How far ahead do you think? Is now “now” for you? Or are you planning away for things that haven’t shown up yet?
As a kid, it was always “now”. You never had to have long range plans because things just happened. And you were just a kid, what could you do about things anyway? But as you ge k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“…you will decelerate and hold station while we board and search you vessel. Any attempt to leave local space will be viewed as an admission of guilt and we will use all deliberate force to stop you…”
I stopped listening there and turned down the com. “Anything you’d like to tell me Leland?”
“No, not really.”
“Anything at all?” I knew he’d crack in a minute or so, I just had to wait him out.
“You know? It’s a funny thing. Local custom on Ellengton doesn’t go in for honorifics signaling marital status. Really. They don’t use ‘Missus’ or anything like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s the middle name. Both of the couple take a common middle name when they marry. It’s weird.”
“You don’t say.”
“Something else that odd. You know old Vespin?” k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
Strawberry? No, grape. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“That would be maybe Alderman Vespin?”
“Yeah, him.”
“The head of Defense. That Alderman Vespin?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. You know how he’s and old wheeze? Like 70, 75 Standards?”
“Yeah…”
“Well it’s really weird. His wife is like 27, maybe 30 standards.”
Ah. “Any reason you’re telling me this?”
“No, just making conversation. Just passing along some trivia.”
“I think you should put on your mask now.” I thought about not telling him and letting him figure it out for himself when the air starts getting thick. But he’s sitting right next to me and I think he could figure it out.
“Whatcha gonna do? Turn down life support?”
“Naw. I’m shutting it off completely.”
“Oh. Why?” k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
Cheese. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
Heh. Lookit that! There’s a dog passing us in the river! You don’t see that every day. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“So I can charge up the Jump coils without making the power plant spike. That way maybe our friends back there won’t figure out what we’re doing until it’s too late.” Leland can be pretty stupid sometimes.
“Oh. You know I didn’t know Giselle was Vespin’s wife until later. Much later.”
“No, you never do, do you?”
“OK, the coils are hot, and since I can still say that and I’m not an expanding cloud of incandescent gas I’m guessing our friends back there don’t know that. Yet. Tell me, Leland, were you at least discreet?” k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
homework. You can keep up with that without having to get more than three, fours days ahead. Tops.
But then things get more complicated. High School, AP classes, term papers, col k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“I’m hurt you could even ask that. Of course I was discreet. No one knew anything. Just me and Giselle. And from the looks of things Vespin got wind of it too. Somehow.”
“So he could have just ignored it and no one would have known anything. He must be a proud man.”
“Why?” Leland could be dense sometimes.
“You. Messing around with his wife. Like that?” k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
Mmmm… Joan Cusack in a police uniform… k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“Ohhhh… No, that never happened? I said I found out later. That was ‘later’ as in after we had a couple of drinks. Before anything… happened.”
“So you weren’t fooling around with Vespin’s wife?”
“No way. That’s just asking for trouble.”
“Oh.” And I was thisclose to shutting down the coils and turning back on the com’ to see what our friends actually wanted. “You have no idea what those guys are back there for? Since it isn’t about his wife or anything.” k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
B’ZZZzzzzzz clickclickclickclickclickclick click click click click click click… TONK!
Seven! We have a seven! k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“Well, I’m not sure. But I know it’s not about Giselle.”
“That’s good anyway.”
“But it could be all the Spice I have stuffed in hold four that I stole out of old Vespin’s basement.”
“Ah. That would explain things.”
And we translated out of another system where we won’t be welcome back again any time soon. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
ve when you are. It’s much easier that way.
-Rue.
No no no… he’s living in the moment… See? His imaginary buddie Leland and him are running away from some weird people and he keeps getting random thoughts of food cuz he is hungry before returning to his play… it makes perfect sense!
As long as he’s not the spider inviting the flutterby into his parlour I think that’s cool. -wanders around humming a strange mix of the song Memories from Cats and the hymn song about going to the river in O Brother Where Art Thou-
What happened here? I mean really! I had a great post going. It was so good I was worried they’d throw it over to Great Debates and that would ruin my perfect record. It was just really, really good. All philosophical and stuff. The elastic nature of time and how your perceptions effect reality and stuff like that. I even Spell Check-ed. That’s how much I cared about this week’s Post.
But what happened?
It looks like I was getting interference from other stations. I guesds it’s time to wrap another layer of tin foil on the ol’ rabbit ears.
Well time has been floating around too much for my tastes lately. This afternoon I was out and about and didn’t get home till 7 pm… I thought it was more like 5… and right now… now it’s dawn! And I haven’t slept… well I slept some just a few hours though.
When is my head at? Either April 19, 1527 or a week from next Tuesday. If anyone else is currently at either of those times, please check if my head is there, and hold it until the rest of me can arrive to have it re-attached.
Can you really read too much Vonnegut, jjimm? But I think it was k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
It seemed like a good idea, going into the cave. It was k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
the cheese. I stillfeel myself all full of cheesey goodness. Maybe the Swiss are right and you need a good slug of alcohol to keep it in its more viscous state. Unless “viscous” means it doesn’t flow well. Yup, I just checked, the alcohol would keep it from becoming k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
raining like mad and there was no other cover to be found and it was a good cave. It wasn’t one of those deep caves that breathes out cold, damp air at you all the time. And then the dampness condenses on the roof and drips down on you so after a few minutes k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
viscous, so that’s what I meant. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
you’re all wet anyway and you may as well stayed out in the rain for all the good the cave does you.
But this was a nice, dry cave. Not too deep. So it probably wasn’t really a cave at all. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
For Snickers: Mizzen the for’c’st’l leeward the rudder planking, bay-bee! Arrrgh! and Yo-ho! (That would be nautical talk.) k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
I’m not sure what defines a cave as opposed to a deepish hole in the side of a hill. I also don’t know when a “hill” becomes a “mountain”. Don’t get me started on “pond”, “lake” and “sea”. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
Don’t be scared Puddin’, we’re all friends here. And understanding is completely optional. Like I know what’s going on anyway. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
The rain wasn’t letting up, but the cave was dry, so it looked like I was going to spend some time here. That’s when I saw the mad eyes in the gloom of the back of the k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt Kat, the Trocadero called. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
cave. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
They have your head in the cloakroom. They say it’s been there since 1938. Which is odd, because the building’s only been up since 1952. I think you should go pick it up and give ‘em a big tip. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
You know how “mad” can mean either k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
If you wrap tinfoil on your hat, it sounds like you live under a metal roof if you go out in the rain, Cosmopolitan. No one wants that. You’re just bein’ silly anyway. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
“angry” or “crazy”? These eyes were both. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
And just checkin’, but exactly whosebody would you like your head on dwyr? Or at least, on what bit of their body would you rest your head. There are so many options here. k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
As it turned out, the cave wasn’t so nice after all.
-R k’t-shhhhrrrrrrrrdttt
ue.
