Lately, there’ve been a litany of layoffs
down at Rose Red Dawn’s cosmetics
showroom. Abel Orison was the foreman
of a lacklustre dayshift. Now, he walks.
Now, he suddenly realizes just how damn
expensive everything looks. Abel’s self
confidence is clearly dangling over the edge
of his thoughts, like some sort of wayward
modifier. He is babbling now, & has been
doing so for nearly nine city blocks. “Lord
have mercy,” Abel says to three local city
workers. The workers are all young, tanned,
& mostly below street level. Abel is quite
lost now, so he asks the first worker where
the employment office is. Abel means to
say “Pardon me,” but what he actually says
is “Lord have mercy.” The first worker
hears him, & turns into the god Poseidon.
“I rule the broken water manes,” bellowed
the brother of Zeus, “I rule them for you.”
Then Abel speaks to the second worker,
who hears him, & turns into Polyphemus.
“I am ruled by no water mane,” bellows
the son of Poseidon, “I am ruled by none.”
Abel is amused by his affect upon these
men, so he hastens to speak to the third
worker. Abel says “Lord have mercy.”
The third worker hears him, & turns into
a fruit bat. “Squeak, squeak,” pledges the
newborn fruit bat “Squeak, squeak.” The
fruit bat then flies into the bulldozed hole,
where he lives without ears forevermore.
