diff --git a/homepage/blah/index.html b/homepage/blah/index.html index 4b55c25..d124f78 100644 --- a/homepage/blah/index.html +++ b/homepage/blah/index.html @@ -16,6 +16,202 @@ ideas' witlessness; ideas' witnesses; ideas- +2023-01-06 + +2022-05-04 + +Interview + Olive set herself down on a blue chair with stainless steel gray legs +that grasped a red tiled floor thinly but strong enough at least for her right +then. The weather outside was beautiful, a clear sky with few clouds, and the +sun would rise in an hour, though Olive could see none of this because the +cramped office in which she and her chair were captive was windowless. The +silence was set to the beat of Olive tapping her jeans with her nails and +looking at the, to her, very large vent next to the flickering fluorescent +light in the suspended ceiling. The cheap desk in front of her wasn't very big +but still barely left room for her against the wall, on it was miscellaneous +unsorted paperwork. This was the first, most potent memory Olive would have of +her time working for Durmer Burger. + There came two knocks at the door and it was ajar. The lead manager, +Paul, smiled with nearly all of his teeth before pulling it open. "Olive, is +it?" + "Yes." Olive stood up and held her hands at her sides, intending to +shake Paul's hand if he offered his. He didn't and simply sat down behind his +desk. Olive sat down as well. + "This is an impressive resume. You volunteered at the humane society +for two years?" Paul's salt-and-pepper hair stuck out under a brown DURMER +WORKER hat. + "Yeah. I had some spare time and wanted to help out." + "Good, good. I see you did take some cooking classes at school. You +might be able to teach us a thing or two. I know our kitchen can be a little +strange to new hires but I think you'll get along fine." + "I hope so." + "So do you want to stay in the kitchen, or do you want to take orders? +Maybe a little of both?" + Olive looked at the desk for a moment before looking back at Paul. "I +think starting out in the kitchen would be good, but I don't know." + "Alright, kitchen, then play it by ear. Sounds good." Paul put on a +sickness of a smile and reached out with a bent elbow to shake Olive's hand, +which she followed. + After Olive left the room Paul leaned back in his chair and began to +seize. Foam fell from his lips onto his gray uniform. The chair fell over to +Paul's right side, to the door, and Paul hit the side of his head on the +doorknob as he fell onto the floor while his chair scuffed the beige wall +behind him. As his blood dripped slowly onto the tile the fluorescents finally +gave out. Neither the kitchen crew nor the order takers heard Paul die, though +Sam, who usually was relegated to the fryer in the kitchen, noticed the light +was off while sneaking out to the dumpster to smoke a joint of marijuana. He +knocked, asked the order takers where Paul was, and continued out through the +back entrance to the dumpster. On his way back he noticed Paul's car was still +parked outside the entrance. Sam checked both bathrooms (each empty) and opened +the office door ajar to see if Paul maybe was taking a nap on the clock. That's +when Sam found the body. + After Olive left the room she walked out of the restaurant through the +front entrance, looked up and down the street for traffic, though there rarely +was any, and crossed Canal Avenue over to the Chinese buffet where she turned +right and started walking home. She watched ambulances and a police car fly +down the road and didn't see any significance in it. + Paul's shoulder was mostly holding the door shut but Sam could see the +drool on the floor. He ran away to the front and told the order takers, who +called the local emergency number. Two ambulances and a police car stopped in +the drive-through and brought out a stretcher, some paramedics, and a police +officer. While the paramedics took care of the body the officer questioned +first the order takers and then Sam, whom the officer noticed was high. Officer +Daniels didn't make a note of it. + On a computer screen somewhere (anywhere) in a factory a worker watched +a man seize and die on closed circuit television. He picked up a telephone and +dialed for his superior who was on the same connection. The superior went down +to the worker's office and stared at the still conveyor belt behind the worker, +on top of which neatly laid a number of burger wrapper papers. The superior +asked what the worker was doing and the worker explained that a man had just +died inside the burger store (Durmer Burger). The supervisor stared at the +press, then the employee, then the ink buckets that lay beside the press +peppered with warning labels regarding the composition of the ink. The +supervisor considered how hot the ink had to be to be in a liquid state. Then, +silently, the