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LATEST UPLOAD: GUIOPERA IV *BeautifulDistraction*
WARNING: Contains content not suitable for those under the age of 18!
Contents: SYNOPSIS | PRELUDE | CHAPTER 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 1 9 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 3 6 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 5 6 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | XMAS
GUIOPERA IV
*BeautifulDistraction*
by John Reyer Afamasaga
September 5th to December 25th 2011
SYNOPSIS:
Johnny has been banished from the AMD, a mecca or heaven for the entity who has risked life and limb in the battle against evil that began after the Crucifixion in the MMD. He finds himself in a shell of his former self in the dream dimension or the SFD.
On earth in the MMD, where dreams create life in the SFD, the Novice writes his story—the GUIOPERA. His readers take away with them inspiration from his story, which is an attempt by the Novice to start a new life.
The novice writer has had many lives, some of which he’d rather forget, and others he hangs onto.
He must find the path to his destiny, which is well known in the Network. In completing this year’s GUIOPERA, he can intersect the dreams of those in the MMD, helping Johnny to regain his entity. All the Novice needs is the perfect distraction….
Story and Characters for
GUIOPERA IV
*BeautifulDistraction*
by John Reyer Afamasag
September 5th to December 25th 2011
PART 1
A love story that takes place in the SenFenide Dimension (SFD), or dream dimension, where finding oneself, or your entity, is everything. Cross-dimensional mercenary Johnny goes through several incarnations to find himself. Along the way, he helps a child who helps him, and he also catches up with the elusive Imogen....
Johnny: A benevolent and mild-mannered guy, who can be lethal if pushed, looks for a future while running from a past he is not aware of anymore.
Bella: An orphan child-like being whom Johnny is sent to save.
Beatrice: An incarnation of Imogen, a beautiful distraction.
Harold Clarenta: A wretched soul whom Johnny comes up against.
PART 2
Behind the second horizon in the SFD is the MMD or the MindMorph Dimension. A Novice writer who may have been an operative in another life tries to write himself a new life as an Author as he travels the world telling his story about the story being told—the GUIOPERA. The hide-and-seek game he plays with former adversaries, partners in crime, and new adversaries is played out online at Facebook and at a location near you….
The Novice: The Author, currently living in Wellys, Aotearoa or New Zealand….
LMLA-ink (Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac, & Afamasaga): The crew of creative artists whose leader is the Novice.
Polina Rada: Twenty-two year old Princess of the New Global Realm, she is from Russia but now lives in New York. She has a Harvard Law degree and close ties to LMLA-ink.
Metofeaz Litigatti: A Cold War operative who is also one of the founding members of LMLA-ink.
The Tourist: Sharon Smith, a southern belle, and nicknamed The Tourist for her work on a mission as famous WWII French singer Rozelle Zofen….
Meigon: A single mother in NYC studying for her marketing degree; she meets the Novice on Facebook.
Sophie: Meigon’s impressionable fourteen-year old daughter who’d love nothing more than to join the crew of LMLA-ink since she is a huge fan.
The Network: A secret sect that connects the New World Order with Intelligence communities and the Underworld. Through the Network, John Lazoo, Metofeaz Litigatti, Jon Le Mac, and John Reyer Afamasaga aka the Novice, came together to form LMLA-ink.
PART 3
Rewind the Novice’s story seventy years and we land in France during WWII. Jon Pierre is the Poet Soldier, a deserter who travels the world seeking peaceful solutions to war. He is sent to France as a spy on a mission, the story of which Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac, and the Novice aka John Reyer Afamasaga aka JRA were raised on…..
Jon Pierre: A spy from the Pacific sent on a mission to find out what famous French songtress Rozelle Zofen is up to.
Rozelle Zofen: A beautiful singer who entertains members of the French Resistance during WWII.
Hannibal Ammer: A crooked agent who is forever a thorn in the Poet Soldier’s side.
GUIOPERA IV
*BeautifulDistraction*
by John Reyer Afamasaga
PRELUDE
(September 5th 2011)
PART 1
Christmas bells chime in the middle of an earth year in someone’s dream. The sound brings the crowds out onto Neon Strip, the main street of the SenFenide Dimesion.
At the top of an alley halfway down the street, four men in black suits watch the events as they happen. They feel themselves being of good cheer as chimes gather momentum, warming the hearts of the men’s fans on the New Global Realm.
The four men are John James Lazoo, Metofeaz Litigatti, Jon Le Mac, and John Reyer Afamasaga who make up LMLA-ink, a creative team about to launch this year’s GUIOPERA.
“Just Do It!” Metofeaz shouts at Lazoo. Le Mac frowns at the two boys, who are excited as they create merriment instead of mayhem this year. John Reyer, or JRA, the leading entity, remains quiet.
JRA watches for any little detail, any holes in the story or lapses in his crew’s concentration, which may allow in what is known as a Tiller Thread from slithering lines of code that syntaxes the data from someone’s subconscious mind or dream. The infectious virus formats the scrambled imagery into some form of the shell whose dream it is. The shell is not conscious or aware of having any control of the rework they embark upon in hope of salvation so they can love again.
Lazoo waits for the character they have conjured to correct wrongs and rewrite the script to appear on the Neon Strip where LMLA-ink has travelled disguised in Temporary Shells with a limited lifespan for this story to complete their mission.
Ironically, Litigatti is the one who hurries Lazoo to initiate proceedings, assuring Lazoo and the rest of the crew that he is ready for the Transmutation process that could have the same effects that a drug addict endures while in the process of cleaning up his act. Metofeaz, or Feeaz as he is known to his friends and foes alike, is a chip off the old block—namely, Jon Pierre Solomon, last century’s Poet Soldier. Metofeaz, who was raised by Jon Pierre, is almost the sole beneficiary for the rewrite of the misadventures that leave behind them a string of broken hearts. Representing all the women they have wronged in the line of duty is Imogen, a beautiful figure, whose story—and figure—will bend the most rigid of men.
“Relax,” says the voice of reason—John Reyer—come to calm proceedings. He steps forward to take a good look at the swelling crowd and then at his team of cut-throat creatives who once upon a time wreaked fear into the hearts they now have to win to keep the End-to-End Saga alive.
John Reyer nods in the direction of the crowd, wanting his gang to look at their savior who has arrived.
Metofeaz goes quiet as he sees her for the first time since the tragic end to the REPRO, in which he and Imogen starred side-by-side.
“Gather around,” John Reyer says, still keeping an eye on the woman who dances her way up the strip as if nothing had happened to her.
“Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect, ah?” he says, placing a hand in the center for his friends to set theirs on before he drops the bombshell on the crew.
“On me. I’ve sent you boys out there time and time again, in my name. It’s time for me to do what I have to do for myself.” John Reyer sounds emotional about his decision to star in the sequel to Imogen’s story; the story must be rewritten to give her the happy ending he had promised her the time before….
Down the street, Imogen traces the neon lights with a fingertip; their luminous spheres tingle as she holds the front of her wedding gown in one hand so she can see her bare feet as she steps gallantly but gleefully for her many admirers along the pavement of Neon Strip in the SFD.
Girls of all ages line the street to see the mercurial REPRO star who in the last story was jilted at the altar. Imogen makes her return to the streets of the SenFenide Dimension, minus the veil she ripped from her face when she fled the scene where she was left high and dry. She had vowed never to return, come heaven or hell.
Imogen allows herself to get carried away with the scene’s mood. The feel good Christmas carol, the smiles on the fans’ faces she believes in, makes it easy for her as she now steps down onto the street.
She is no longer conscious of her matted hair or her missing half of a wedding gown, or the lack of shoes on her feet—something she previously dreaded seeing the reflection of.
“He smiles like he’s bad, but beneath the veneer he is sincere.” Imogen hears the words as she sees a group of guys halfway up the street who standout to her for some reason. Maybe it’s their aloofness in and amongst all the fuss she is not even sure she has anything to do with? Maybe there’s a float somewhere behind her carrying beauty queens who will rain down on her parade?
Nevertheless, Imogen has promised herself—since exiting the woods on the side of the highway at sunrise—that she will take whatever comes her way in her new pursuit to discover the reason why she is forever finding herself in some sort of bind that ends fatally for her.
PART 2
Metofeaz Litigatti steps down from the train.
The “M” in LMLA-ink is also known as “Whimsical,” a talented sniper, a vagabond, a poet, sometimes a fall guy and a notorious womanizer. His mother was an entertainer, his father a foot soldier for the mafia; both parents were killed in a bomb blast in Rome when Metofeaz was only a few weeks old.
The railway station in the middle of nowhere somewhere in France in the MindMorph Dimension is as enchanting in real life as it is in Jon Pierre Solomon’s story upon which Metofeaz was reared.
The platform where Rozelle Zofen waited for the Poet Soldier to return is filled with mystical moments. Metofeaz can still hear them in Jon Pierre’s dulcet tones that make the events almost fairy tale-like to Metofeaz.
Litigatti has to remind himself that the story is based on actual events since he is here to tie up loose ends for Rozelle’s estate, which was frozen following her death. He is here as the beneficiary of Jon Pierre Solomon’s will. The Chateaux in the Valley of Vineyards outside of the small village was willed by Rozelle Zofen to Jon Pierre, although the will was contested by some long lost relative of Rozelle.
Metofeaz Litigatti, who is whimsical by nature both in combat and in LMLA-ink’s storytelling process—the method by which LMLA-ink passes on its strategies hidden in the End-to-End Saga to its associates—lets himself get carried away by the story that was set in the place where he’s landed to do a job.
The sound of the train leaving gives way to a vibrant small town in the distance. The ambience is tranquil for the New Yorker Metofeaz as the countryside now opens up in front him.
Metofeaz, or Feeaz—the highest ranked operative in LMLA-ink as far as the powers that be are concerned due to his military training, and ranking above John Reyer, whom everyone sees as the next Poet Soldier—begins to piece together events leading to an end where Rozelle Zofen, a famous singer, died of a broken heart in these parts.
Litigatti’s mentor, and the man he knows as his father, had a lot to do with Rozelle’s story, with most people pointing the finger at Jon Pierre Solomon, at that time the Poet Soldier, for the sad ending to Rozelle’s story.
Metofeaz’s phone rings, bringing a tinge of anxiety. He looks at the Nokia. It’s Rocol Récene in NYC, the woman whom he moved in with last week, and also LMLA-ink’s latest investor of note. The idea that the woman whom he is seeing is an investor in LMLA-ink plays havoc on Metofeaz’s mind since their last investor, Harry Clarenta, was found brutally murdered like the two before him, their deaths coinciding with the arrival of new investment.
Rocol, the widow of a media tycoon, came to New York to interview John James Lazoo about his ordeal during the Tongue Murders for a magazine article a day after her husband’s funeral; she never went back.
Metofeaz and Rocol had met in New Orleans a year earlier, and after a long distance relationship, Rocol used the Lazoo interview for one of her late husband’s magazines as an excuse to spend time openly with Metofeaz, a member of Lazoo’s crew, as soon as the coast was clear in Rocol’s mind.
When on a mission, Metofeaz is focused and finds it hard to think of anything else but the task at hand, something he’s already explained to the businesswoman who is herself a busy person. However, after letting the phone ring for a while and just looking at it, Metofeaz finally gives in to the ringing tone that echoes on the station platform where he thought he was alone.
There’s a woman down at the end of the platform dressed in figure-huggin’ khaki shorts and a white tank top, with sandals that have thin straps wound around her shapely legs from her ankles up over her calves and tied just under her knees. And she is smiling at him as he tries to explain to his live-in lover that he might not be back in New York for the weekend.
On the phone, Rocol does her, “Don’t mess with me” voice as the blonde woman on the platform begins to walk toward Metofeaz.
Metofeaz instantly recalls advice from Lazoo for such situations, “One who is attached need not succumb to weaknesses highlighted by bringing temptation to the door…” had been Lazoo’s exact words. He even offered something for Metofeaz as an aid when he found himself in a spot of bother: “Knock, knock! Who’s there? No one! No one who? No one you know!”
Lazoo’s advice had worked so far for Metofeaz back home in New York during downtime. But here in the wild on a mission where everything you see and lay hands on is a weapon, including those who suddenly appear out of thin air—possibly counter-intelligence—the advice can be futile if not a hindrance in maximizing all that one has at his disposal.
Metofeaz again fails to realize the purpose of months of planning as he lets himself be carried away on what he prefers to think of as a hunch, and others call a whim....
“I’ll try my best,” Metofeaz says, and then he takes the phone from his ear and holds it away from him, looking at it as if the thing is stupid, to get a reaction he immediately receives from the attractive woman now a foot or so from him and looking at the phone on which they both hear, “I’ll be waiting in your favorite position my dear….”
“Someone’s digging deep,” says the woman in front of Metofeaz. She is quick to create some sort of dialogue, too quick for Metofeaz, who rolls his eyes as he hears Rocol on the phone asking, “Who was that?” Metofeaz responds by holding the phone in front of him instead of to his ear. “Just a little bird,” he says, making the woman on the platform smirk.
“Little bird or little bitch better watch her flight path or she’ll get her wings clipped!” comes Rocol’s response on the phone.
Meanwhile, the two people, alone on the platform on the station in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the French countryside, are too busy with the scenery and the fresh air the woman inhales deep before she exhales and then introduces herself. “Sharon, friends call me the Tourist.”
Metofeaz ends the call when he turns his back to the woman and says in a lowered voice into the phone now held to his ear, “Tell Lazoo and Le Mac I’m replotting flight path.”
PART 3
John Reyer, as a Novice writer, is looking for his big break. Using “Author” as his new role, the chameleon who blew his cover as a Network Operative online in GUIOPERA II back in 2009 looks to leave behind a past that is colorful and hurtful to him.
Donning the cloak of a storyteller naturally lends itself to the role of the lead operative or Mastermind (Poet Soldier) in a Semi-System or cluster. Or, if you are opposed to what the Poet Soldier fights for, then it is a faction of the Network to those concerned. What the Poet Soldier and his followers fight for is Peace of Mind by hunting down and exposing corrupt figures within the Network, a secret sect that ties together the New World Order, the Intelligence community, and the Underworld for the sake of maintaining the equilibrium in what is referred to as the SystemSpectacular.
His crew LMLA-ink—Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac, & Afamasaga—are a team of talented confidence men, killers, and thieves who now abide by the cornerstones of the New Global Realm: “Love, Trust, Honesty, and Respect.” John Reyer took responsibility for the young criminals when they were hired to do the work others could not do back in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
In the AmalgaMension Dimension, the ruthless designer of thinking that leads to enlightened thought and heightened feelings has named his portal on a Networking site the New Global Realm (www.newglobalrealm.com), where he posts poems by the Poet Soldier messaging operatives covertly in the story about the story being told that he’s branded the GUIOPERA…
CHAPTER 1
(September 7th 2011)
PART 1
Lazoo, the Maestro and the first “L” in LMLA-ink, gives the crew the signal that he’s ready to materialize the meaning of the dream that they are here in the Dream Dimension—the backend of someone’s dream on the earth—to reorder.
He does so when he bows his head in respect for the shell they must possess in the MindMorph Dimension, thus creating the story in SFD. As his head lowers, his left arm rises. The slow elevation hushes the crowd of people who surround Imogen; they remain oblivious to the control John James, an illiterate out of their view, has over the proceedings in which they are engrossed.
