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 and feed another sort of life. The one in
question is all fully biodegradable material and categorised
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? (ie. 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. Autoghosts keep the pace
for the cabman's early mobile race.
Enough of this -- our hero is moving up the subway stairs
into day- light. Beneath his leather jacket he holds a spray
gun which has left the message R-A-E-L in big letters on 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 and the tough gets going.
With casual sideways glances along the wet street, he checks
the motion in the steam to 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 nightladies and past
Patrolman Frank Leonowich (48, married, two kids) who stands
in the doorway of the wig-store. Patrolman Leonowich 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 lamb lies down. This lamb
has nothing whatsoever to do with Rael, or any other lamb --
it just lies down on Broadway.
The sky is overcast and as Rael looks back a dark cloud is
descending like a balloon into Times Square. It rests on the
ground and shapes itself into a hard edged flat surface,
which solidifies and extends itself all the way East and
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 and then cracks like
painted clay and the wall silently moves forward, absorbing
everything in its path. The unsuspecting New Yorkers are
apparently 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 and cold slowing down his
speed. The wind increases, dries the wet street and picks up
the dust off the surface, throwing it into Rael's face. More
and more dirt is blown up and it begins to settle on Rael's
skin and 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 and in a
roar of sound, the final second is prolonged in a world of
echoes as if the concrete and clay of Broadway itself was
reliving its memories.
The last great march past. Newsman stands limp as a whimper
as audience and 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!" and rings the
grand old liberty bell. Leary, weary of his prison cell,
walks on heaven, talks on hell. J.F.K. gives the O.K. to
shoot us, sipping Orange Julius and Lemon Brutus. Bare
breasted cowboy double decks the triple champion. Who needs
Medicare and the 35c flat rate fare, when Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers are dancing through the air? From Broadway
Melody stereotypes the band returns to 'Stars and 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 and 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 the source 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 unknown he drifts off into sleep.
He wakes in a cold sweat with a strong urge to vomit.
There's no sign of the cocoon and he can see more of the
cave about him. There is much more of the glowing water
dripping from the roof and stalactites and stalagmites are
forming and decomposing at an alarming rate all around him.
As fear and shock register, he assures himself that self-control
will provide some security, but this thought is abandoned as
the stalactites and 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 and he sees an infinite
network of cages all strung together by a ropelike material.
As the rocky bars 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 and 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 and the dreamdoll saleslady 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, and there are plenty of opportunities 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, and with the familiar
faces fresh in his mind he moves 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 and poppa had taken a ride
on his back, so he left very quickly to join The Pack. Only
after a spell 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 and 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 and 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 and are marked
by strange insignia, some looking like a bulls-eye, others
of birds and 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 and 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 only one that leads out. Their voices get louder
and louder until Rael screams "Shut up!" There is a
momentary silence and then Rael finds himself the focus as
they direct their advice and 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 and 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 and I follow the way the breezes
blow."
He leads her across the room and 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 and despite her confident step Rael often
stumbles in the darkness. After a long walk they arrive in
what Rael judges to be a big round cave, and 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." And failing to explain any more she walks off. He
faces his fear once again.
A tunnel is lit up to the left of him, and he begins to
shake. As it grows brighter, he 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 and 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 crack sears across the roof,
and 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 and 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. He calls it the
"Supernatural Anaesthetist." Death likes meeting people and
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 that he 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 out of. The
perfume is even stronger on the other side and 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 honeysuckle
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 and 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 and 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 and more. They knead his flesh
until his bones appear to melt, and 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 with helpless 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, and struggles to leave 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 and
stumps.
His lips slip across his chin as he smiles in welcome and
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, and that now Rael shares their
physical appearance and shadowy fate.
Amongst the contorted faces of the Slippermen, Rael
recognises 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 together to visit the Doktor. They survive
the ordeal and are presented with the offensive weapons in
sterile yellow plastic tubes, with gold chains. "People
usually wear them around their necks," said the Doktor
handing them over. "The operation does not necessarily
exclude use of the facility again, for short periods, but of
course when you want it you must provide us with
considerable advance warning." As the brothers talk
themselves through their new predicament, a big black raven
flies into the cave, swoops down, grabs Rael's tube right
out of his hands and carries it up into the air in 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 and obey the omens. There's disaster where the
raven flies." So once more John deserts his brother.
The bird leads Rael down a narrow tunnel, he seems to be
allowing him to keep at a closed distance. But as Rael
thinks he might almost catch hold of the bird, the tunnel
opens and finishes at an enormous subterranean ravine.
Casually, the raven drops his precious load into the rushing
waters at the bottom. It's enough to drive a poor boy ravin'
mad. Seeing the dangers of the steep cliff, our courageous
hero stands impotent and glowers. He follows a small path
running along the top, and watches the tube bobbing up and
down in the water as the fast current carries it away.
However, as he walks around a corner Rael sees a sky-light
above him, apparently built into the 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 joy and he starts to run, arms wide open, to the
way out. At this precise point in time his ears pick up a
voice screaming for help. Someone is struggling in the
rapids below. It's John. He pauses for a moment remembering
how his brother had abandoned him. Then the window begins to
fade -- it's time for action.
He rushes to the cliff and scrambles down the rocks. It
takes him a long time to get down to the water, trying to
keep up with the current at the same time. As he nears the
water's edge he sees John losing strength. He dives down
into the cold water. At first he is thrown onto the rocks,
and pulled under the water by a fast moving channel, which
takes him right past John, down river. Rael manages to grab
a rock, pull himself to the surface and catch his breath. As
John is carried past, Rael throws himself in again and
catches hold of his arm. He knocks John unconscious and then
locking themselves together, he rides the 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 looks hopefully into his eyes for a sign of
life. He staggers back in recoil, for staring 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 quick movement, 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 and the surrounding scenery melting into a purple
haze. With a sudden rush of energy up both spinal columns,
their bodies, as well, finally dissolve into the haze.
All this takes place without a single sunset, without a
single bell ringing and without a single blossom falling
from the sky. Yet it fills everything with its mysterious
intoxicating presence. It's over to you.
