of impact
bursts through the silence & in a roar of sound, the final second is prolonged in
a world of echoes as if the concrete & clay of Broadwayitself was reliving its
memories. The last great march past. Newsman stands limp as a whimper as
audience & event are locked as one. Bing Crosby coos 'You don't have to feel
pain to sing the blues, you don't have to holla -- you don't feel a thing in your
dollar collar.' Martin Luther King cries 'Everybody Sing' & rings the grand old
liberty bell. Leary, weary of his prison cell, walks on heaven,talks on hell. JFK
gives the OK to shoot us, sipping Orange Julius & Lemon Brutus. Bare breasted
cowboy double decks the triple champion. Who needs Medicare & the 35c flat
rate fare, when Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers are dancing throughthe air? From
Broadway Melody stereotypes the band returns to 'Stars & Stripes' bringing a
tear to the moonshiner, who's been pouring out his spirit from the illegal still. The
pawn broker clears the noisy till & clutches his lucky dollar bill. Then the
blackout.
Rael regains consciousness in some musky half-light. He is
warmly wrapped in some sort of cocoon. The only sound he can hear is dripping
water which appears to be thesource of a pale flickering light. He guesses he
must be in some sort of cave -- or kooky tomb, or catacomb, or eggshell waiting
to drop from the bone of the womb. Whatever it is, he feels serene, very clean,
and content as a well kept dummy with hot water in his tummy, so why worry
what it means? Resigning himself to the unknownhe drifts off into sleep.
He wakes in a cold sweat with a strong urge to vomit. There's no sign of the
cocoon & he can see more of the cave about him. There is much more of the
glowing water dripping from the roof & stalactites & stalagmites are forming
and decomposing at an incredible rate all around him. As fear & shock register,
he assures himselfthat self-control will provide some security, but this thought is
abandoned as the stalactites & stalagmites lock into a fixed position, forming a
cage whose bars are moving in towards him. At one moment there is a flash of
light & he sees an infinite network of cages all strung together by a ropelike
material. As the rockybars press in on Rael's body, he sees his brother John
outside, looking in. John's face is motionless despite screams for help, but in his
vacant expression a tear of blood forms & trickles down his cheek. Then he
calmly walks away leaving Rael to face the pains which are beginning to sweep
through his body. However, just as John walks out of sight, the cage dissolves and
Rael is left spinning like a top.
When all this revolution is over, he sits
down on a highly polished floor while his dizziness fades away. It is an empty
modern hallway & the dreamdoll sales lady sits at the reception desk. Without
prompting she goes into her rap: 'This is the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging,
those you are about to see are all in for servicing, except for a small quantity of
our new product, in the second gallery. It is all the stock required to cover the
existing arrangements of the enterprise. Different batches are distributed to area
operators, & there are plenty ofopportunities for the large investor. They stretch
from the costly care-conditioned to the most reasonable mal-nutritioned. We find
here that everyone's looks become them. Except for the low market
mal-nutritioned, each is provided with a guarantee for a successful birth and
trouble free infancy. There is however only a small amount of variable choice
potential -- not too far from the mean differential. You see, the roof has
predetermined the limits of action of any group of packages, but individuals may
move off the path if their diversions are counter-balanced by others.'
As
he wanders along the line of packages, Rael notices a familiarity in some of their
faces. He finally comes upon some of the members of his old gang and
worries about his own safety. Running out through the factory floor, he catches
sight of his brother John with a number 9 stamped on his forehead.
No-one seems to take up the chase, & with the familiar faces fresh in his
mind hemoves into a reconstruction of his old life, above ground --
Too much time was one thing he didn't need, so he used to cut through it with a little
speed. He was better off dead, than slow in the head. His momma & poppa had
taken a ride on his back, so he left very quickly to join The Pack. Only after a
pell in Pontiac reformatory was he given any respect in the gang. Now,
walking back home after a raid, he was cuddling a sleeping porcupine.
That night he pictured the removal of his hairy heart & to the
accompaniment of very romantic music he watched it being shaved smooth by an
anonymous stainless steel razor. The palpitating cherry-red organ was returned to
its rightful place & began to beat faster as it led our hero, counting out time,
through his first romantic encounter.