The silence when Lazoo’s arm is fully raised and extended, pointing at the horizon, is unnerving, even stirring for the silenced crowd. John Reyer is satisfied that citizens of the SFD are ready for the WIPE symbolized by a flash of white light that will erase memories and cleanse hearts and restore faith in the souls of the citizens creating the perfect platform for the REPRO that is about to begin.
The hypnotic funk from the MMD, compliments of a blind man, begins.
The pulsating bass moves the ground on which the citizens sway for a moment until they realize it’s the beginning of a REPRO—SFD’s equivalent of a blockbuster—only a REPRO incorporates all citizens as players or actors in the production that encompasses every second of their lives.
The realization that a REPRO has arrived offers every man, woman, and child in the SenFenide Dimension hope that he or she could be the next big thing.
John Reyer studies the looks on his crew’s faces; they will assume new identities the instant the WIPE is complete—at which point, neither one of them will recognize the other, with only an innate sense of what they represent, but hopefully, it will be enough to guide them to an end that any of his talented team is capable of deciding upon in terms of when and where it may happen.
All of this is reliant upon the shell in the MMD and how they respond via their dream, which can be influenced by others in reality not confined to the name members of LMLA-ink.
“Receptors primed and ready,” Le Mac passes on to John Reyer when Lazoo manages to clear the sky on the second horizon, the one backing onto what those on earth see as the heavens. Lazoo achieves the clear canvas like a collective consciousness from the blank minds of the people even though they’re excited by the REPRO in the process of being created.
“Focus for Visual stimuli,” says Metofeaz meekly; he is still not sure what to think about John Reyer proclaiming that he will take full responsibility for the outcome of the mission. And within seconds, the crowd begin to turn around to face the place where they will be fed trillions of bits of information within less than the time it takes to blink, as LMLA-ink steps into the shadows of the alley where they remain unseen.
“I can fix my own fuck-ups,” Metofeaz says to John Reyer, who locks Lazoo standing on his own at the top of the alley in an anti-magnetic field with a stare. The relaxation exercise is performed on the conduit Lazoo by a practitioner of WIPE. John Reyer allows Lazoo to transfer data from the citizens, which will be restored at any time if required due to the REPRO collapsing or ending in unwanted fashion.
“Our fuck-up!” John Reyer says to Litigatti as he releases Lazoo from his grip so Lazoo can begin the final part of the process that will render all in the WIPE’s radius unconscious for a moment and then leave them unaware of their present existence once Lazoo is finished.
“Membranes open, looking to suck one big juicy bite out of her sky. Infiltration period in five, four, three….” Le Mac reminds Litigatti, who has a menacing smile on his face.
“You wanna enter into the unknown like that? Look at you.” John Reyer’s mocking tone says all he has to say to his troubled friend Litigatti, and then JRA turns his back and heads off down the alley. As he walks away, he calls out over his shoulder to the crew, “See you in ‘Cameo Court’! And don’t be late!”
The words from the song in the Atmos that surrounds everyone, a reminder of their purpose…
“Lovers, keep on loving
Believers keep on believing…”
Imogen watches the crowd’s attention turn from her to the horizon behind her. She is aware of the process at the beginning of a REPRO, something to which only lead players in the show of shows are privy. For everyone else, it is merely a glitch in their day that leads to some new beginning they come out of, leaving them feeling revitalized and optimistic about what’s in store in the story where they may well become the stars.
Gone are the distinguished men by the looks of things, and then Imogen sees one of them at the entrance to the alley. He’s pointing to the horizon. Imogen had heard of the process WIPE, but she had never witnessed it. Or has she?
PART 2
Rozelle Zofen, a singer living in the French countryside, walks out onto the balcony of her chateau where the elegant but strong woman is greeted by the warm mid-morning sun. Closing her eyes, she cleanses her soul with the sun’s rays—a morning ritual—for the spiritual being to keep her in tune with the universe she listens to.
Last night’s dream had a tinge of sadness to it that Rozelle holds onto as inspiration a performer needs at certain times.
She hums the tune she heard as Imogen, the woman in the dream, walked down the highway toward Neon City to confront her past.
And then, all of nature that surrounds Rozelle in the valley of vineyards spreads out in front of her, combining to commemorate her day’s beginning; the birds that sing, the stream that runs, and the willow that weeps, willing Imogen from the dream on to her new destiny.
The ringing phone interrupts the perfect start to Rozelle’s day, but Rozelle doesn’t let it invade her peace and lets the phone ring, knowing the caller will ring back.
When the phone rings a second time, Rozelle is ready, energized, yet grounded to start her day.
As she makes her way to answer the phone, she wonders about the guy in the dream as she remembers the rumor about the Poet Soldier coming to her party this weekend.
Rozelle’s slow walk is an unconscious effort to avoid taking the call since she’s always been a believer that modern communication only serves to dramatize a situation that destiny already has as part of its plan.
She brushes her hair back, taking another second, and then she laughs at her ways and picks up the phone….
The phone call was from a reporter who wants to do a story on Ms. Zofen’s party this weekend.
Rozelle’s parties are famous throughout Europe for their famous guests who show up in disguises. Famous singers posing as beggars, composers as waiters, and actors as common people.
Rozelle wets her appetite with the prospect of the Poet Soldier showing his face at her place. She wonders whether the shy person will perform and how it will happen. Some of the most memorable performances have been by some of the world’s most famous artists posing as waiters or servants who inconspicuously made their way to the stage, a mound on Rozelle’s front lawn where they then would break out into their performances, surprising the guests to say the least.
The Poet Soldier, to the best of Rozelle’s knowledge, is an activist. But also a poet as his title suggests. His links from his past as confidence man add to his cryptic story and mysterious image; they all make him seemingly dangerous, but those who meet the quiet character say his smile is warm and his charm eloquent.
PART 3
Jon Pierre Solomon bows his head as two soldiers pass him by. He waits in line to board the ramp, taking him down and onto the dock at the Port of London.
Travelling the way he does—dressed in a uniform—is risky business for the deserter since most would condemn the Poet Soldier who is here on his way to France.
As a nervous reaction, he reaches for his green bag. He feels the outlines of his diaries and the novel given to him by someone whom he now thinks about; then he reminds himself of how the woman had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in a life with someone like him—a vagabond. Jon Pierre smiles to clear his mind. But the woman’s face reappears as Jon replays their last conversation one more time—the last time, he promises himself, as he sees someone he recognizes from his time in the States.
“Jon Pierre is that you?”
The woman’s shrill voice interrupts the Poet Soldier’s peace as he recalls the memory of another failed affair he desperately wanted to develop into something more permanent to get over the one before that.
His smile ends the grimace for his current pain, and then he shrugs his shoulders as his way of bearing the hurt of which he has had his fair share.
The woman who calls out to him is a publisher who has shown interest in Jon Pierre’s poems. She is married but still willing, as evident from her assistant, a young man with whom the publisher travels. She now signals to her assistant with a dismissive wave to make himself useful by getting rid of her luggage.
“John Reyer,” Jon Pierre says, not quite sure where the name he gave up so freely came from as he holds out his hand to the woman.
The driver in the convertible from the dream comes to mind; maybe it’s his name. Nonetheless, it has been said, and now Jon Pierre will have to see it through, or kill it quick before it escalates out of control and takes him down some path,
“…down a winding path, to some door I shouldn’t be. There begging and pleading on plagues and with ghosts to riddle me to the bone with lots of lust…”
Jon Pierre hears this in his head as the woman’s smile goes beyond welcoming and starts to make JPS feel like he has to oblige her with some compliment; he searches for some flattering words while recalling all he knows about the wealthy woman whose fourth husband is close to death back in New York.
But he cannot find the right thing to say, and he no longer has to when the woman pays him the compliment. “...on plagues and with ghosts,” she says handing Jon Pierre her hand.
Muddled thoughts of his personal state of affairs and the publisher’s intent when she signalled him out in the crowd causes Jon to react the way he does when he feels challenged. The last time they met was at the Poet’s bar in New York some months before, where they shared a drink after the Poet Soldier, in a relaxed moment, recited several poems from his diary the POEMBOOK. The night stuck out in Jon Pierre’s mind for how it ended up with the woman and a waitress back at the woman’s city apartment, one of those nights Jon Pierre has sworn will never happen again.
Jon Pierre grabs the woman’s hand and shakes it, holding it in two hands with a smile as if to reassure himself and the woman that theirs is a plutonic relationship.
“I’m beginning to re-evaluate what I think about the rumors of a personality disorder,” the woman says, making Jon Pierre feel at ease now that she is on the offensive.
“Don’t you have a dying husband, and a servant to confuse with what you want and what you need?” Jon Pierre’s smile is turned on to the full, to fool anyone watching them from a distance who wouldn’t be able to lip read their conversation.
Jon Pierre had written the poem “on plagues and with ghosts,” the day he and the woman had met. It was after waking up in another woman’s bed, while he was on the mend from yet another failed romance due to JPS’s undying lust that goes hand-in-hand with his greedy need for love. Ironically, the same poem had sparked the conversation with the wealthy woman standing in front of Jon Pierre with whom he had recited the poem as he licked champagne off her and another woman’s bodies in a sordid romp that lasted all night.
Jon Pierre is reminded of the importance of influential friends in his work as he finds an excuse for the feelings that stir in him and recalls the way the woman behaved that night.
“Forgive me; it took a touch to remind me how well-matched our wits are,” Jon Pierre says as his smile now becomes a grin he can give for the sake of his role.
“Where?” The urgency in the woman’s voice excites Jon Pierre even more.
“Anywhere I can have that body of yours,” says the Poet Soldier, not choosy with his now eager reply….
The fitting rooms of the London tailor—a hop, a skip and a jump from the wharf—are the place where they decide to release their pent-up frustrations.
Jon Pierre can see his eyes and the woman’s buttocks under the woman’s long dark hair in the mirror. The rest of his face is hidden by the woman’s body, which he holds tight as her breathing quickens.
“Make me explode as you implode in me forever….” The woman doesn’t seem to mind that the staff is just outside the curtain as she begins to urge him somehow to orchestrate an ending to their bumptious encounter that is mutually satisfying, justifying the guilt he begins to feel in his body even before he can fully enjoy her animalistic behavior in the nails he feels in his back. He clenches her waist, denying her air, before he slams her body down on his a final time to affect the result she badly needs….
on plagues and with ghosts
I ate her
Her body, heart and then her mind
till she was in all of my parts
hardening when I dreamt of her
and shortening when I thought she were gone
but in those moments, little less than a hair
I still heard her and her fear
I am here I hold her
in both ears
in both arms wrapped around
up and down her figured
Fine and moulded limbs and buns
she knows me and holds me
when up and when I am
down a winding path
to some door I shouldn’t be
There begging and pleading
on plagues and with ghosts
to riddle me to the bone
with lots of lust
that I must
not trust
CHAPTER 2
(September 7th 2011)
PART 1
John Reyer feeds gasoline to the silver convertible’s engine as he watches Imogen walk away toward the trees that line the woods on the highway’s edge at the Dimension Forks, which lead directly to the Nevada desert in the MMD.
It is his last stop before his final destination—the AmalgaMension Dimension beyond the first horizon.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand as if the rising sun on the second horizon is pulling him back, there, to the SFD—the Dream Dimension.
The only thing left in Neon City for the vagabond is a dive bar he owns; the patrons like him with little to offer society—only the musings of a barfly fluent in the tapestry of life’s travesties….
Imogen walks toward the woods she remembers she came out of for a reason that now escapes her, leaving her with only the dread of facing her past. She already sees the demons darting in and out of the trees. The prospect of facing them again saddens the weary woman.
The roar of the convertible’s engine behind her, followed by the spinning tires on the gravel, almost makes Imogen cower in fear of being hit by the spray of stones she is well away from.
She never did plead her case with the driver who just dropped her off. Her case? She is not even sure anymore what it was. The only clue she can find is that she wears a white gown; even shoes are missing from her feet.
Inside the convertible, the cut-throat creative knows this is his opportunity for AmalgaMension; the opportunity to settle the battle within, bringing together the personas so they and all they learned from the countless REPROs or Reprograms can live in the same shell in harmony or congruency.
His foot planted firmly on the accelerator says he’s determined to hit the first horizon at optimum speed so he and the vehicle can slip into the Fourier Corridor, the place in which the quantum process will affect the transfer of his present form, image, and spirit only in a Temporary shell from the SenFenide Dimension.
But something else is acting against all the forces that influence the driver to take his one and only chance at congruency. If he had a conscience, he would put it down to that. A shell in the SFD is not a gifted one—something he is not supposed to be aware of, but it may result from his being so close to MMD at the Forks that power has been inferred to his shell on earth.
The radio’s lights begin to flash as it tunes itself by scanning for a station. He can hear the static above the engine’s roar as he begins to countdown to the point of impact; already he can feel the car begin to rattle from the force field he and his will have managed to create.
In the end, it wasn’t anything celestial that changed his mind.
It was a glimpse of her, the woman he had dropped off at the end of a REPRO, whom he had promised, when he picked her up at the beginning, would find her destiny if she agreed to play a part in his story.
In the rearview mirror, he sees Imogen’s bowed head. She is in the wedding gown she had designed for her big day heading back into the woods alone again. Once again a conscience he didn’t count on comes to arrest him from his own destiny.
He grimaces as his hand finds the handbrake and slowly pulls it up. Applying the brake is painful. The sliding car gives the driver a panoramic view, starting with opening in the first horizon, the glowing tear in the heaven warm and inviting, followed by the barren land of the Dimension Forks, and then the rising sun on the second horizon. He clenches his jaw to absorb his disappointment before it manifests itself in anything more.
Imogen hears the car sliding, and then she dares herself to look, but for fear of disappointment, she keeps on trudging toward her shadows in the woods.
It’s not until she hears the horn behind her that Imogen is brave enough to turn and look.
The idling engine seems to smooth the edginess John Reyer feels, which subsides when a white light, bright enough to blind, flashes on the horizon….
“Hey! I’m going into town; would you like a ride?” Imogen hears the invite from the familiar looking guy who hangs his arm out the silver convertible’s door. She had been on her way to the woods to visit her mother’s grave, something she does only when she finds herself in a situation she can only associate with her past, a situation Imogen blames on her unfortunate life, a feeling that seems to evaporate with the flash of light in the sky.
“Neon City?” Imogen finds something to say so she can study the stranger who leans out of the car, almost too eager; his smile reminds her of someone.
“Sure!” he says as he revs the motor, a sign of impatience maybe? Imogen wonders.
“Hell, woman, it ain’t a proposal. You coming?” Imogen hears what she expected and looks over her shoulder at the woods and then back at the car and the driver’s smile which now becomes tight-lipped.
PART 2
Rozelle climbs the steps to her chateau. The full moon behind her energizes her in the wee hours, after a night at her neighbor’s, a lady with whom Rozelle has struck up a solid friendship since the landowner sold Rozelle the chateau and land for a promise.
“Use the house as a haven for those in need of shelter during the fight against hate, Rozelle…” was the fine print in the verbal agreement between the women. And night after night, over wine and many a story, Rozelle had come to understand the meaning of what the lady required of Rozelle and why she had been chosen to occupy the land, which barons had bid for unsuccessfully once the lady laid eyes on Rozelle.
Rozelle reaches the top of the stairs, and then she walks out onto her balcony and takes a moment to take in the view, in the center of which is her neighbor’s much smaller villa. The light in the window is comforting for Rozelle, not only a sign of someone close by in the secluded valley that becomes eerie on dark nights, but someone she knows, and who knows Rozelle.
