Archive for July 6th, 2008
The Visible Man –2
The world underground was nothing like the one above. Down in the depths there were no city grids or right angles, no trees or theaters, no signs other than the ones that read “High Voltage,” “Authorized Personnel Only,” or “Danger.” It was all darkness; a deep intestinal darkness. Jack squinted against the thick sooty darkness but it obscured any easy reading of depth and distance. He guessed the tunnels were about five and a half feet high by four feet wide and at just over six feet tall he had to crane his neck in order to navigate. The walls were at once damp and slimy and in short order his neck began to singe with pain and several times he had to plunk his body down on a pipe or a valve and massage his neck.
Touch took over. It ruled his world and he felt eyeballs growing on his fingertips. The fine grain of the concrete became a map, a country unto itself. Sometimes it was rough and he would cry out when it cut his hands; at other times it was smooth and he would glide his hands over it thinking of beach rocks and sliver wear, but whenever he came upon a patch of some slimy sewage material he yanked his hand away in disgust. Bit by bit he began to discern the differences in heat and cold. Minute differences in degrees were classified. He could feel the blue heat of a water pipe and tell it was slightly different from other ones.
He walked like a zombie. Slow, with one hand on the walls and the other swiping the darkness. He tried to keep a mental note of various distinctive features. Directions repeated and repeated and he chanted to himself things like, “turned left at the pipe with the green duct tape then slid under a low red pipe, turned right, then went straight. A quick left at the red water pressure valve and straight ahead for thirty meters.” But the list became too long and after an hour of lurching through the dark, he became utterly confused and abandoned this tactic. The tunnel system was not to be pinned down.
Thirst and hunger grew into his stomach. In his mind the drip (drip, drip) had sprung into an oasis and he dragged himself towards it with the half stoned slump of a man crushed by the elements. His throat burned. At times, water (and freedom) seemed just around the corner and at other times it leapt away.
He was soaked in the city’s refuse. Several times he had slipped and fell in the sluice way’s ebony waters. He thought about drinking from it, but each time he lowered himself to drink the sewer’s smell overcame him and he wretched violently.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
[Note to the Rubble Reader: if you like this story and need to find out more click on the story's title below or you can go to the right hand side of this page where you will see a "tag cloud." Simply select the title you want to read. Better yet, you can find the complete story under the "Stories" option at the top of the right hand side of the page. Thanks--One Penny]
The Notebook–3
Brimm sat in his recliner, rocking. The salesman, Steven James, sat perched across from him on the mattress’s edge, several bibles stacked between them and the salesman was pointing at them, explaining. The salesman’s black briefcase lay propped up against the door.
“This cover is made of a simple, synthetic plastic–it’s just made to look like the real thing, but this one, this one here? This one is made of real Moroccoan leather and it gets better with age, but it will cost ya’ a tidy bundle.”
“Uh-huh,” Brimm muttered and lit a Player’s Light, studying the salesman. His face was smooth, almost youngish, with a light stubble sandpapering his face, while the light in the salesman’s dark beady eyes stared just up and over Brimm’s shoulder–never directly at him. Brimm watched the man smiling and warbling on about psalms and prayers and the Lord and all the while staring just up over Brimm’s shoulder.
“Of course,” the salesman pitched, “these ones here are only samples and it will take a few weeks to get’em to you, if you order them that is.” He grabbed a Bible with a Morrocooan cover and opened it to show Brimm the stylized New Times Roman typeface, which he explained, was unique to this series and by all accounts had been well received by the millions of people who have filled out the subscription, which he was presently sliding in front of Brimm.
Brimm took the sheet and thought of killing the man. It was a cold blooded thought that slithered in, hissing. I could do it, he reasoned pretending to analyze the form. I could go into the kitchen and grab a knife–just have to tell him I’m making coffee or something. Brimm looked up from the form and watched the salesman’s mouth form words, but they were soundless and unconnected to anything, that drifted towards him in a liquid form and his ears, ill equipped, could not discern a word of it. Besides what difference would it make? I’d be doing that sorry sack of shit a favor. And anyways, he took my story.
“So…do you?” the salesman asked smiling, his eyes gazing over and beyond Brimm’s right shoulder.
”Do I what, exactly?” Brimm replied shaking his head.
”Hey, come on now,” the salesman asked his eyes darting around the room. “Are you fooling with me? Do you have one here already?”
”Have what?”
“A Bible.”
”No, no I don’t.”
“Oh, Come on now. There has got to be one here somewhere,” the salesman said and leaned across the mattress to look in the milk carton night table.
“I don’t have one,” Brimm said spreading his hands, smiling. I mean, if a guy is wandering the streets at night, he must be alone, no family to miss him. No baboom-boom buddy….