He returns from his mixed-up
memories to the passage he was previously stuck in.This time he discovers a
long carpeted corridor. The walls are painted in red ochre & are marked by
strange insignia, some looking like a bulls-eye, others of birds & boats. Further
down the corridor, he can see some people; all kneeling. With broken sighs and
murmurs they struggle, in their slow motion to move towards a wooden door at
the end. Having seen only the inanimate bodies in the Grand Parade of Lifeless
Packaging, Rael rushes to talk to them.
'What's going on?' he cries to a
muttering monk, who conceals a yawn & replies 'It's a long time yet before the
dawn.' A sphinx-like crawler calls his name saying 'Don't ask him, the monk is
drunk. Each one of us is trying to reach the top of the stairs, a way out will await
us there.' Not asking how he can move freely, our hero goes boldly through the
door. Behind a table loaded with food, is a spiral staircase going up into the
ceiling.
At the top of the stairs he finds a chamber. It is almost a hemisphere
with a great many doors all the way round its circumference. There is a large
crowd, huddled in various groups. From the shouting, Rael learns that there are
32 doors, but onlyone that leads out. Their voices get louder & louder until
Rael screams 'Shut up!'There is a momentary silence & then Rael finds
himself the focus as they direct their advice & commands to their new found
recruit. Bred on trash, fed on ash the jigsaw master has got to move faster. Rael
sees a quiet corner & rushes to it. He stands by a middle-aged woman, with a
very pale skin who is quietly talking to herself. He discovers she is blind and
asking for a guide. 'What's the use of a guide if you got nowhere to go' asks Rael.
'I've got somewhere to go,' she replies 'if you take me through the noise, I'll
show you. I'm a creature of the caves & I follow the way the breezes blow.'
He leads her across the room & they leave the crowd, who dismiss their
departure as certain to fail. When through the door, the woman leads Rael down
the tunnel. The light of the chamber soon fades & despite her confident step
Rael oftenstumbles in the darkness.
After a long walk they arrive in what Rael judges to be a big round cave, & she speaks a second time asking
him to sit down. It feels like a cold stone throne. 'Rael, sit here. They will come
for you soon. Don't be afraid.' & failing to explain any more she walks off. He
faces his fear once again.
A tunnel is lit up to the left of him, & he begins
to shake. As it grows brighter,the hears a non-metallic whirring sound. The light
is getting painfully bright, reflecting as white off the walls until his vision is lost
in a sort of snow blindness. He panics, feels around for a stone & hurls it at the
brightest point. The sound of breaking glass echoes around the cave.
As his vision is restored he catches sight of two golden gloves about one foot
in diameter hovering away down the tunnel. When they disappear a resounding
cracks ears across the roof, & it collapses all around him. Our hero is trapped
once again.
'This is it' he thinks, failing to move any of the fallen rocks.
There's not much spectacle for an underground creole as he walks through
the gates of Sheol. 'I would have preferred to have been jettisoned into a
thousand pieces in space, or filled with helium & floated above a mausoleum.
This is no way to pay my last subterranean homesick dues. Anyway I'm out of the
hands of any pervert embalmer doing his interpretation of what I should look like,
stuffing his cotton wool in my cheeks.'
Exhausted by all this conjecture, our hero gets the chance in a lifetime to meet his hero: Death. Death
is wearing a light disguise, he made the outfit himself. Hecalls it the
'Supernatural Anaesthetist.' Death likes meeting people & wants to travel.
Death approaches Rael with his special cannister, releases a puff, and appears to
walk away content into the wall.
Rael touches his face to confirm hi is still alive. He writes Death off as an illusion, but notices a thick musky scent hanging
in the air. He moves to the corner where the scent is stronger, discovering a crack
in the rubble through which it is entering. He tries to shift the stones and
eventually clears a hole large enough to crawl outof. The perfume is even
stronger on the other side & he sets off to find its source, with a new-found
energy.
He finally reaches a very ornate pink-water pool. It is lavishly
decorated with gold fittings. The walls around the pool are covered with a
maroon velvet up which honey suckle is growing. From out of the mist on the
water comes a series of ripples. Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards
Rael. Each reptilian creature has the diminutive head & breasts of a beautiful
woman. His horror gives way to infatuation as their soft green eyes show their
welcome. The Lamia invite him to taste the sweet water & he is quick to enter
the pool. As soon as he swallows some liquid, a pale blue luminescence drips off
from his skin. The Lamia lick the liquid; very gently as they begin, with each new
touch, he feels the need to give more & more. They knead his flesh until his
bones appear to melt, & at a point at which he feels he cannot go beyond, they
nibble at his body. Taking in the first drops of his blood, their eyes blacken and their bodies are shaken. Distraught withhelpless passion he watches as his lovers
die. In a desperate attempt to bring what is left of them into his being, he takes and eats their bodies, & struggles toleave his lovers' nest.