Rozelle giggles as she recalls their main topic this evening—The Poet Soldier—and the prospect of him coming to the party this weekend.
And then Imogen takes Rozelle’s mind away from her dream, seeing the ghostlike entity in the hands of a breeze that runs through the valley, touching the vines, blessing the grapes, playing hide-and-seek with Rozelle’s imagination as Rozelle is eager to know Imogen’s story that is told to her night by night, almost fairytale-like in her dreams.
Rozelle decides not to tempt fate by trying to conjure the mystical character during the conscious hours in case she does not return to her when she sleeps. And then the guy in the car, and the book he had beside him, becomes her interest before she reminds herself to leave the dream be, leaving the topic of conversation tonight, with the Poet Soldier forefront in her mind again.
Many have claimed to have met the Poet Soldier, and the thing everyone remembers about the quiet person is his eyes and his smile. Not a tall fellow she has heard, but they say that his calm way has saved many lives and is the glue that holds the Network together. His followers are devoted to his poems, one of which she remembers well:
Soul Singularity
Time’s hands slip away
They find whims, and fancy
In sighs and even slights
Your fragrant elegance hangs in airs
You leave behind
Each time you blaze my mind
Sudden thunder
superlatives surrender
soul singularity
with yours and yours
Only….
Jon Pierre Solomon looks unperturbed by the attention as the staff takes his measurements for the suit—a power play by the wealthy woman whose smell is still wet on him around his groin.
Sitting on a sofa in the middle of the room with her assistant by her side, the wealthy woman smokes long dark thin cigars as she points to places for the tailor and his assistant, a well-built woman in her late twenties (Jon Pierre has already found out just how well-built), to tend to as they prepare the suit. Jon Pierre smiles at the a token gesture by the crude and loud lady before he smiles nicely at the assistant tailor, kneeling in front of him and looking up at him with the most sensual pair of eyes the Poet Soldier has seen all day.
“Fuck, I meant puck. I play ice hockey when I’m in Canada; when I’m abroad, I get all wound up when I can’t put the puck away in the back of the net…” Jon Pierre says calmly and quietly to the seamstress who responds by cutting him off in her middle class accent.
“There’s a watering hole some minutes from here, but the old witch is not welcome.”
Jon Pierre has a puzzled look on his face for a moment until he realizes the wealthy woman had already approached the seamstress to join them, which he now has to change if he’s to get himself a decent dose of the woman who runs her hand all the way up the inside of his leg and then stops, adding to the strain of it all when she says, “I need a fuck too!” Then she takes her hand from the inside of his leg and licks the stickiness from Jon Pierre’s thighs, letting him know what kind of girl she really is. Her eyes show her hunger as her tongue envelops her musky fingers, which he can smell; it makes him feel like taking her right there. The feminine-looking male tailor shows his disgust at their lustful expressions as he winds up his tape and leaves them.
“John Reyer, please to make your acquaintance,” Jon Pierre says for the second time today. As he hears himself, it sends pains through him that nest like a knot in his body jabbing at him.
The sharp reminder turns his head immediately in the direction of his bag, as if it is somehow is connected to his pain. A well-known fact is that the Poet Soldier’s only possessions and anything of any value are his diaries, but then the book from the Romance writer, with whom he’d had a brief but a dynamic liaison, seems to scream at him, and his promiscuity is also a valid reason for why the author, who probably sensed what he was like, ended the affair abruptly.
The interaction between the seamstress and JPS does not go unnoticed by the wealthy woman whom Jon Pierre can see squinting through the smoke—a sober reminder for the Poet Soldier of how his day turned out the way it has.
Jon Pierre looks at the beginnings of a well-tailored suit that drapes on him. Regardless of its cut and quality of fabric, the wealthy woman’s smell will always haunt him.
And then he chooses to think of Rozelle Zofen, whom he will interview as a part of his cover. He begrudges every moment he is required to stand here while the powerful woman gets her money’s worth watching him do as she pleases, which he now realizes also includes the seamstress, whose hand the unsewn fabric hides as she explores his rock-hard state....
The streetlight through the window casts shadows of doubt over him as he turns to another side to hide from the acts that proliferate the profound effects of the scene earlier in the day for which he now pays as he lies awake.
His diary, the one in which he writes poems, is in front of him. He had tried to rid his mind of the day by writing, but that didn’t work.
He then remembers the diary’s purpose, which does not include a place for his guilt-ridden stream of consciousness to reveal itself, no matter how vast the content may be that would allow him to nest the code in.
The POEMBOOK, the name the operatives call one of Jon Pierre’s diaries, is where the Poet Soldier starts the seed of an idea that could be the concept for anything from exposing corruption, to selling a new weapon to the military, to wooing a recruit who has the charm and talents he requires to help him in his role within the Network, that of a project manager of sorts, a title Jon Pierre is much more comfortable with than “Mastermind,” which his adversaries have made popular.
Jon Pierre looks above him at the thing that hangs from the ceiling. Complete with broad shoulders and the cuffed hem of the pants, the suit hangs from the lightshade—a fitting place for it, Jon Pierre thinks; it looks like he is hanging from the ceiling for his behavior.
Thoughts of the Romance writer and her parting gift to him, which lies buried under the diary, make him forget about his ordeal for the moment, and then his mind is back on track, a relief from the self-torture he’s been inflicting on himself for the past few hours.
The task at hand was how he was going to get to know Rozelle Zofen well-enough to know just what it is the famous singer was doing. For months now, the singer has been inviting members of the resistance, many of whom were Network operatives, to her home in France where she entertained them generously without any demands on any of her guests.
If the Nazis got wind of Rozelle’s parties, they’d almost definitely raid one, or make an example of Rozelle and her guests—the more likely scenario. Or, were Rozelle’s parties actually known to the Nazis? Perhaps they were even behind the gatherings? But that was unlikely since the operatives involved with the Resistance were mostly recruits who had failed to make the grade, a status that does not, however, deny their bravery.
His mind continues on its linear path to a solution until another incident from his day interrupts him. The name “John Reyer,” which he had given up as his name almost like he’d been pushed into it by some unknown spirit, crosses his mind.
And then the dream from the night before—about the guy in the car with the beautiful woman at his side—takes over his thoughts. A conscious effort to refocus his thinking on his strategy for getting close to Rozelle is sidetracked as he reaches for his diary and finds the pen that bookmarks the next blank page.
It’s as if thoughts of the Romance writer in Kansas, the dream, and his mission have combined to give Jon Pierre a clean energy. Yet, his eyes were becoming heavy, something he’d been praying for.
The page in front of him is white, waiting for him to spill a plan onto it that will hatch as it is spread by mouth, feeding the hungry hearts that pass on the plan to those who need to know about it in order to change lives.
He can see the novel’s cover above the blank page that waits for him. Her words and how she felt the last time they made love take over as he drafts his thoughts that will hopefully lure to him another woman. Jon Pierre puts down on paper what he would’ve said to the writer if she had given him the opportunity.
To you and only you my “Frost Maiden.”
This is how I wanted to leave you, as I already knew before you made it known, that you would not risk your beautiful heart on someone undeserving like me.
The last time you were in my arms, this is how you made me feel.
In awe of the place where our bodies languish for our next breath and then at last we gasp for the air we have made; our two hearts wait to see whether there is more that can be felt in this, the most memorable moment yet of our undying love….
I see how you feel and urge you to believe in this, and allow your heart that last percent of evermore, the tuppence of duty, a disproportionate investment in a yield that will never be outweighed in being wanted, needed, loved, and desired.
But I see the doubt in your eyes, which I could have foreseen if I were truly brilliant. The stories, which make the most pleasurable sight to my eyes sad, would’ve only been of my heroics and not of my weaknesses because you protect the heart you hold onto, denying it the chance to feel what only ours could, together.
Finally, I cannot look at the sadness in your eyes, and so I let them sleep, hoping they only remember my heroics. As you sleep, I see deep in your soul as we find breath that we lost together in pursuit of what we were sure we would find, albeit in a dream, but at least for now, our hearts beat next to each other as we dream that dream.
Poet Soldier
Jon Pierre feels peace come over him like a blanket he’s needed in the cold night, made chilling by a conscience that’s been getting louder since meeting the Romance writer earlier in the year.
Outside the window, Jon Pierre can hear the sound of delivery trucks delivering bread, milk, and the news, which reminds Jon Pierre he must call in to see a friend, an editor at the newspaper, before he leaves for France tomorrow….
It’s mid-morning when Jon Pierre, who shows no sign of the night before, enters into the newspaper’s offices.
“The Poet Soldier!” his friend the editor calls out from his office with the open door at the back of the room, bringing attention from reporters and errand boys who take off their caps as Jon Pierre Solomon strides without a care through the place.
Jon Pierre has the letter to the editor written under the pseudonym the “Poet Soldier,” which has caught on—on both sides of the Atlantic. He hands the piece of paper to the editor, who reads it; then he summons a runner to take the piece to typing.
“Did you write this one shaving? No, wait! It was penned, frothing from your heart in a moment of weakness, wasn’t it?” Jon Pierre is thankful for his friend’s humorous approach, having dreaded bumping into someone this early in the day who would remind Jon of his reality.
“It’s just a piece,” Jon Pierre doesn’t smile, bringing out the inquisitive side to his friend whom he met in New York when the editor was a reporter there some years back.
“Can’t be! Jon Pierre smitten!” The editor’s remark hits the soft spot that Jon Pierre cannot be bothered denying; nor can he get excited about it as he realizes how he’s already manipulated the only pure thing he’s felt for a long time.
Jon Pierre’s silence encourages the editor to pry into the piece, which he and most of the industry know carries code for the Network operatives out there in the field.
What had caught the editor’s attention about the piece was how it was in letter form and not a poem.
The editor’s smile hangs as he waits for Jon Pierre to spill the details.
The runner re-enters the office and returns the piece to the editor. As if Jon Pierre had known about the runner’s return before it happened, Jon Pierre unpacks his bag, placing the two diaries on the desk. He carelessly places the novel, the parting gift from the Romance writer, to the side. The editor reaches for it, but Jon Pierre quickly snatches the paperback off the desk and puts it back in the bag.
“Touchy, touchy. Let me take you for lunch; a pint and a steak? You could do with some company….” His friend knows Jon Pierre well and can see the pressure Jon is under, but his words fall on deaf ears as Jon Pierre places the piece back into the POEMBOOK and then puts his diaries away.
Jon Pierre, as the Poet Soldier, is a silent type. But he now smiles a pleasant enough smile as if to say nothing has happened, and then he turns to leave the editor’s office without having said a word.
“Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect,” the editor shouts as Jon Pierre leaves his office.
The editor’s words—from an anti-corruption campaigner—bring a smile to Jon Pierre’s face, which the young runners see as he passes them on his way out. As Jon Pierre exits the newspaper’s offices, the young fellows whisper among themselves, in awe of the character some say is the Mastermind for the secret sect known as the Network.
Even though he doesn’t show it, even appearing ungrateful at times, Jon Pierre is thankful for the support he receives from the many people who work tirelessly behind the scenes anonymously for their own safety; their roles in everyday life range from the famous to the infamous, from street sweepers to nobodies, who believe in what Jon Pierre and his Semi-System of the Network fight for—an end to war.
Jon Pierre suddenly feels the cold London air. The fine suit that made him feel important and even presentable only a few hours before, now looks like a dirty reminder of yesterday.
CHAPTER 3
(September 8th 2011)
PART 1
The radio finally finds the station. The soulful track “My Sensitivity” brings birds into the scene that were once somewhere far away.
The silky music can be heard everywhere as if it were coming from the sky for the guy and his smile which has become warm again as he switches off the engine and hops out of the car.
The current moment begins to take effect on Imogen as she feels like smiling, coinciding with her unconsciously cradling her fingers before she starts to swing her held hands.
“You’re too beautiful to be standing there looking like that when there’s no way to capture it,” the guy says as he reaches the other side of the car and opens up the passenger door, as the song goes,
“Just say the right thing and it’s automatic love….”
The entity within Imogen restrains her smile as she waits to see how far the person who presents no danger to her will go to make her day.
And then Imogen notices the entity within the man when he does something that puzzles her—smelling himself as if he were an animal. He begins when he raises one arm and then the other.
“Hey, do me a favour will ya? Lend me your nostrils for no longer than a smidgen of a moment, in whatever dimension we’re embroiled, in some nonsensical pathetic mating ritual,” he says as he closes the car door and makes his way to the front of the car where he places his hands on the vehicle’s hood and spreads his legs, waiting for Imogen to fulfil his request.
Imogen’s bashful behavior takes a turn until it’s as if the once suave character realizes his uncouth behavior in front of a lady, at which point he stands up and brushes imaginary dust off himself, and then he leaps effortlessly on top of the car’s hood, standing there with an almost serene look on his face that makes Imogen want to sigh from how handsome he looks.
And then, as if it were a stage on which he was always meant to perform, the character holds out his hand to Imogen for her to take it. The newborn sun sparkles in his brownish hazel eyes as he begins to speak, looking Imogen in the eye, not wondering, but with a look that has a certain amount of understanding for the woman from how earnest the entity sounds when he begins to speak from his heart:
Spellbound
I awoke
Charmed by your name
In a meadow alongside warm rivers
—they flow from your hair
I may be bewitched
In fascination
Parting your hair I find
A summer’s day—a look on your face
Asleep, at peace, amity of our hearts
Utopia of minds, Soul Singularity
I am so, so “Spellbound”
Rozelle quickly unwraps the parcel, her copy of the same book the Poet Soldier had mentioned in a letter to the editor of the London newspaper.
As the day of her party draws closer, Rozelle finds it harder to conceal her excitement over the possibility of having the Poet Soldier at her home. She exhausts the thought in the book, which rumor has it was dedicated to the Poet Soldier by the author, a Romance writer with whom he’d had an affair. Ill-fated as it turned out, nevertheless the idea is as romantic as all the stories about the vagabond leader of a new movement sweeping the world. Frost Maiden by Michelle M. Pillow—a futuristic story set in the future—carries Rozelle away, allowing her to escape the afternoon, and when she resurfaces, it is late in the evening.
Rozelle makes her way out onto the balcony to stretch her legs and get some fresh air. She sees her landlord’s light and decides to pay her a visit.
PART 3
Jon Pierre looks at the poem published in the newspaper, and then he swallows the lump in his throat that he gets every time he thinks of her. The poem “Spellbound” is the Poet Soldier’s recollection of the last time he woke up with her in his arms.
The fumes from burning coal coming from the train’s engine room cannot deter the feeling that carries the scent of her hair, and the heat he can feel in his loins that his hands could gather from her superb body; his mind remembers each contour that his mouth discovered during the brief but “Dynamic Liaison.”
“All aboard,” the train guard calls, bringing Jon Pierre out of his dreamy state.
“Jon Pierre.” His name is said by the woman he chatted with at the café—she speaks it with an accent that was meant for it by the two women, both teachers, who adopted him.
He only spent two years with his adopted mothers, beginning at the age of seven, but those two years had a profound effect on the man who has been an operative since the age of nine.
Jon Pierre squints as he jokingly imagines someone deciphering the code within the poem, designed to let a few people know that the plan which the war had interfered with is still going ahead. The project being planned will be late, some ten to fifteen years late, but it will be delivered.
The woman, who looks at the newspaper Jon Pierre folds up, waves with her head for them to board the train, slipping her arm under his, something Jon Pierre looks down at but does not frown at; instead, he asks, “When did this happen?” encouraging the woman who begins to pull at his arm….