“I see-ee,” the salesman said curling his lip into the corner of his mouth and exposing a cracked front tooth. It seemed to Brimm to be an uneven thing for a Bible salesman. Probably got it trying to sell this crap.
The salesman got up from the mattress and stomped over towards the desk. One of the bibles tipped over and tumbled to the ground. Brimm looked at it and then back to his notebook. He recalled the notebook tumbling out of the bookrack back at The Write Tools Stationary Shop.
”I think I need a drink,” Brimm said getting up from his chair. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
”Why that’d be great, sir.”
“Indeed it would,” Brimm said and headed into the kitchen, the salesman droning on behind him about shepherds and their flock. Brimm set about making the coffee mechanically heating the water, opening the cupboard, pulling out a jar of Maxwell House, scooping two lumps of instant into two cups and pouring the hot water glug, glug, glug into the cups which he put on a tray with two slices of bread and the Hienz 57. Next to these he put a large boning knife.
[Note to the Rubble Reader: if you like this story and need to find out more click on the story's title below or you can go to the right hand side of this page where you will see a "tag cloud." Simply select the title you want to read. Better yet, you can find the complete story under the "Stories" option at the top of the right hand side of the page. Thanks--One Penny]
The Notebook–3
Brimm sat in his recliner, rocking. The salesman, Steven James, was perched across from him on the mattress’s edge, several bibles stacked between them and the salesman was pointing at them, explaining. The salesman’s black briefcase lay propped up against the door.
“This cover is made of a simple, synthetic plastic–it’s just made to look like the real thing, but this one, this one here? This one is made of real Moroccoan leather and it gets better with age, but it will cost ya’ a tidy bundle.”
“Uh-huh,” Brimm muttered and lit a Player’s Light, studying the salesman. His face was smooth, almost youngish, with a light stubble sandpapering his face, while the light in the salesman’s dark beady eyes stared just up and over Brimm’s shoulder–never directly at him. Brimm watched the man smiling and warbling on about psalms and prayers and the Lord and all the while staring just up over Brimm’s shoulder.
“Of course,” the salesman pitched, “these ones here are only samples and it will take a few weeks to get’em to you, if you order them that is.” He grabbed a Bible with a Morrocooan cover and opened it to show Brimm the stylized New Times Roman typeface, which he explained, was unique to this series and by all accounts had been well received by the millions of people who have filled out the subscription, which he was presently sliding in front of Brimm.
Brimm took the sheet and thought of killing the man. It was a cold blooded thought that slithered in, hissing. I could do it, he reasoned pretending to analyze the form. I could go into the kitchen and grab a knife–just have to tell him I’m making coffee or something. Brimm looked up from the form and watched the salesman’s mouth form words, but they were soundless and unconnected to anything, they drifted towards him in a liquid form and his ears, ill equipped, could not discern a word of it. Besides what difference would it make? I’d be doing that sorry sack of shit a favor. And anyways, he took my story.
“So…do you?” the salesman asked smiling, his eyes gazing over and beyond Brimm’s right shoulder.
”Do I what, exactly?” Brimm replied shaking his head.
”Hey, come on now,” the salesman asked his eyes darting around the room. “Are you fooling with me? Do you have one here already?”
”Have what?”
“A Bible.”
”No, no I don’t.”
“Oh, Come on now. There has got to be one here somewhere,” the salesman said and leaned across the mattress to look in the milk carton night table.
“I don’t have one,” Brimm said spreading his hands, smiling. I mean, if a guy is wandering the streets at night, he must be alone, no family to miss him. No baboom-boom buddy….
“I see-ee,” the salesman said curling his lip into the corner of his mouth and exposing a cracked front tooth. It seemed to Brimm to be an uneven thing for a Bible salesman. Probably got it trying to sell this crap.
The salesman got up from the mattress and stomped over towards the desk. One of the bibles tipped over and tumbled to the ground. Brimm looked at it and then back to his notebook and recalled the notebook tumbling out of the bookrack back at The Write Tools Stationary Shop.
”I think I need a drink,” Brimm said getting up from his chair. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
”Why that’d be great, sir.”
“Indeed it would,” Brimm said and headed into the kitchen, the salesman droning on behind him about shepherds and their flock. Brimm set about making the coffee mechanically heating the water, opening the cupboard, pulling out a jar of Maxwell House, scooping two lumps of instant into two cups and pouring the hot water glug, glug, glug into the cups which he put on a tray with two slices of bread and the Hienz 57. Next to these he put a large boning knife.
[Note to the Rubble Reader: if you like this story and need to find out more click on the story's title below or you can go to the right hand side of this page where you will see a "tag cloud." Simply select the title you want to read. Better yet, you can find the complete story under the "Stories" option at the top of the right hand side of the page. Thanks--One Penny]