Leaving by the same door from which he had come in, he finds some sort of freaks ghetto on
the other side. When they catch sight of him, the entire street of distorted figures
burst into laughter. One of the colony approaches him. He is grotesque in every
feature, a mixture of ugly lumps & stumps.
His lips slip across his chin as
he smiles in welcome & offers his slippery handshake. Rael is a little
disillusioned, when the Slipperman reveals that the entire colony have one-by-one
been through the same glorious romantic tragedy with the same three Lamia, who
regenerate themselves every time, & that now Rael shares their
physical appearance & shadowy fate.
Amongst the contorted faces of
the Slippermen, Rael recognizes what is left of his brother John. They hug each
other, John bitterly explains that the entire life of the Slipperman is devoted to
satisfying the never-ending hunger of the senses, which has been inherited from
the Lamia. There is only one escape route; a dreaded visit to the notorious Doktor
Dyper who will remove the source of the problems, or to put it less politely,
castrate.
They discuss the deceptively-named escape for a long time and decide to go togetherto visit the Doktor. They survive the ordeal & are
presented with the offensiveweapons in sterile yellow plastic tubes, with gold
chains. 'People usually wear themaround their necks,' said the Doktor handing
them over. 'The operation does notnecessarily exclude use of the facility again,
for short periods, but of course whenyou want it you must provide us with
considerable advance warning.' As the brotherstalk themselves through their
new predicament, a big black raven flies into the cave,swoops down, grabs Rael's
tube right out of his hands & carries it up into the airin his beak. Rael calls for
John to go with him.
And he replies, 'I will not chase a black raven. Down
here you must read & obeythe omens. There's disaster where the raven flies.'
So once more John deserts hisbrother.
The bird leads Rael down a
narrow tunnel, he seems to be allowing him to keep at aclosed distance. But as
Rael thinks he might almost catch hold of the bird, thetunnel opens & finishes
at an enormous subterranean ravine. Casually, the ravendrops his precious load
into the rushing waters at the bottom. It's enough to drive apoor boy ravin' mad.
Seeing the dangers of the steep cliff, our courageous hero stands impotent
andglowers. He follows a small path running along the top, & watches the
tubebobbing up & down in the water as the fast current carries it away.
However, ashe walks around a corner Rael sees a sky-light above him,
apparently built intothe bank. Through it he can see the green grass of home,
well not exactly;he can see Broadway. his heart, now a little bristly, is shaken by
a surge of joyand he starts to run, arms wide open, to the way out. At this precise
point in timehis ears pick up a voice screaming for help. Someone is struggling
in the rapidsbelow. It's John. He pauses for a moment remembering how his
brother hadabandoned him. Then the window begins to fade -- it's time for
action.
He rushes to the cliff & scrambles down the rocks. It takes him a
long time toget down to the water, trying to keep up with the current at the same
time. As henears the water's edge he sees John losing strength. He dives down
into thecold water. At first he is thrown onto the rocks, & pulled under the
water bya fast moving channel, which takes him right past John, down river.
Raelmanages to grab a rock, pull himself to the surface & catch his breath.
AsJohn is carried past, Rael throws himself in again & catches hold of his
arm.He knocks John unconscious & then locking themselves together, he
ridesthe rapids into the slow running water, where he can swim to safety.
But as he hauls his brother's limp body onto the bank he lies him out and
lookshopefully into his eyes for a sign of life. He staggers back in recoil,
forstaring at him with eyes wide open is not John's face -- but his own.
Rael cannot look away from those eyes, mesmerized by his own image. In a
quickmovement, his consciousness darts from one face to the other, then back
again,until his presence is no longer solidly contained in one or the other.
In this fluid state he observes both bodies outlined in yellow & the
surroundingscenery melting into a purple haze. With a sudden rush of energy up
both spinalcolumns, their bodies, as well, finally dissolve into the haze.
All this takes place without a single sunset, without a single bell ringing,
andwithout a single blossom falling from the sky. Yet it fills everything with
itsmysterious intoxicating presence. It's over to you.