Inside the compartment, Jon Pierre makes a point of sitting opposite the woman who has a pleasant face and wears little or no makeup, just eyeliner to accentuate her almond eyes, making them quite attractive.
He decides to tune out as he runs over the plan in his head; two other operatives are vying to be the ones to implement the cultural shift, a revolution of many kinds, sexual for the fairer gender, and peaceful for society in general. That two world wars took place in less than half a century adds merit to the plan; even the industrialists had profited from both wars, and they had given their approval to the idea, which will involve man going to the moon, in the introduction of the Space Race as a diversion for the might of both Super Powers.
Mr. Businessman is Jon Pierre’s strongest competition due to his adversary’s white middle class American background. Good friends from the age of thirteen when both were sworn into the roles they still perform, Jon Pierre can accept if he is overlooked for Mr. Businessman. On the other hand, Hannibal Ammer, also white and American, has allowed his middle class background to manifest itself in an arrogance that has cast him as an elitist in Jon Pierre’s plan. This move, which his opponents do not know, in the end proves to be the Poet Soldier’s master stroke since neither opponent would have thought to do the same.
Jon Pierre collects himself as the haze in front of him becomes clear; he sees the woman staring at him. He reminds himself of the other sleepless night after he succumbed to weakness, and he smiles at the woman, finally introducing himself—something he had avoided for an hour in the café, only serving to arouse the curiosity of the woman, who claimed she had seen him some place before. “John Reyer,” he says, and this time the character from the dream seems to be comfortable in his new skin, that of the Poet Soldier.
He maintains his smile for the woman, with whom he now questions why he is even sharing a compartment, as he reaches into his bag for the novel by the writer whom he misses dearly….
CHAPTER 4
(September 9th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen steers the convertible onto the road as the guy who has now gone quiet sits in the passenger seat.
After awhile, Imogen, who is still thinking about the poem he recited with such meaning on the car’s hood, asks, “Did you write the poem?”
His response, “I have better ones. Much more to the point,” is not quite the answer Imogen awaited, but at least he answered her question, a relief for Imogen, who has already decided that the guy is a nice enough person.
“How about a name?” Imogen asks next.
“Not quite sure yet. I’ll decide when we get there,” the guy says while he looks for something on the car seat that he cannot find. He checks his pockets and then opens the glove compartment and smiles when he sees a book. He removes it and holds it for a moment to look at it. Imogen wants to laugh over his peculiar behavior, with which she already feels at ease.
And so Imogen decides to play along. “By the way, where is ‘there’?” she asks as she sees the towers and skyscrapers of Neon City in the distance.
“Cameo Court just off the strip down an alley,” the guy says, sounding more coherent.
Silence—comfortable and calm—exists for the rest of the drive toward the gates of Neon City, until the big city buzz of the Oasis dawns upon the two people.
At the gates, Imogen introduces herself and the guy. “I’m Imogen. I’m not quite sure whether I’m going to add any value to your society. And he’s a delusional poet here to find himself,” she says to the guard who looks like Conan the Barbarian in his loincloth. Conan whispers something in Imogen’s ear that makes her blush. And then she turns to the guy who has the book in hand; she looks at it again before relaying the message to the guy: “He says I’m very lucky to be with you; you’re very dashing. But there is a shortage of players, priests, and philanderers in Neon City right now. Can you kindly select one of those vocations?”
The guy scoffs at first over this request, but then he seems to have made up his mind, “Tell Conan I want to be all of the above, plus poet.”
The guy’s answer is again not what Imogen was looking for, so she explains her point of view to the guy.
“All three vocations on offer are not conducive to healthy normal relationships.” Imogen holds onto the steering wheel while looking straight ahead as she says her piece. “And poet is not a position that promises the income required to sustain a comfortable lifestyle,” the woman adds.
“All three please, cross my heart, eat my hat, and do a jig on your old lady’s grave if I fail at any one of my choices.” The guy leans across Imogen to tell the guard his decision.
“Oh, and poet, please. If you don’t mind….”
PART 2
Jon Pierre Solomon jumps down from the train and plants both feet firmly on the station’s platform, which is in the middle of nowhere.
The Poet Soldier takes in the scenery and the fresh air after the stuffiness inside the train carriage.
Behind him, the train pulls out of the station as a cat wanders down the platform and into the scene. Jon looks around for someone, and behind him he sees a dog lazing in the sun at the platform’s other end.
Rarely does it occur that the Poet Soldier gets to be totally alone, so he makes the most of the time and takes a seat on the platform. Then he pulls the novel out of his bag.
Jon Pierre looks at the book with the dedication to “JRA.” It makes Jon grow anxious because the Romance writer never did tell him what the initials stood for. Maybe it was an ex of hers? But then he savors one comment of hers when she let slip that the dedication was to him.
The mixed feelings spoil the moment for him so he puts the book away. He enjoys the scenery and reaches to the cat to pet it as it brushes up next to him.
Rozelle Zofen, whom he is here to interview, comes to mind. He ponders what he will do if he finds her to be the kind of person he wants to recruit, and then he considers the probability that Mr. Businessman or Jon Pierre’s other adversary has already recruited Ms. Zofen—something he wouldn’t have been told.
Jon Pierre runs through his questions for Ms. Zofen in his head while patting his new friend. And then he says “Cat” to the dog pointing at the animal in his lap, which brings the dog to him.
When he places cat down on the platform, he says to it, “Meet ‘Dog,’” who is supposed to be man’s best friend.” And then he gets up and spends a few moments watching the pair in a standoff before he picks up his bag and wanders off down the platform to where he can hear sounds of people in the village behind the station.
PART 3
In New York, Lazoo sits in the last booth of LMLA-ink’s offices, watching as the Novice, based in New Zealand this year for leg one of the *TrillionCool*, does his thing on the New Global Realm on the screen above the stage. The screen shows the feed of the Novice AKA John Reyer as the Poet Soldier 24/7.
Lazoo plays the Lupe Fiasco tune, which the Novice, earlier in the year, had used to post a message to Litigatti in Europe. The new Poet Soldier used the artist’s name to identify an Irish contact coded in the name of a football club for Metofeaz to communicate with as the Network looks to sure up its strategy till 2020. LMLA-ink is vital to the numerous projects already underway, none more important than the *TrillionCool* in which Sustainability is just one of the themes the new Poet Soldier has earmarked as a worthy cause for the group to support.
Like The Guy before the Novice, John Reyer’s cover remains low key and seemingly unfit to carry out the mission at hand. This year, as the Novice and Poet Soldier, there is added pressure on him by the blindness from which John Reyer suffers. He is now clinically blind in his right eye with only limited vision in his “One Working Eye.” Such is the disability that he now writes on a black background since he can no longer read text on a white background without having to magnify it at least two hundred or more percent.
Lazoo recalls the first time he came across the work on etfiction.com; the eBook “John Lazoo,” back in ’07 when Lazoo was supposed to be an illiterate as cast by Tone Horroh, who was masquerading back then as John Reyer. John Reyer had already been cast aside by the Network, but they were still using John Reyer’s name to keep LMLA-ink in business. By reading the eBook, Lazoo found out that what they were up to was no secret—well not to the real John Reyer who published the work from the intel passed to him by Metofeaz Litigatti over the F3quenZor, a telepathic relay that LMLA-ink still uses to this day to communicate top secret information to each other.
Lazoo thinks about the premise for this year’s story from the author’s personal standpoint, which drives the constant messaging for the many operatives out there in the field, and that is to change the Poet Soldier’s image from one who is maligned with heartbreak for those who came into contact with the last century’s Mastermind.
Lazoo reads over some of the poetry the Novice has already posted in his lead-up to the GUIOPERA, only using Facebook to distribute his messages in his targeted campaign, one of them “You.”
Lazoo realizes the irony in how John Reyer has surpassed his cover of Novice writer and wanna-be author through how he’s created the GUIOPERA—something the Network did not expect from the handler giving him and LMLA-ink a platform that would make most Rock Stars envious.
Lazoo sees the alert on his mobile for the LATEST UPLOAD as the Novice types an email to his muse, a single mother in the U.S. for whom the poem was written. The thought gives Lazoo heart that maybe finally their real leader has arrived—someone like Lazoo, with his appreciation for one woman, which affects a performer’s ability to deliver an outcome for the greater good.
Lazoo’s experience comes from his ordeal—the true story behind the Tongue Murders, which is still to be revealed. Lazoo’s commitment to Genisis Jones was the real reason why Lazoo managed to stay alive and perform the escape act he did in a cover-up orchestrated by former CIA agent Hannibal Ammer in ’97 who was murdered by his crony Tone Horroh last year. With Tone Horroh on death row and out of the way, John Reyer has reclaimed his name within the Network.
Onscreen, the Novice clicks “send” on the email to his muse, sent from LMLA-ink’s inbox just around the corner from its wall on the New Global Realm.
CHAPTER 5
(September 10th 2011)
PART 1
The conversation as Imogen drives slowly up the strip, mindful of the crowds that take up the street, is about the guy’s choices. He is adamant that he knows what he’s doing before he begins to challenge Imogen.
“By the way, I didn’t hear you make any clear-cut decision of your own,” he reminds Imogen. “Wait, you’re pre-empting woman’s prerogative. Actually, that’s much better! Why don’t you just come out and say, ‘No decision as yet; I’ll give you an answer later.’” The guy then points to the sign saying “Cameo Court,” at the top of the alley.
Imogen pulls the car into the alley, unsure of what will happen next with the vehicle and what she might do until he holds out his hand to ask for the “keys.” He pockets them before he signs the cross on his chest, grabs the book, and gets out of the car without saying another word and enters into “Cameo Court.” Imogen remains in the car, unsure what the place actually is.
In the rearview mirror, Imogen looks down the alley; she watches people pass by on the street—not just a few but almost everyone who passes by. The glances stop immediately when she turns around to see they are looking down the empty lane at her, alone in the parked car.
Imogen runs over the events of the day, beginning with the poem the guy recited on the car’s hood, and then she tells herself to pick another place to start the first day of her new life.
With a smile glued to her lips as she rewinds in her mind the tape of her tale thus far, undergoing the process necessary to find the perfect place to begin her new journey, she hears people close by whom she had tuned out for the process.
In the rearview mirror, she sees a long line outside “Cameo Court.” People still look her way when they can sneak a peek, but there is definite interest in the place the guy entered now some hours ago.
After considering the variables carried over by the shell she inhabits in this segment of the story, Imogen decides to go with the flow—for now.
She readies herself to face the world in the rearview mirror when she ties her hair in a bun atop her head, and after a couple of deep breaths, she exits the car and joins the queue where everyone is lined up to get into the place.
PART 2
Rozelle almost cries for the character in her dream, but thank God for the birds outside her window that wake Ms. Zofen just when the tears were about to break.
Rozelle rolls onto her side and sees the pillow she had tossed during the night—probably at her dismay over something someone had done to Imogen in her dream. Rozelle reaches for the comforter and brings it close to her to soothe the melancholy state in which she has awoken and to send herself back into a deep sleep….
Later, the singing birds are in accord with the sun shining through the window. Rozelle can see the birds between a tiny gap she makes by lifting the pillow.
“That’s better,” Rozelle says, slowly moving the pillow as if any sudden movement will disturb the perfect start to the day she has awaited.
The sun shines just as she had imagined it would on this day she has long been looking forward to.
And then she remembers how her neighbor, oddly, had not wanted to catch up for their evening ritual last night, due to being tired; Rozelle had thought that excuse weird since she hadn’t seen her friend in the vineyards at all yesterday.
Rozelle lets the thought go when she chooses not to attach her friend’s odd behavior to anything negative or positive.
Yesterday, Rozelle now remembers, a boy had mentioned when he came to deliver the newspaper that the Poet Soldier had arrived in town and was staying at the hotel. All of a sudden, a mixed feeling of anxiety and angst arises in her—but toward whom? And for what reason? Still, it shrouds the normally happy person’s mind.
She lies still for a moment to listen for sounds of what might be the caterers arriving, but when it turns out to be nothing, she reaches for her book, trying to ignore the mood she’s woken to find herself in.
The sound of the caterers arriving minutes later forces Rozelle to place the book down, a good thing since she doesn’t want its story to end.
Rozelle reminds herself of the day she’s been counting down to for weeks now. The party’s success becomes her focus since her mood somewhat tarnishes her thoughts of the Poet Soldier. Her shift in focus in no time finds Ms. Zofen in the right frame of mind.
The excitement from things springing into action, the sounds of people moving in to set up the party for those out there fighting the war at their own expense, risking theirs and their loved ones’ lives, is uplifting for Rozelle. The idea that one of the leading lights for her and the many who fight the Nazis will be here at her home today is exhilarating for Rozelle as she lies in her bed.
When she hears the knock at the door, Rozelle sits up in her four poster bed. A woman’s voice calls, “Madame?”
Rozelle finds the woman’s voice irritating. The name the woman called her has connotations….
Lazoo watches as onscreen the Novice bids the woman in the U.S. farewell for the day in an email.
“Logging off soon xxx”
Since the Novice communicates with her more times in a day than any other person, Lazoo has already run the woman’s details through databases for a background check on her. When she came up clean, Lazoo stopped himself from prying any further into the mother of one who is studying to further herself. His decision is out of respect for the Novice or John Reyer and also due to LMLA-ink’s policy: “No snooping on those whom you must trust!” It is one of the first rules laid down when one is initiated into the fold, second only to rule number one, “We never rollover! On anyone!”
The Novice refers to the woman in question as his muse; Lazoo can relate to this feeling, having found his strength in the bond he and Genisis had forged to do what he had to do in tight situations when things turned sour in the “New American Dream.” The Morbid Mayhem, for which Tone Horroh’s reign as leader will be remembered, epitomized the period’s savageness in the “Tongue Murders.”
What bothers Lazoo, however, is how the Novice anchors pivotal twists in the game plan or the future plots—those twists are cloaking devices to guide the operatives in a number of critical missions on the go, relative to the Novice’s plans with the woman whom he has yet to meet, and including his trip to New York next year for GUIOPERA 5 already billed as LAZOO II.
Lazoo now picks up both wills, the one belonging to Rozelle and the one signed by the Poet Soldier. Attorneys for Rozelle’s long lost relative contest them on the grounds that the marriage of Jon Pierre Solomon and Rozelle Zofen overrides JPS’s will since there is no record of a name change for Jon Pierre leaving the estate to his wife.
Lazoo sets aside his emotion over Jon Pierre being madly in love with Lazoo’s grandmother Janine, evident in the STORYBOOK, as Lazoo looks for a way for LMLA-ink to secure the deed for the house for reasons only they know.
Then Lazoo ponders whether John Reyer’s decision to mention author Michelle M. Pillow’s work Frost Maiden in the GUIOPERA, a coup of sorts for LMLA-ink’s Narrative Marketing channel “MAPP it”—MobileAdApp Product Placement—will dilute the relevance of Jon Pierre’s work in the POEMBOOK and STORYBOOK, his diaries which the operatives rely on like a playbook. And it begins to make Lazoo nervous when he considers that maybe their playmaker is already engaged in a new game of which his comrades are not aware.
What’s at stake is the story behind Rozelle’s chateau and whom it belongs to; Metofeaz’s previous attempt to unravel this mystery almost cost him his life, and he only reached a dead end.