supervisor grabbed the employee by the ear and violently threw +them into the red tank. The employee opened their mouth to scream but only +music came out. The most beautiful music the supervisor had heard. It came to a +crescendo as the worker's face dissolved and they lost consciousness due to +shock but it played on even after the employee's decrescendo. Red splattered +onto the burger wrappers. + +2022-05-04 + +Recomposition + "Hey." A figure in a black trenchcoat, wearing green circular glasses a +bit too big for their head, tapped Olive's shoulder as she lay on the road +foaming at the mouth. "Hey Olive. Wake up." + Seeing that Olive was dead, the figure started walking down the road +backwards, facing Olive. When Olive's body flew up and started walking +backwards towards Alan's the figure crouched and continued sneaking, staying +out of Olive's field of view. This figure watched Olive make her way backwards +to the gas station and eventually made it behind Durmer Burger as Olive +shuffled backwards towards the ground outside the broken door and lay down in +front of it. Olive flew into the door and the glass beads on the ground +arranged themselves into a full sized window pane. The figure waited a minute +or two on a mechanical wristwatch before heading towards the front of the +building. + All was quiet in the neighborhood. No birds chirped, no squirrels +rustled trees, and there were no cars on the street. The figure in the black +trenchcoat retrieved a black purse from their belt, took out a tension rod and +paper clip, and started to pick the lock. Within a couple seconds they got +through and held the door open. Soon Olive came running out of the portal. + "Hey." + Olive clutched her arm and turned around. "Hello?" Her face was twisted +in pain. + "Hi, I'm here to invite you to Saikokon." The figure smiled with a few +more teeth than fit a human. "It's free!" + "Saikokon?" + "Yes, yes. It's quite a surprise, isn't it?" + Olive looked around her. "What?" + The figure frowned and put their purse back on their belt. "Alright, +well, I'll take that as a yes, which isn't quite consent but otherwise in a +couple minutes you won't be able to either way. I'm gonna need you to hop on +this scooter." They took a small, collapsible Razor scooter out of their +trenchcoat from a strap across their front and unfolded it. "It's a bit shabby +but I don't like cars' emissions." + Olive stared at the scooter. "I'm sorry – this is a lot to process. I +need medical attention." + "Yes, I know, and either you can pour some isopropyl alcohol on your +arm and die on that street drooling or you can get on this scooter and go to a +clinic. So which is it?" + Olive stepped onto the scooter. Her foot was barely small enough to fit +on its platform, leaving no room for the other. She adjusted her weight to +balance. + "Great. Now, I'm going to have to ask you not to puke. This is going to +be extremely disorienting for you. Would you like a blindfold?" + "What?" + "A blindfold. It obscures your vision." + "Why would I want a blindfold?" + "In case of inadverdent motion sickness or blindness." + "I could go blind?" + "You could always go blind." + "Will this increase the risks of my losing my sight?" + "Olive my dear," the figure grabbed onto the middle of the scooter's +steering apparatus firmly and steadied themself, "you have never seen." The +figure started slowly walking, dragging Olive along, both through space and +time. + + I'm writing this at 0400. I can't sleep. + I didn't sleep much the + night before this, or the + night before that, but I + just can't. + I can't sleep. + I'm not tired, except I'm + a little tired - I just + yawned. But I'm not + tired. I can't sleep. + I'm so tired. I don't + want to sleep but I need + sleep. But I can't sleep. + + I can't sleep + ! and I'm awake and I've + been awake since noon? I can't + remember and yesterday I + still only slept maybe a + couple hours for which I + am thankful but I need sleep. + And I can't sleep. + And heavy is the head + that wears the crown; + heavy also is the head of + the insomniac, the bitter + dead-wake hound that + howls in its gutty pain + and makes mortals fear + its cosmically lucid mind + that can strike upon them + an understanding so great + they too will never sleep + again. Never rest their + head on a pillow, never + lay in sheets, never + breathe a great calming + breath. They too can't sleep + like I can't sleep. + Why can't + I sleep + ? Why must I + never sleep + but stay on guard and on + edge and listening to the + rustle of the vents and + automotive traffic on the + street behind me, past my + window? Maybe I can sleep + but it's the world that + stops me. Maybe I + halt the world. I + don't care. I + just want to sleep + ! I + need to sleep + ! Let me sleep + ! + + 2023-01-05 2021-07-07