there was a shewolf shine
out
of the corner of his eye
and
her when she entered a room
she
took its sounds down choking their breaths from them
she could
steal the breath from out of the mouth of the wind and still a forest canopy
fortunately he saw them both
coming
he wouldnt give him his back
or
her his voice
why it seemed he was the only one in the room who was aware
of their deceptions
he couldnt
say
others
seemed blissfully enfeebled or worse
acrimoniously utterly
oblivious
as if the pair
in their mix werent any trouble and worthwhile
he noticed him first
entering
his black eyes didnt adjust
instantaneously to the stark white indoor lighting
he was momentarily blind
coming
in from the dark
nevertheless
he caught the cruel sheen the bedevilment from
where he stood
off to a side
of the entry way
he
was unfamiliar with his host the home or the characters who might attend
he was invited
as a friend of a friend . . . of a friend
more a willful coercion than an invitation
he
rarely allowed his curiosity to goad him
but perhaps it recognised there
might be something different in the air or
permeating the night
so he showered dressed and
came
he
stood held a Burgundy glass its fat ass fit nicely in his palm its stem between his fingers
a disguise
an accoutrement
the wine would evaporate quicker than
he would drink it
he preferred fiercer spirits
and evidently one walked in through the gaping front entryway
Advantage! Him
she arrived nearly on his heels a
heartbeat behind him
she
feigned she didnt know him was
unfamiliar with him and took his hand
warmly in hers
at their introduction
she was a bad actress
he was a worse actor
his curiosity latently tipped to brusque suspicion
Advantage! Him
he walked into the vast foyer
from the antechamber he stood in the acoustics within dulled
quickly
he tipped his head down put his hand up before his face and gulped yawned
attempting to equalise pop his
ears
Refused
which raised his eyebrows andabruptly
puzzled him
then it occurred to him
he
let his hand down from his face and retreated backwards into the antechamber
his hearing piqued and
was restored
A game!
he stepped back into the marbled foyer
Mute
then
stepped back again onto the beautiful wool Oriental rug in the receiving room
Restored
O Joy! O suspicion
he hadnt any idea or premise to what these two were up to this evening
but slyly
it was becoming more tolerable more
palatable
he held up in his nook like a
good hunter and exercised their notorious silent patience
shortly
the pair worked their way down the
length of the foyer and entered the main hall
chatting famously like an interested new couple
no one dare breech their stunning
enthrallment
he may have cut them to the quick
too soon
their acting was improving
he tailed them
he was far less
conspicuous among the milling and trafficking pedestrians than if he were headlights
in a rearview mirror
he knew if a car rode behind him
for more than a few blocks
his friends teased him that he
was paranoid
which
he pronounced No Lucid Superior
to paranoia not that he knew why he was
or even questioned it
it was his simple array cut of cloth
and
had perpetually proven itself
a
trusted cohort
it seemed not only had he eyes in
the back of his head but a third eye
parked in the middle
of his forehead
a
veritable watchtower perched on high grounds where not even the cover of dark
offered encroachment or steely stealth
everyone came to him naked
or they didnt come at all
he was surprised they didnt tell or acknowledge his presence in the slightest
but continued their
move through the buzzing congregation which slowly coalesced into smaller and
smaller parcels crowding tightly as the din in the room rose to combat the
deafening they collectively assumed was due to their sounds their decibels alone
not mining that they were diminished
she seemed high on her talent
as
if she had taken glass after glass after glass from the offered silver service
and lapped their contents dry
while he
at her arm kept watch and
growled at an unheard treble but not unfelt like a tremor that precedes an earthquake causes
unsettling dizziness or nausea
he didnt see either bare a canine
or snarl a lip
they walked unscathed on widening
pathways at will in any direction between the concentrating balls of
humanity who abjectly were unable to make out what was being said
in their tightened circles
their covalent bonding and
commiseration told them everything they couldnt hear
jaws moved
eyes
blinked
heads
nodded
mimes all
he wandered into the hall after
them and recognised the fusion these petty groups were trying to employ or impress
very slowly he gained a visceral appreciation for the two
he may have overshot erred in his assessment of their intent
they waondered unobstructed and
at the halls end at the brilliant French
doors and transoms
they
reversed field doubling back towards him
he slipped in behind a chimpish chattering
group unmoved by his presence
he wasnt one
of them
so much for socialisation
the two walked past him unerringly undisturbed
preoccupied
and suddenly he felt something
wash over him that he hadnt felt in many many years
not that he wasnt
grateful he hadnt felt in it awhile
one
seldom misses pain or its companions of
weakness fragility vulnerability
he was reminded of the hot baths he took to sublimate his pain
he refused the chemical substitutes his physicians wanted to prescribe
Why not submit
Everyone else did
and that in itself
was reason enough
he wasnt Everyone and everyOne he related to suggested they werent either
though it was a safe haven a place to fall and be recognised as one of the group congregation or oh-so cloister
he wouldnt belong to a cadre that would have him
nor why would anyone who was exceptional or simply who they were
pedagogy was directed to erase this essence in Everyone
and pedagogy
despite its virulent attempts
failed to wash away his inborn stain
school could smell the antiseptics on him
and it stuck in his nose like old urine withering ammonia
he was distracted
his classmates remarkably were unaffected
reflecting earnestly it seemed true his hot baths were second only and rarified
by him bathing and sloshing in his and her amniotic fluid
that rare making between himself
and his mother
and of that roiling that steeping
he was unrepentant
a Lesson learned perhaps
the shine and deafener continued back through the hall between the Oblivious
oblivious of him
he tacked the room on the whirl of their counter prevailing winds
they swept up the foyer
and exited the house
laughing
Laughing
it was difficult to have his suspicion deflated
usually more difficult
to have piqued his curiosity to suspicion
though
he was grateful
he suspected he would have had the drop on them
then perhaps
they were just casing the place
and as a friend of a friend . . . of a friend
he had nor felt any fealty to the House
after all
that would cost someone real spirits
not a fat ass Burgundy glass of hued water
it was after all a cherry of an evening and not to be squelched or dismissed
thered be other times to riot
Wednesday evening, 14 1.
15 2238, Saturday,
17 11. 15