CHAPTER 6
(September 11th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen looks down at her bare feet while the woman in line in front of her looks back at them. Then Imogen hears the word being passed down the line, “Women with high heels on.”
The woman in front of Imogen offers up a frown and then tosses her shiny hair in Imogen’s face, hitches her designer handbag higher onto her broad shoulders, and then sashays off to the front of the queue to join all the other women who are comparing their shoes as they wait to be let into the place.
Imogen smiles before she hears the little girl behind her offer, “You can have mine, lady.” Imogen’s forced smile for the women who keep looking at her from the front of the queue now turns into a teary-eyed one when the little girl’s father tells Imogen, “They belonged to her mother,” in reference to the shoes the little girl offers her, which are some sizes too big, just like the sequinned dress touching the ground that the little princess wears.
“We’re here to contact her; Johnny Shawshank is the man to do the job,” the dad explains.
“She’s just so adorable; I lost my mommy too,” Imogen says to the father as she crouches down to look the little girl in the eye.
“What say we go in, ah? You’re a lady and you have high heels on?” Imogen says as she looks up the line to see the last of the women vanish into the building.
“Johnny Shawshank, ah?” Imogen begins to question the father before she stops herself to ask whether she can take his daughter inside. Then a wicked smile appears on her normally pure as pie face. “You’re my husband!” Imogen announces as she loops her arm around the man’s.…
PART 2
Metofeaz takes a moment to consider his options as the Tourist excuses herself to go to the bathroom. He does so after forgiving himself for the umpteenth time today for taking in the way the sultry woman leans forward, giving him the most splendid view, followed by the way she runs a fingernail along the length of the table; only this time, she uses it vicariously to signal what the two people have been skirting around all afternoon when she places it in her mouth.
The txt message on the phone is timely since Metofeaz has decided that the finger in the mouth is a bit much. He offers up a smile for the Tourist, who is still looking over her shoulder, as he calls out, “Mind the door; it would be an unfortunate ending to your most wonderful exit to date.” Then he signals to the waiter for another bottle of wine as he reads the message from Rocol in New York. He does so to the sound of the Tourist laughing as she opens a door.
Three bottles down, yet the serum—as they refer to the liquor—hasn’t offered up any clues as to what the woman was doing here for Metofeaz. “On a journey,” as the recently divorced woman put it after she had received an orange envelope in the mail. That was something any of the Network Operatives working with LMLA-ink or against them could’ve come up with to say they were in the know as far as how LMLA-ink sends out invitations to women to enter into the story. All of the candidates are previously earmarked and eligible to be recruited.
Her reaction so far to Rozelle and Jon Pierre’s story as told by Metofeaz was a standard response from a woman not involved behind the scenes in a romantic tragedy—romantic but a tragedy nonetheless. She showed no interest in the details of whom Rozelle was working with, just empathy for Rozelle.
And if Metofeaz were to categorize her as an operative right now, he would have no evidence nor reason to place her above an associate.
She conveniently left her bag open, letting him see the orange envelope the first time she went to the bathroom; on returning, she closed the bag on cue as Metofeaz predicted she would.
The Tourist returns as Metofeaz decides he will call it a day after the bottle the waiter places down on the table; it is getting late in the afternoon, and since it will be the first time he has visited the chateau, he would like to use the remaining light to find his way there on foot….
Lazoo cuts part one of the chapter in progress and he pastes it into the applications portal, using the Fourier Translation Process (FOTP). The prism that appears instantly projected from the browser now begins funnelling the required blue print for the story.
Earlier this year in the May GUIOPERA Pilot, Lazoo had successfully sent a physical object into the dimensions using the same process, but in reverse, with a bit of tinkering and help from the Novice—Lazoo believes John Reyer is none the wiser about it. The “Paper Airplane” entered the storyline and then returned to him through the portal as the chapter unfolded. The feat, and that it actually happened, is still Lazoo’s secret.
Lazoo now types a brief description for Part 2 into the app:
PART2: [Cut to Restaurant—Metofeaz brings The Tourist up to speed with Rozelle and Jon Pierre’s story. Approx. date late 20th—early 21st Century. Location: MMD]
Lazoo watches as the command is obeyed. The flowing data that follows catches hold of the story’s threads and ties up any loose ends. And then he has to exit out of the window before the application begins sucking his true thoughts out of him along with the creative ones of his imagination.
Lazoo is in a zone he must bring himself out of quickly, before the application sends him into an unconscious state, in which it will attack his subconscious mind, feeding off it for the sake of the story in Part 1. Lazoo slams the lid of the Lenovo shut to exit the portal.
He breathes a sigh of relief that the process worked—his proof being that the Novice is still typing the story onscreen.
To the best of Lazoo’s knowledge, neither Le Mac nor Metofeaz are aware of the process he has just completed. He feels safe that the technology is secure for now until the sound of tapping from the Novice onscreen invades his space as he shakes off the nervous energy from the adrenalin still rushing in him, something he wasn’t aware of till now….
Lazoo watches as the Novice looks for ways to keep himself on edge—now that the theory has been laid to rest that anger or hate was the catalyst upon which all the work was written over the past six years, as well as claims by all the morons coming out of the woodwork that they were partly responsible for the work by antagonizing John Reyer, just another ploy by those who try to ride the coattails of the cut-throat creative as he settles in for what will be another blockbuster year in the End-to-End Saga. This year he writes in the family atmosphere of his sister and her husband’s home in New Zealand with no turmoil to speak of as he begins to churn out what he still terms his “crap” in the GUIOPERA.
Lazoo can’t help but laugh as he thinks of the price someone has to pay for them or a concept to be written into the story—a cool half-million—is the price at which the Novice, who has not a cent to his name, has valued the product placement of the novel Frost Maiden, which they carry in the story. And apart from the brands LMLA-ink wishes to do business with, which appear sparingly throughout the story, Lazoo and Le Mac have approved only a handful of names—Tyler the editor, the Novice’s sister, her husband, and the Novice’s nephews—to be included in this year’s story. Anyone else will have to “Pay to Play,” as Le Mac, who now enters the offices, puts it.
“I like the one about—testament to self-belief!” Le Mac laughs as he calls out while making his way down the bar, in reference to the Novice’s post that he deleted after using it to confirm he had picked up the relay about Facebook backing the GUIOPERA—a test by Lazoo and Le Mac to see whether the Novice was still signed on to the F3quenZor after Lazoo voiced concerns that the Novice may be adrift and working on his own agenda.
“The best value for money. Now bankable on the Sustainability tip, the Poet Soldier’s insatiable thirst for winning will see us through.” Le Mac’s comment has some truth to it as he rounds the bar and starts firing up the coffee machine.
“He’s bankable due to not being a whore no more!” Lazoo adds as the door opens and in steps Metofeaz.
“Speaking of whores!” Le Mac raises his voice for Litigatti to hear as Metofeaz conveniently takes a call while he closes the door.
“The muse has him interested enough; drought’s lasted over six months,” Le Mac says, holding up a cup to Metofeaz who passes in front of him. Metofeaz nods “Yes” to coffee as he ends the call and adds his piece to the conversation. They are discussing the Novice on screen above the stage, typing the transcript of their interaction as three quarters of LMLA-ink gather for a meeting in the offices in Chinatown, NYC.
“He promised his muse that she was it. Even went as far as claiming, and I quote...” Litigatti looks up at the Novice onscreen and waiting for the typing to stop. When it doesn’t, Litigatti points at the screen and they look up:
“Like a second chance at life…”
Litigatti takes a second when the Novice stops typing, and then he gives his verdict.
“How long has he been orchestrating? Planning ways to swing momentum, the way people feel, hate him or loathe him—you’re either swinging with him or fighting the force with which he hits you!” Litigatti says as he now waves for Lazoo to move over in the last booth so he can sit down behind the machine; Lazoo opens the lid to it before he moves over.
“So does the muse have any say on what’s happening?” Le Mac asks as he places down cups of coffee.
“Copyright belongs to publisher,” Lazoo is quick to point out.
“He’s talking about inspiration, and how we’re going to mask code now that someone else is in the loop.” Metofeaz makes mention of the woman the Novice emails for the second time today.
Lazoo looks at the email with two lines to the woman who looks remarkably like someone, which no doubt crosses the minds of Le Mac and Metofeaz simultaneously; then Lazoo immediately changes the subject.
“The wills are what I wanted to talk about,” Lazoo says as he points to the documents in the middle of the table.
“Like our own stenographer, but leading us to some outcome—an end, one might hope?” says Litigatti, who is nervous about the topic they are going to discuss, as they all look at JRA onscreen, spilling their secrets for the sake of the cause. This session underway will in a few days’ time be the topic of discussion on millions of lips, or even as he types, depending on whose story you follow about the definitive story being told by a storyteller of infinite magnitude.
CHAPTER 7
(September 12th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen smiles bravely for the look-alike security guard in a black leather jacket; he looks Imogen up and down, and then does the same with the man. With the little girl, the guard crouches down to ask:
“Little lady, do you know who this woman is?” The guard’s smile puts the girl at ease; she looks up at her dad for guidance on how she should respond.
Imogen becomes concerned that she may have dragged in visitors or intersecting entities from another dimension who are not in on what she suspects to be a REPRO, in which there is a high possibility that Imogen is one of the main characters, considering how people have been checking her out since her arrival in Neon City.
Then Imogen becomes concerned that the young child might be pressured into telling the truth about how well she knows Imogen. The father’s nervous look is enough for Imogen to step in and help the little girl and her father out.
“Allow me to manipulate the manipulation of oneself so the spell cannot be broken,” Imogen hears herself say in a slow and sultry tone. The statement is too cryptic, not to mention the look in her eyes and the smoldering sound of her voice; the foot soldier responds instantly as Imogen confirms one of the gifts she has been given for her mission in the SFD.
Imogen feels the ground swell as music streams from YouTube in another dimension. The ’90s new jack-swing signed by “MJ,” a TRUFUNK soldier who wrote about the crew in his music, sounds the arrival of the electric atmos for which a REPRO is famous. The systematic method by the online producers who control neurons—the electrons that trigger the nervous system and which can create the plane for the heist underway—is as mind-blowing as ever. The Fourier protocol in action is a metronomic affair that syncs all the senses by using a baseline, which LMLA-ink holds in pill form.
The Michael Jackson track trips the wire of a booby trap that LMLA-ink laid for the masses: a trap in which accomplices in the crime of the century look to take every heart and mind that wanders into the mire carved into the fabric of this new society where an Illiterate illustrates what love can do.
The trancelike state of the people who were lined up, meek and mild, is linked with the entity who now appears at the top of the alley again. The alley begins to rumble, the vibrations centered on him become more intense.
He shows something in his hand, the pill Imogen suspects and then he closes his hand and points to the horizon as he begins to move his hand above his head in a circular motion.
Imogen, mesmerized by what’s going down, recognizes whom she believes to be the entity they call LAZOO as she hears people around her in unison,
“LASSO THE ATMOS!”
PART 2
Metofeaz looks out over the valley as he walks onto the chateau’s balcony. The Valley of Vineyards at sunset is quite a spectacle; ripe fruit hanging heavy from vines takes on new colors when enveloped by the placid rays reaching across all of the untroubled corner of the world where he finds himself.
Doors and windows behind him catch the sun’s parting gifts for the day as he turns to look at the house—a grand structure rising above him.
In the middle of the picturesque scene is the neighbor’s villa, in which, story has it, a light still comes on in the evening, even though the occupant has passed away years ago. Metofeaz decides he will put the story to the test and goes inside to fetch himself a beer to kill the time until it is dark enough to see whether there is any truth to the story.
Looking down, the pool surrounded by the twelve statues of gargoyles is less impressive than the view from in the water of the twelve foot high sculptures created out of clay, sunburnt to an orangey brown color that gives the fierce looking creatures an almost inviting appearance because they look like they would be so warm to touch. Metofeaz goes down to test whether they are as warm as they look; he almost bets they are because the sun has shone on them all day.
Metofeaz returns to the balcony again, pleasantly surprised by the story in all its components; this time the statues have remained cold like ice—only one of them has changed temperature—the last one, which Rozelle named the Thinking Creature.
The statue brings to mind the Illiterate Maestro, or Lazoo as a kid back in New York, whom Metofeaz had recruited as a medium in the hunt for a serial killer. The NYPD and the FBI had used LMLA-ink’s services to unravel the mystery now archived and never to be spoken of again.
Metofeaz’s amusement over being part of the End-to-End Saga—beginning some two thousand years ago, and resurrected by Jon Pierre Solomon early to midway through last century—is interrupted when the phone rings.
Litigatti sees that it’s Rocol, so he decides to take the call. After Rocol has a quick conversation with Metofeaz, who is calling from LMLA-ink’s offices in the old bar, she hands him onto Lazoo. Metofeaz doesn’t really feel like talking to Lazoo right now, but he does.
“What am I doing? I’m looking down on the Thinking Creature,” Metofeaz says for something to say to the person he respects for his ability, but if the truth be known, he thinks is “an asshole” to put it mildly.
Metofeaz waits for one of Lazoo’s meandering put-downs in his fake accent of the day, and then he holds the phone away from him, looking at it as he does when Lazoo launches into his response; Litigatti credits Lazoo’s bombastic voice to a hangover from his ordeal.
“It fulfils all that was prophesied in the story including symbols, i.e. Thinking Creature close inverted commas of those who will come to carry on the cause….”
Metofeaz waits till the droning ceases, and then he says to Lazoo, “Anything else?” and ends the call like it were some awful rash.
The phone call and having to talk to Lazoo—who is the incarnation in the story of many symbols and poems, including Little Lazoo, a phantom operative Jon Pierre had his enemies chase for nearly two decades; the Thinking Creature a metaphor about a metaphor; and Lazoo who could not read or write, yet who speaks to the world with a clarity never seen or heard before—puts Metofeaz on a downer. It is not because of jealousy or envy; it is to due to how close Lazoo is with Tone Horroh, the would-be leader of LMLA-ink, whom Metofeaz had warned Lazoo about when he recruited Lazoo—or “found” Lazoo would be more accurate.
Metofeaz’s concern is that sooner or later, the truth about whom Tone Horroh is, a plant by former CIA agent Hannibal Ammer, will come out. The situation is personal for Litigatti since Horroh, a cold-bolded killer, lampoons Metofeaz’s close friend John Reyer.
Litigatti reaches for his pocket to find the anti-depressants, but then he decides “Fuck it!”
With his one working eye (something that has never impeded the sniper’s work), he looks to see whether the light in the villa has come on. There is no sign of any supernatural intervention at play, so he decides he needs to be around some people.
Maybe the sexy siren will still be at the restaurant, a thought driven by the recent call from Rocol at the bar where he could imagine what was going on between Rocol and Tone. Rocol had never made it a secret that she had a thing for Horroh, always asking Tone where he was in the early ’80s, believing they had met in Australia as teenagers, which was becoming a bore for Metofeaz. It was possible since John Reyer was in Australia then, but not Horroh, who was working as a hitman for none other than Marcellus Wallace at the time.
PART 3
“That a boy,” Metofeaz says as he takes a sip of his coffee. Onscreen, the Novice continues to change angles, abruptly cut scenes, insert passages when he wakes in the morning, all so no one can write alongside LMLA-ink, maybe shadow them, but not write with the Novice—well, not for the time being at least.
“TV writers have the best chance,” says Le Mac, offering his opinion on who can make something of their story in the competition the Novice and the GUIOPERA shot straight to number one, a way of looking at how the Network and its many factions try to counter LMLA-ink and its cloaking device.
“Secret is to take control; try taking that from Johnny Shawshank!” Lazoo jokes about how the Novice still has control of the story. The txt messages confirm the pick-up by operatives:
“Omen GI, codename for fly in the ointment!”
Lazoo shows Le Mac and then Metofeaz one of the txts from an associate on the ground in Berlin.
“Fact is, only the best writers survive since the moral of the story doesn’t change, and nor does the lead. That’s if you get the moral and don’t have an issue with idolizing a Novice,” says Metofeaz, lifting his cup toward the screen with the Novice on it.
Lazoo drinks his coffee while watching Metofeaz’s response to the twisting tale, and how Metofeaz plays along; Lazoo is satisfied that Litigatti is over the past and how he was treated by Tone Horroh.
“Cameo Court will flush out the rat in the EU operation? Yeah?” Le Mac senses Lazoo’s fixation with where Litigatti is at and shifts to a new topic.
“That’s the plan,” Lazoo responds.
“Hopefully, a domino effect,” says Metofeaz, elaborating on the ambitious goals they have in place. “Heaven knows the liberals needed a wake-up call. Also while the markets are mending, the foundations need new piles.”
“Things are falling back into some sort of order; we’re only responding to cries from countries besieged by crimes against humanity, scaling down of the enterprise—war,” Lazoo finally relaxes.
“So, Part 1 is carrying the game plan, which will transpire via the EU and its stronger economies?” asks Le Mac, confirming the format for the operatives to pick up on.
“Yep! While the US finds its feet,” Lazoo nods, and then he adds, “Part 2 is to explain ourselves to new partners in the east, and the reason for our past behaviors.”
Lazoo then pauses before he looks up at the screen, at what none of them will be able to remember any of once they step outside the bar. Only the log of events available at www.etfiction.com will be their proof that any of this actually happened—just another of the variables he’s selected in his preferences for this year’s GUOPERA.
“And Part 3 is to keep us honest in front of everyone!”
And then the Novice looks into the cam as he says to his crew to let them know that it’s game on:
“Lasso the atmos.” And then he clicks on the link to MJ’s offering, which LMLA-ink knows the Maestro would’ve approved of for them to use in the LATEST UPLOAD!
CHAPTER 8
(September 13th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen clasps the little girl’s hand after she stops lassoing the air like the rest of them in the alley; they are now shoulder-to-shoulder with hungry entities eager to get inside the place. Imogen looks up at the entrance and sees a massive neon sign:
JOHNNY SHAWSHANK IN CAMEO COURT!
The little girl looks up at Imogen now with a knowing look glazed with envy, like those of the many others who are programmed to ignore Imogen with random snide remarks here and there—just enough to annoy her.
“Are you all right today, lady? Your hair looks a mess….” The little girl’s remark is comforting to Imogen. She looks to the father; he shares the same docile expression as Imogen makes him smile by bringing his arm in close, nestling it against her bosom for now to keep him smiling and under control as she enters into Cameo Court.
Inside, the hype remains at fever pitch, but it still stays with the underground theme as the people fill the remaining spots in the back of the room, while Imogen and her new family take their seats down front at the only vacant table in the house.
The old mismatched furniture and rips in the carpet—over which a waiter almost trips with a tray of odd bottles all labeled “Serum”—make Imogen feel somewhat squeamish, and then she signals to the waiter for service.
Imogen looks around for a possible cue for her to get involved. The thought that the guy whom she dropped off earlier was some sort of messiah for these people is quite alarming for Imogen.
The women in high heels now begin to parade down the runway in little or next to nothing, other than the high heels for which they were chosen. They bring to mind a decision by someone with a one-track mind. Or maybe the person had a genuine interest in women’s footwear, maybe even a fetish?
PART 2
Metofeaz sees the lights of the village up ahead as another message arrives on his phone which he ignores.
Litigatti steps toward the one place he has in mind; he will subdue the wilful feeling inside him with serum and outlay his frustration to whoever is there now. Another txt message arrives and Litigatti goes through with what he had promised he would do if another message came; he reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket and finds the intrusive device; then he drops it on the ground as if it were something sticky, and he leaves it behind on his way to somewhere that something inside him tells him is not a wise place to go, but Metofeaz is beyond caring right now.
Litigatti thinks of what Jon Pierre had maintained, “The outcome is the only matter worth worrying about; all else that happens till then is fodder that will be water under the bridge….” The idea gives Litigatti resolve as he marches toward the restaurant where he sees people coming and going.
Metofeaz hears ring the phone he dropped. He stops and begins to laugh at himself for the unnecessary theatrics he pulls just to get himself in some sort of state to do the work, especially now that the work has been downgraded to what LMLA-ink terms light duties instead of the type of work he, Litigatti, is used to, which involves diplomats, leaders of industry, crime bosses, and rock stars, along with a healthy dose of action to keep him interested.
Litigatti shrugs off the blues from working with Tone Horroh and having made the rash decision to move in with Rocol, which he knows will end traumatically.
He thinks about going back to pick the phone up, and then he decides that he will pick it up on his way back to the house later as the phone keeps on ringing.
By the time Metofeaz reaches the front of the restaurant, the sometimes excitable character has decided that he will deal with the problematic situations in his life by facing them. First, he will sit down with Rocol and admit to her that, upon reflection, their living arrangement was not the best decision, and a certain element of pressure may have been exerted on him to move in with her. And then he tells himself that he is still able to function as a team member under the leadership of Tone Horroh, and that it was his own decision to move in with Rocol even though Horroh had definitely put the screws on him to do what he could do to get Rocol to release the investment when she did, which was over a candlelit dinner, the first night in their new apartment.
All thoughts of avenging what his paranoid mind was telling him, by finding comfort in another woman’s company, are wiped, or at least he thought they were until one surfaces about the possibility that Rocol moved in with him to get back at Horroh; that reason is absurd he stops to tell himself, and then he decides: “Why should I care?” As far as he is concerned, he and Rocol are over, but he will wait until he sees her again before he lets himself move on or get himself into any other situations that may complicate things further.
“That’s what Lazoo would do!” he tells himself, using the idea that he has to follow the example of someone he considers to be a wanker to deter him from ending up in a similar predicament in the future. As he speaks, the restaurant’s door flies open and the Tourist and some guy fall out of the restaurant, arm-in-arm, drunk and having the time of their lives.
“Phew!” Metofeaz sighs as he smiles at the woman who looks over her shoulder as the guy leads her away.
PART 3
The single mother finally arrives. She pulls out a seat at the next table to the one under the famed arc logo of SIL HOUSE Café in TriBeca NYC—the place where many a plan for the End-to-End Saga was hatched.
Metofeaz, sitting under the logo in the window, wonders whether the woman is aware of whom he, Lazoo, and Le Mac are? The thought is quite tantalizing since he figures the Novice would have mentioned them in emails to the extremely attractive looking woman. Nor do Le Mac or Lazoo miss her attraction, and Lazoo decides to test the waters by saying out loud, “The Novice and his muse, ah?”
Metofeaz checks his phone; he sees that John Reyer had just sent the woman an email, which she was probably checking when Lazoo said what he did.
They had traced the woman’s IP address when Litigatti, posing as someone else, befriended the woman online in a forum for her study.
Getting the woman here wasn’t an easy task, and in the end, they called on a favor from Polina Rada, who enters the Café right on cue.
When Metofeaz sees on a friend’s post the Novice’s comment on the New Global Realm, he looks to see whether the woman John Reyer refers to as his muse is at all annoyed by the Novice’s campaign.
“Marketing at its best,” the woman who is studying for her degree in marketing says, holding up her phone. Polina smiles quickly for the crew at the next table without the woman noticing, and then she takes the phone, rolling her eyes and asking, “What’s that person up to this time?” Polina is almost embarrassed at what she might find in what is being handed to her. The woman reads the Novice’s comment she wants Polina to look at.
“Devil is in the detail; God is in the moral….” — JRA
Polina immediately hands the woman back the phone when she sees what is meant to be a private note to her from JRA. He has no idea that Polina Rada, a graduate, is here to mentor the single mother.
The woman looks confused as she looks at the email from the Novice, although it makes her smile. Then she goes back to his wall to look for the post she cannot find.
Polina looks down at the floor as the woman goes back to reading her email from the Novice, unaware of the reason for the post, which was deleted within a specific time to notify the crew of a decision that has been made; the post’s content outlines aspects of the plan the Poet Soldier references.
“So, Lina, thank you for making time to see me at such short notice….” And then the woman pauses as her phone alerts her of another message….
Le Mac raises his hand and does a lasso, giving the staff behind the counter the message to bring up the Novice on screen as he clicks on the YouTube link.
All three of them watch the woman for any type of reaction to the song.
Polina, seated across the woman dubbed the Poet Soldier’s muse, sees the look in her eyes as the piano begins the infectious tune that obviously means something to the single mother because she smiles and whispers, “He posted it on my wall.”
Polina bites her lip before the feeling the Novice has once again managed to create takes hold of her. The feeling, for those who watch as he writes for another year, is one of relief that against all odds one man, with limited resources, manages to make the world feel emotional about him and his work, which he does without a single demand for anything in return.
Polina allows herself to see the events taking place from the audience’s perspective for a moment so she may get next to the woman, who now says, so the world may read about it:
“The song’s about our Dynamic Liaison!”
Litigatti looks out the window as Lazoo stretches his neck muscles left and then right. Meanwhile, the Novice posts the LATEST UPLOAD on Facebook, otherwise known as the New Global Realm.
CHAPTER 9
(September 14th 2011)
PART 1
As the guy is about to go onstage, he shakes his head as if it will rearrange the order of what is inside the hallowed place. He has appeared in the nick of time to fill in for the other Johnny Shawshank, who decided he would rather work in a beauty parlor. Those around him offer the star leftover takeout food the crew found behind the Chinese food shop.
“Johnny sea shells on a shore, shanking topless ladies the sand castles I make with mischievous mind that adorns, prolongs, prologue, portable sewing machines that make button holes…” Johnny says for something to say; again it seems to do the trick, for what dawns on him is his “Entourage? Right? Am I getting the gist syst on the eye of your….Never mind, the daffodils will pick themselves, right?” And the hi-fives and cheers inside the changing room drown out that of the crowd on the little screen that one of the crew is bringing to Johnny to look at as a way of hyping the new star up before he goes on stage.
“What is it that I’m supposed to do again?” the guy asks the other guy holding the monitor.
“You’re Johnny Shawshank….” The other guy pauses and then has to ask someone else, “He’s Johnny Shawshank, right?” The pretty reporter lady in a two-piece suit with a split up the back looks into the camera facing her, and asks in her investigative reporter’s voice, “Who is Johnny Shawshank?”
In the midst of all the commotion, the guy who swore he was Johnny Shawshank grabs hold of the monitor and looks at it long and hard, with a dreamy look in his eyes that brings the room to a sudden halt.
“Who is she?” he asks about the woman sitting at the table down the front.
“Looks like she’s barefoot and there’s a good chance she might be pregnant. Excuse me; those stains all over that stylish dress she must’ve caught when Courtney Love tossed the dress instead of the bouquet…” The reporter lady continues on as Johnny Shawshank clearly becomes more captivated by the woman on the tiny monitor. He has to shield his eyes to see the faint picture of her with bare feet, in a tattered wedding dress.
“The chump next to her is here to contact his wife,” the other guy says to Johnny, who shakes his head again and takes another look at the monitor.
“Can you hear the rattling?” Johnny, now in character, asks the other guy.
The cronnie has a blank look on his face till the reporter lady steps in with her bushy boom mic and shoves it in Johnny’s face and asks him, “People are here to see you contact the dead, heal incurable diseases, and find love for the loveless. Are you able to deliver, Johnny Shawshank?”
“Of course he can,” the cronnie leads the cheer in the dressing room, which Johnny finds to be amusing as his senses come to him, and then he tests who he is among his team by raising his hands and signalling for silence like an orchestra conductor. The silence is what he needs as he realizes he’s in some sort of bother now when he runs over the list of things he is meant to deliver.
“Is there someone to warm up the crowd for me?” Johnny asks, aimlessly looking around the room for ways to buy himself more time. The door opens and in walk the women in high heels. “They’re warmed up already!” says the one in front.
Now Johnny begins to worry about space in the small room since he can see up to a dozen leggy beauties lining up to enter the room where there is standing room only.
Johnny sees no sense in wondering what he is here to do any longer, so he starts pushing his way through the crowded room toward the door.
The woman out in the crowd had a look in her eyes that he wants to see for himself. “Love for the Loveless!” he says, and then he hears everyone in the room he’s trying to escape from repeat the line like a nasty echo that agitates him.
He shuts out the noise and the bodies he has to fight his way through like the woman, an Amazon with a piece of string as her garment, who pokes out her round butt and says, “Will you fish that piece of string out of there for me, hon, using that mouth of yours, and while you’re down there….” Some part of him finds the invitation to be just the tonic he needs right now. “Oh, what the hell?” he hears himself say as he feels the woman’s hand reaching for the back of his head. Then he manages to dodge the invite so he can shake his head; he would swear that shaking it did something before to change what to him seems like circumstance.
Now the woman is pushed into him by the expanding crowd that keeps coming into the room, barely larger than a closet it seems. Her body suddenly becomes the wall he can’t get beyond; it twists as if she is about to exact some martial art move on him, and he is powerless to block her advance. Her open mouth smells as wet as it looks, and as inviting as she is below. He meets the lash of her tongue with his as he concedes that he has been done in again….
Metofeaz finds a table in the corner where he can see all that is happening in the cozy and vibrant restaurant. A picture of Rozelle Zofen on the wall, the one with Jon Pierre in the background, makes Metofeaz feel important from his involvement in Rozelle’s affairs.
Beneath the picture is a small shrine to Rozelle. It includes a handwritten copy of the poem “Illicit Blade of Grass,” and her favorite novel Frost Maiden. Other items that commemorate the town’s matriarch are her microphone and a pair of heels belonging to Ms. Zofen, the entertainer who sang at the hotel just around the corner from here.
Metofeaz grabs the newspaper on the table as the waitress places down a bottle of tequila in front of him. “Jon Pierre Solomon’s drink,” the waitress says. Metofeaz keeps his head down, not quite sure what to think. Then the door opens, letting in cold air, a welcome relief as Litigatti begins to get flustered by the unwanted attention. He can see above the top of the page he is reading that everyone is looking in his direction.
“Thank you, merci,” Metofeaz says out of the corner of his mouth—a half-hearted thanks for what he didn’t ask for.
“You’ll be thanking me later,” comes the response, making Metofeaz realize the Tourist is back inside the restaurant, something he didn’t really want to admit to himself that he was concerned about.
Gone is the waitress who brought him the bottle, and standing at the end of the table is the Tourist from earlier in the day with two shot glasses, waving them like shiny objects in his face.
“So this where I write some corny well-worn proverb on a piece of paper and slide it over to you. The ensuing events the beginnings of a whirlwind romance?” Metofeaz hears the sarcasm in his voice, and he begins to show signs of irritation; the forced smile belies the anxiety in his body language as he folds his arms.
“Just chill, soldier; it’s a peace offering for not being totally up front with you.” The Tourist’s laid back approach does little to affect Metofeaz’s mood as another woman pops into his mind when the one in front of him admits to leading him on. Arley Evon and his off-and-on relationship with her is another loose end in his life that he will either have to sever or tie up.
Something about the Tourist seems slowly to calm him down as she eases herself into the seat across from him.
Metofeaz feels himself giving into her casual and toned down approach. The woman takes the bottle and pours. “Serum,” she says as she slides a glass in front of Metofeaz.
“You need serum to tell me the truth?” Metofeaz looks at the glass and then at the one the woman holds up to him.
“Not exactly; I need a break to prove that I am worthy of a place in your Semi-System. How’s the song go? ‘Let’s get drunk; it’s gonna bring us closer.’” Her response neither impresses Litigatti nor does any harm to her chances, as Metofeaz reaches for his glass and raises it toward her.
“Here’s to honesty.” Litigatti toasts the candidate for whom he already has a role. He makes his toast and then drinks his glass without taking his eyes off hers….
PART 3
“Taxi Run, you know how it is for a mum….”
Metofeaz watches the woman, who looks like she’s in her twenties, get up and leave, after announcing to Polina that she has to pick up her daughter from school. Polina still has a look of empathy all over her face for the woman hidden in a caring smile.
Polina makes her mind up to stick with her plan and tell the guys what she thinks is best for the woman:
“Great friends, that’s it!” Polina offers her assessment of the online affair for the boys, who seem surprised by it. Polina then quickly exits the scene before Lazoo, Metofeaz, or Le Mac request anything further from her.
Metofeaz notes Polina’s tardiness in getting with the program this year; he raises his hand in farewell to Ms. Rada as the other two let the disgruntled Ms. Rada be.
“Let’s say it’s just part of his campaign. Or from her perspective, it’s just a friendship,” Lazoo says as Polina appears in the window, looking at them like they’re naughty boys as she mouths:
“They’re In Love!”
Metofeaz lets his head fall back as if he knew it all along. Lazoo gets that seldom seen smile on his face as Le Mac does a hi-five with Polina whose smile sneaks back across her face while she still holds onto the annoyed one she had.
“Damn, it’s that sick-ass sense that women have,” Metofeaz says, looking at Polina outside the window.
“One can say, ‘Upsize that, please,’” Lazoo chimes in.
“Sure enough, the other one knows if it’s real or not,” Le Mac agrees with his friends.
Outside the window, Polina looks at her phone. Then she places a hand over her eyes as what she has alluded to appears on the screen up on the wall for all to see:
u can take them looking up at me, my arms and chest muscles pumped from carrying you to the room. Both of us somewhat dazed from the long kiss sustained on our way there…took almost forever…:p JRA
CHAPTER 10
(September 15th 2011)
PART 1
The woman, whose entire costume was designed from a single thread of Conan’s loincloth, looks at Johnny, who now stands back, wiping his lips with the back of his hand as if he can taste blood.
The room is dead quiet, all waiting for what “Johnny Shawshank” will do next.
He can hear the monitor buzzing somewhere, where it was dropped on the ground when the orgy began.
“Love for the Loveless,” Johnny says. The thought comes to mind again, as if his thoughts had settled into some sort of formatted order that is enough for him to say something that makes some sense to him, no longer caring about those around him seething as it were from Johnny having halted their gyrating body mash just when it was getting warmed up.
But still there is trepidation as he sees the woman standing in front of him, now tending to her own needs as she takes her fingers from her mouth and uses them to show Johnny just how much in need she is for his touch.
Some in the room become impatient with Johnny’s behavior—erratic as far as they’re concerned—and he starts hearing a name being mentioned in their whispering “Imogen.”
The word—as it would seem from the disgruntled ones’ murmuring, which one can always count on to give them an idea of what one may be here to do—is that Imogen, although Johnny has no idea whom she really is, would’ve been a better bet to follow than Johnny.
Johnny hears the music, but the lyrics make no sense to the entity as he looks to heaven for what it must send in his moment of need—a way to get the hell out of here.
But then he looks down at the monitor, still buzzing where it lies on its side. There’s a radiating glow, as if the little gray box is active or contains something harmful, but then he remembers his reaction to the woman in front of him, her legs apart and bent at the knees, her hand not so much as covering herself. She had thrown her head back, jutting her breast into his face, a look of ecstasy on her strewn face. The sight of her aids in weakening his resolve to exit the room.
As Johnny looks at the box, something tells him that the only phrase he remembers at this time is “Love for the Loveless.” He repeats the phrase again, and to his amusement, it makes everyone in the room want to block his or her ears. And so Johnny says it again, “Love for the Loveless,” this time with a smile. And again he repeats it, until even the woman in front of him has her hands covering her ears, and one last time he speaks it before Johnny exits via the path created for him from everyone trying to bury his or her head to prevent hearing, “Love for the Loveless.” He says it a final time with a poke of the tongue before he strolls out, and onto the stage, one would hope…
PART 2
Metofeaz downs another “Serum,” confident that he has things under control; not that the Tourist was showing any signs of wanting to take anything that he says—in character, so to speak—the wrong way, which gives the seasoned operative confidence that he can work with her.
“Moves like Jagger? Has a mind like Churchill?” Litigatti’s smile is timely and comes with music, which makes the Tourist smile, having heard about the understated manner in which LMLA-ink operates, and influences people, or rather woos its people.
“Normally, I’d call that cheesy,” says the Tourist, rolling her eyes as she blushes from being the recipient of what they refer to as a “John Moment.” “But since this is strictly business, I’ll put it down to uncanny timing….” Then she goes back to the topic of conversation as she holds up a hand to ward off the guy with whom she left the restaurant, who is now standing at the end of the table and asking her to dance.
“Sunzi’s guile, to be perfectly honest with you.” The Tourist holds up the next glass as the atmos becomes thick with the music.
“The Art of War encompasses guerrilla tactics and diplomacy,” Litigatti nods in approval.
“More so the ‘Un,”’ the Tourist stresses before she completes her input for the rapport she’s building with Litigatti. “Bravado-ness of it, if such a word exists…”
“She doesn’t feel like dancing,” Litigatti tells the Englishman in the Tottenham Hotspur shirt.
“Hot Totem Entag,” the Tourist says to Litigatti, who is side on now and facing the Englishman who now holds his hand out. Litigatti smiles as he shakes his hand when they hear what the woman just revealed.
“Lunid, meet the Tourist.” Litigatti lets the Tourist in on who the guy is that she had spent most of the evening with, as the Englishman excuses himself, “Have to dash; things to steal, and maybe some blind lass will dance with me in the next quaint town where the wind blows me….” And with that, the Englishman disappears.
“He mentioned that a change of shirt is as good as a holiday in the woodlands. And that he’ll lie for a buck, but he’d take a bullet for his team.” Litigatti listens to the woman, explaining how she came up with the answer to the question posed by Lunid over the course of the evening.
“I’ve read most of it; the syntax feels natural to me now.” Litigatti hears her admit that she’s familiar with Emotional Techno Fiction, and then she goes on to explain further how she figured out when it was time for her to give the code. “When someone’s told that someone isn’t in the mood, that’s when the answer should be given….”
Metofeaz decides that’s enough work and asks with a devilish look in his eye, “So did you?”
“The F3quenZor!” the Tourist says, using her smile as she ignores his cavalier question, which she imagines to be about her and Lunid, and waves to them as he exits the scene. The Tourist is eager to see whether what she could actually hear now—coinciding with her arrival in the small village when she thinks about it—is a node on LMLA-ink’s Semi-System’s Telepathic Relay. “It’s a voice,” she was told, the meaning to any question or situation relayed to operatives or nodes when they listen for the voice.
“It’s there now,” she sheepishly says out of the blue when he stops smiling and looks at her with a serene and sincere look in his brown eyes. For a moment, she believes she sees the man responsible for so much action in the field, wielding his wisdom or abruptly taking power from those who would find it hard to believe that Litigatti—a homeless man for most of the time when he’s in the field—would even be interested in their business, let alone possess the ability to do what he has to when ordered by the Network to do so.
It becomes apparent to Metofeaz that he’s looking into the woman’s eyes without thinking about what he’s doing. She brushed off his throwaway question about her and Lunid, wanting to know whether she passed the test, for which he wonders whether she was leaked the details so she could pass. The natural way the events flowed suggest that it was all spontaneous without thought to what was happening, and at the end of it, she was excited at having pieced together the puzzle. He is not even sure himself whether the answer she gave was the definitive one. What he was looking for really was whether she could communicate?
Litigatti counts to himself as he waits to see whether she will stand her ground and wait for an answer to what he won’t yet confirm for her is real, the F3quenZor, on which there is a good chance she has already been assigned an address for as a node. Or will she charm her way out of what she might now be kicking herself for by asking about it too soon?
When she reaches for the bottle with a sly smile, as if to say, “I give in,” Litigatti gets up from the table and announces that he wants to dance as the words to the song go:
“Kiss me till you’re drunk….And I’ll show you.”
PART 3
Lazoo goes over emails from the Novice to his muse. Lazoo is still not sure how she fits into the bigger picture; hence, they have not yet named the woman. Lazoo is unsure what to do because this is the first time John Reyer has held onto a relationship during a GUIOPERA, meaning the single mother is either a “Reflector,” someone whom he messages for the sake of communicating certain pieces of information, or she is the real thing to him—something they have discussed and even Polina has confirmed, which will make life interesting from now on for LMLA-ink.
And then Lazoo wonders whether the Novice is aware of what is happening. Or is he still writing the story as if he were trying to prove himself to the Network? That could be a possibility. If that were the case, then all will be forgiven under the assumption that the Novice was none the wiser, and nor were Lazoo and company for that matter in the manipulation of the Novice, whom he prefers to think of as the writer onscreen, rather than the Poet Soldier—after all, what might happen to Lazoo if he were found guilty of disloyalty? Lazoo could justify it in the end by telling himself it’s time to take the story to another level, a more meaningful one for the sake of the fans.
When Lazoo clicks on the link the Novice inserts, the song lyrics come to mind as onscreen the Novice sends the woman the link and a quick note:
Cool x me :)
“I don’t need to try and control you.”
“Look into my eyes.”
“And I’ll own you.”
CHAPTER 11
(September 16th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen smiles as she takes the hand of the little girl’s father from where it shouldn’t be. For the past ten minutes, as he has sat beside her, the man’s behavior has slipped, much to Imogen’s embarrassment. Imogen smiles for the little girl, who is watching ten midgets in a brawl on stage.
“Just one more squeeze sweetheart,” says the glazed over look in the man’s eyes. It’s enough for Imogen to reach for his hand and hold it, looking at it as if she wants to shake it, and then with consummate ease, she twists it. Imogen watches the look of horror in the man’s eyes as his hand rotates one hundred and eighty degrees, although the only sign of any abnormality is the skin stretched around his wrist.
Imogen offers a wry smile to the man as he looks in shock at his hand twisted so his palm is facing up and his knuckles facing down. Then she says, “Remain in shock and you won’t suffer any pain.”
Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for has arrived as the last midget standing climbs to the top of the heap of bodies and raises his hands in the air to claim victory. His glory is short-lived when two guards arrive with a wheel barrel and start hurling the bodies into it. They start with the winner, whose head can be seen at the bottom of the heap still screaming, “I won! I won!” as the guards wheel them away, much to the crowd’s amusement.
The word “Reality” springs to mind for Johnny as he reaches for the cold walls of the corridor that’s about to end any moment now. The screaming and cheering is deafening as he gets closer to where only the fourth wall stands in-between him and those who—whoever they are—have come to watch him—for whatever reason.
Johnny’s nerves are on such a rampage that they slow his walk down as he looks for a reason why he just can’t turn around and flee the situation. Then he remembers the look in the woman’s eyes that he saw on the monitor.
If he knew what to do with the feelings that overcome him, maybe he’d be able to switch them off, but now that he thinks about it, he asks himself, “What are these feelings?”
PART 2
Metofeaz takes the bottle from the Tourist’s hand as she makes a mess of pouring their next drink. The staff at the bar finds her behavior hilarious.
The Tourist has been waiting for an invitation from Litigatti for her to stay at the chateau in one of the many rooms, but it hasn’t come as yet.
It is well past midnight and the other diners have moved onto the hotel around the corner, but due to who Litigatti is, the members of the staff do not mind him taking his time in their restaurant.
Litigatti, realizing the staff is waiting on him, decides it is time to move onto the hotel around the corner; he believes the Tourist should find a place of her own to stay to show her respect for their professional relationship.
“I’m out,” Metofeaz tells the Tourist, and then without giving her the opportunity to respond he gets up and pays the bill, then leaves without saying anything further.
The Tourist props her head up with a hand as she hears the door shut from Metofeaz exiting. She wonders what all the fuss has been about. Litigatti has not hit on her at all. Bets he would have her in the bathroom in a stall within ten minutes of meeting her were all off. Apart from a moment on the station platform—a reaction to Rocol Récene, whose motivations the Tourist is well aware of—and a few seconds of ogling, he has been a stand-up guy. Litigatti’s flirtation with her can be attributed to the setup with Lunid, whom she understands is none other than Zoop the Zurich Teller, one of the most feared thieves in the Network.
The Tourist smiles as she runs over the plans she had in her head, in which she romanticized her stay in the Valley of Vineyards. Waking up in Rozelle’s house to breakfast, on the balcony in the warm sun, and made for her by Metofeaz Litigatti, or Whimsical….
She is well aware of the difference in age between her and Litigatti; ten years or so. But she has a romantic notion of working with Jon Pierre Solomon’s son and nothing else. She is still coming to terms with her divorce and entertains the thought of a fling only after the work she was sent to do is completed.
Conscious of what she might look like to the staff, whom she can now hear behind her at the bar, she frowns while still holding her head up as she tries to work out where to go from here. It unconsciously leads her to ponder what it will be like the next time she gets to see Metofeaz’s smile, and then the look in his eyes when he stops smiling and looks at her like she’s the only person in the world he can see....
Outside on the street, Litigatti lifts the collars of his leather jacket as he nears the corner. Music and voices from the bar suddenly trigger something inside him. Thoughts of the Tourist back at the bar cause him to slow down as he accepts that she had been sent to do a job, and being new in the game, he should’ve helped her….
PART 3
The “Single Mother,” a tag the woman doesn’t mind since it preserves her anonymity, quickly checks her phone under the table at the Romance Writer’s conference in Las Vegas.
She is here to do research on a paper for her marketing degree by marketing a novel.
She can’t help but laugh to herself as she sees another email from the person who makes her feel comfortable enough to be herself with him. He uses his quirky nature to hide his bad boy past, which keeps cropping up in the story about the story. But if the truth be known, some of his comments in response to women online irk her, something she handles by attributing it to good old-fashioned marketing.
The woman feels the giddiness of it all as the alert comes for the LATEST UPLOAD, in which she reads about herself and responds, “Little ol’ me, ah?” The Novice then sends her a sign in the work to let her know he’s thinking about her—he adds the link to a favorite song of hers.
It comes as a relief for the woman since Lazoo’s actions of late have been making her feel as if she were in the way.
CHAPTER 12
(September 17th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny finally makes it out onto the stage. The stalling from the precipitous face of fear that imposes immense doubt on the performer—what he has come to accept that he is—strickens him.
Johnny imagines the slow steps of a docile shell with little or no imagination to be just that.
Imogen decides to get into the mood of things when she places two fingers in her mouth and whistles. Then she turns to the person beside her, still holding his twisted hand and looking at it. She taunts the miserable sod, “Try doing that with your backward hand.” Imogen then pauses and thinks of the smile she must have on her face and is quite pleased with how she has handled the creep next to her.
Onstage, Johnny Shawshank has finally appeared. He looks solemn, as if he is absorbing the thoughts and wishes of the people who have come to witness him perform feats of which stories have reached far and wide.
Johnny knows that this is it as the shell he is most likely in for a limited period of time takes to the entity that inhabits it. The process of inhabitation can sometimes be a grand occurrence, and other times a downright embarrassing affair for the unsuspecting shell who is none the wiser.
“Maybe a Travolta pose? Or even one like Elvis will suffice any unforeseen embarrassment?” Johnny thinks as a countermeasure for possible contortions he may have to ride out during the mutation period, which can last up to a lifetime in other dimensions.
And then he decides, a cocoon on the ground might do the trick—that way if he were to lose control of his bodily functions, no one would know.
Imogen remembers what he agreed to be: a player, a priest, and a philanderer. None of which he is acting like as intensity increases—the man of the moment shows signs of humility when he gets down on the ground and into a fetal position, symbolizing not birth but “rebirth” in this case….
PART 2
Metofeaz hears coming from the hotel the increasing volume of music and voices that shout at each other as he approaches.
Another sound intermingles with the noise he associates with what he left behind in New York—the sound of a woman’s heels coming from behind him.
Since he is well aware that the Tourist was wearing flat leather-soled sandals, he doesn’t expect to see her shapely smooth legs in the heels he can hear. The quickening steps catch up to the always ready street fighter who braces himself for what’s coming, in case the sound is from an assailant and not an associate.
“Can I join you?” Litigatti hears the Tourist ask. He can hear in her voice that she is not sure of what his reply will be. He nods in reassurance, taking a look down to his left where he sees her legs to let her know he is taking advantage of his so called position of power. And then he smiles to let her know that she’s welcome.
“Can you see the computer place around here? It’s a tailor’s shop; the owner has a machine for us that we’ll pick up in the morning.” The Tourist hears him talk about what they’ll do in the morning, together, and then she reminds herself of her mission before she lets the sound of his voice carry her mind away to somewhere it shouldn’t wander….
“How did you manage that?” Litigatti has a grin a mile wide as he looks at the Tourist.
“Next time I’ll steal the mic.” The Tourist’s answer annoys Metofeaz a little because she doesn’t let him know whether it’s a play or the result of a few too many serums, but then he lets it go and reminds himself it’s play time. And now the Tourist’s playful nature becomes apparent when she nearly trips over while grabbing his arm and kissing him on the cheek, proving it was the serum.
PART 3
“Meigon,” the single mother says, and then she spells it for “Cashier,” the receptionist in the Dive Bar Hotel in Vegas, the only place where the single mother can afford to stay in town.
“M-E-I-G-O-N.”
It has been a long day at the conference and she is ready to put her feet up and relax, right after she calls her daughter up in New York, who is staying with family while the hard working mother is on the road.
Meigon, a name she made up for this trip for fun, reminds her of something she can’t quite remember. She created the fictitious name for herself to go with the mini-adventure she’s designed, beginning with her staying at the same hotel John Page AKA the PIRATE—also Lazoo’s twin brother—stayed at during his inhabitation in the Nevada desert some years back….
CHAPTER 13
(September 18th 2011)
PART1
Imogen hurries to get out of Cameo Court, pushing through the crowds to get out of the place.
As Imogen had believed before getting caught up in the hype, he was a fake—Johnny Shawshank. Now everyone is crowding around waiting for him to sign his autograph as she leaves.
The main act for his show was twisting a pervert’s upside-down hand back up the right way, which he had Imogen do onstage, claiming he was channelling his power through her to perform the miracle.
Imogen couldn’t bring herself to reveal the truth when the little girl who turned out to be a thief in the end pleaded for her to perform the miracle on her dad who had had a curse placed on him. The little girl’s tears and the begging in the end forced Imogen to save Johnny’s hide in front of the crowd.
Outside in the alley, the line to get into Cameo Court is now a mass of heads. People are now seated on the ground, some asleep, others playing “poke” in groups that become a heap of gyrating bodies when someone pokes another in a way that evokes promiscuous feelings among the group.
Imogen takes a moment to collect herself as someone pushes the door she leans against from inside.
“Caught the dress and not the bouquet. LOL!” Imogen hears someone in the crowd shout out, and then the whole alley erupts in laughter as Imogen forgets about the person trying to get out of the door she stands in front of; she is too busy trying to hide herself from the jeering and pointing by covering her face against the door with her hands.
“Hey! It’s me!” Imogen hears the voice call out from behind the door as another remark, nastier than the one before, is hurled at her.
“She ain’t lactating; she just ain’t that clean!” The raspy voice shouts out, and again, the reaction to it is deafening for Imogen, whose only response is to try to cover her ears.
“Love for the Loveless,” says the voice behind the door. The crowd goes quiet with fear that the owner of the voice will appear. Some in the crowd cower while others lift their blankets over their heads on hearing the words.
Imogen swears it is Johnny’s voice, only what he says makes no sense coming from a con artist like him. Nevertheless, it has silenced the mob, which is now meek and mild as it was before something had happened.
PART 2
Metofeaz watches the rising sun on the forever horizon sneak a peek at two people whom the night leaves behind.
Litigatti, who stands with one foot cocked beneath the weeping willow, falters in his acceptance of daylight as he considers that the light may break any ground he has covered during the night.
The paddock where Rozelle would come to walk—or just lie in the sun or the moonlight, depending on the dilemma or situation—is filled with music Metofeaz has once again conjured using the F3quenZor, one of the job’s perks.
With a pair of heels in one hand and a bunch of wildflowers in the other, the Tourist watches them flying through the air as she twirls herself, spinning around and around without a care in the world.
The air is filled with the sweet unforgettable scent of “Lilies, Lilacs, and Lavender,” as Metofeaz beneath the tree already has her believing.
“Lilacs grow on tall bushes, not in fields,” she shouts as she lets her head fall back, so her hair will let fly in the morning sun. The sunlight causes an adornment of luminous spheres to embellish her hair, giving it a gleaming quality in the atmos that it continues to create beyond the break of day.
“Sounds great, doesn’t it though?” Metofeaz shouts out in response.
“But can you hear the music?” Litigatti is eager to know whether she can hear F3quenZor in the state she’s in, like she heard the music in the restaurant last night.
An ecstatic smile appears on the Tourist’s face as he reminds her of her new status as a node on the F3quenZor, something that the great time she was having made her forget all about. And now that Litigatti has reminded her of it, it confirms that what she was hearing was not an after-effect from the night before, but very real, supplicated by Litigatti for her personal pleasure.
“I can!” comes her response, which makes Litigatti woozy for a second. Has he really met someone not related in any way whom he can communicate with on the F3quenZor? But then the thought that they could be somehow connected by blood takes over. The possibility that she is somehow related by blood, like Lazoo, Le Mac and John Reyer, reinforces his decision not to cultivate any type of relationship with the woman he genuinely likes that might lead him down some path he shouldn’t be.
PART 3
Meigon reads through the LATEST UPLOAD and then she sends a text message to the author from the conference whose book she is interested in marketing.
The author is a single mother like Meigon. She has invited Meigon to join her on a visit to the site in the desert where, story has it, the shells or operatives John Reyer recruited would wait for the entities to come from another dimension to inhabit them.
The entities or spirits with untold knowledge from many lifetimes in different shells here in the MMD give their human shells or bodies the edge in whatever pursuit they are engaged.
Meigon receives a reply from the author that she will be ready to go onsite early in the morning so they’re there in the desert at sunrise.
Meigon then sends the Novice her nightly email before she goes to sleep….
CHAPTER 14
(September 19th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen lets go of her ears as she surveys the behavior of the now timid mob, its members’ heads bowed and seemingly at her feet as she steps back from the door to let it open.
A smiling Johnny Shawshank appears. His smile becomes a tentative look as he pokes his head out into the alley to see whether the coast is clear.
“Any sleazy buggers out here?” he asks, using native argot from whence he came to smooth the way with Imogen, whom he is aware is not too impressed with him after their first performance together.
Imogen watches the sometimes awkward person step out into the alley; behind him is the little thief who stole everyone’s valuable belongings during the performance, which included prosthetics, gold teeth, a glass eye she looks at, holding it up to the light, squinting while she blows a bubble; the little girl’s face is covered in what looks like blood.
“Fake chocolate,” Johnny says about the stuff on the little girl’s face. He places a hand on her head as if to say she’s with me.
“Bella, meet Imogen.” Johnny introduces the little girl to Imogen, whom right this minute feels like doing to the pint-size crim what she did to her father, who is being dragged by the hair down the corridor toward them.
Imogen stands back as the body is dragged past them. Johnny, still with his hands behind his back, gives the man holding onto the guard’s hand, as he’s being pulled along by the hair, a swift kick that flips the body upside down while the man’s head remains the right way up, and then Bella puts the boot in also.
“That’s for wearing my mom’s lingerie!” Bella shouts at the man, and then she runs after the body and gives it another kick between the legs.
“That’ll do,” Johnny calls out to Bella, and then he adds a positive spin on the moment for all those to witness who are in the alley and up on the street.
“At least he no longer knocks himself out when he goes to wash his face!” Johnny says to the crowd.
PART 2
Metofeaz holds open the gate to the paddock for the Tourist to pass through. Then he takes one more look at the site where more magic like in the story took place.
He smiles for the Tourist who has come down from the experience in the paddock as she passes him, and then he closes the gate.
Litigatti believes that it was some heavenly sign for him to press on with the work as an operative and not to put himself on the market for other work—work that could be anything from hands-on killing or indirect killing, as he believes their work in the field to be, regardless of the number of lives they are able to save by taking a few.
PART 3
John Page, or PAGE1 in the story of a man’s journey from his basement dwelling to ground level, reads over the manual written in no man’s English. The author obviously bypassed any sort of training and went straight from hustling on the streets to proclaiming he is the next big thing in literature, using an elongated context that joins the dubious, and the serious, missions they must complete seamlessly.
The Dive Bar in Vegas, which he views from the bus as it slows down to let him off, looks like something out of a film noir.
The twelve month stretch for armed robbery, followed by six months of volunteering for his bed and breakfast in a New York shelter for the homeless, has done wonders for Page as he looks to get back into the Network—a career move for the once promising operative who has decided to turn over a new leaf or page in his life.
The message that he keeps getting from whom he suspects is Metofeaz is ambiguous but welcome.
“Vegas is where you will find yourself,” is what he keeps hearing. The constant whispering is comforting for Page when he relaxes.
Word is that a new Poet Soldier has been found to step into the role. No one has been able to carry out the work of the handler who raised Page and Litigatti since Jon Pierre Solomon’s death.
The bus finally stops and the butterflies inside arise. Page straightens his bandana and then his RayBan sunglasses as he collects his knapsack from the seat next to him and puts the book away. He reaches into the bag and produces a bundle of twenties, which he hands to the driver on his way out as payment for the driver not picking up certain passengers on the roadside as requested by Page during the long trip.
The money was well worth it, stalling those on his tail who will no doubt catch up to him soon enough. Or, they could already be waiting for him here at the hotel he now stands before.
CHAPTER 15
(September 20th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny senses the people’s despondency to his new control mechanism, his anti-sleaze stance, which works like a charm every time he says something that goes against the grain, as it seems.
He fixes something to keep them entertained for the moment when he holds up the pill in his hand and then lassos the atmos a few times and points to the horizon where Ciara appears in song and dance….
Imogen takes her time to think about what just happened—Johnny twisted the man’s body on his own without her involvement.
“Nothing like a little song and dance to take away the worries of the day,” Johnny says to her as he watches Bella fleece a group of people playing poke for currency. The tough little character, who is obviously streetwise, stands in the middle of the group of adults, and without as much as battering an eyelid, Bella pokes all eight people seated in a circle around her in the eye with a machine gun-like speed and precision, and with the other hand, she takes their coin from them.
“That a girl!” Imogen hears Johnny’s applause for Bella. And then he says, holding a hand in front of his mouth, something that makes Imogen think, “An extreme response to trauma. Stealing is therapeutic; it’s her way of reclaiming what was taken from her.” The comment at first sounds like one of his classic lines, but then on further thought, his explanation for Bella’s insistent thieving makes sense to Imogen.
“And what about the anamorphosis?” Imogen asks about the twisting of the man’s hand inside and then his body in the alley when he kicked it.
“It’s the untamed energy of two entities in the same REPRO fighting. Wills clashing, contrasting attitudes, any extreme imaginable these two entities will latch on to opposing ends….”
Johnny keeps an eye on Bella, who makes her way over to them through the crowd, whose members are now on their feet dancing, and when she reaches them, he says to the girl with money in her hands, “It’s time to go inside.”
He places a hand on the girl’s back, showing her the way inside as the crowd begins to go wild from the music, and now the bright glow in the sky from a cargo ship of new arrivals or entities that enters into the SFD’s atmosphere.
“There’s a couch if you wanna stay here,” Johnny says to Imogen without looking at her.
Imogen, confused as ever, looks at the crowd she would have to make her way through, and then at Johnny, who for whatever reason, won’t look at her right now, choosing to wait for her answer while looking the other way.
PART 2
Metofeaz watches the Tourist skip ahead of him as they come to the village’s main street.
He sees that the tailor’s shop is open as is the bakery. Across the street, people are already waiting to get into the restaurant for brunch because word has spread that Metofeaz, the son of Jon Pierre Solomon, will be at again.
Under her arms, the Tourist quickly hides the heels she took from Rozelle’s shrine at the restaurant last night. Then she slows down to a walk, letting Metofeaz catch up to her.
She begins to laugh when they pass people who mention Litigatti’s name as the pair, still awake from the night before, enter into the tailor shop.
“A machine for stitching stuff up that also does buttonholes; Johnny Shawshank says an Omen could be a GI,” Litigatti says to the meticulous looking man behind the counter who then opens up the curtain; behind it, Litigatti can see a couple of dudes whom he would feel more comfortable handling his computer equipment.
PART 3
Page pushes the door back; it creaks, and then it slowly opens for him as if someone is pulling it from the inside.
The rundown place reeks of liquor and the not-so-stale stories he was told as a young lad, all of them adding to the ugly magnetism that keeps Page and a handful of souls hungry for more time in the game they were born and bred to play.
“Cashier,” the normal cool and collected character says unwittingly as the red board slides up behind the plate glass in the corner booth.
And then the elevator makes noises as he sees it coming down from the third floor.
He sees a room key slid under the glass in the booth and then the red board drops; the sound as it closes gives him a fright, followed by the elevator opening behind him, which makes him jump.
He stands still, using his ears to listen for signs of danger instead of trying to turnaround. After awhile, the alarm sounds for the doors to the lift being held open. The ringing continues until he turns, and then, as if the elevator that appears empty is playing with him, the doors begin to close as he takes a step toward the lift.
He throws a hand out to stop the doors closing, and then he remembers the key at the booth….
CHAPTER 16
(September 21st 2011)
PART 1
Back inside Cameo Court, Imogen seats herself on a bean bag before the stage where Johnny prepares dinner while Bella reads on a sofa.
Imogen forgets that she’s part of the audience since, from where she chose to sit, it appears that Johnny-in-an-apron is pointing to her.
“Interesting how you sat down there,” he says. Imogen takes a second to look at where she is, and responds confidently, “Quite comfortable right here, thanks.”
“Are you joining us for dinner, or are you going to watch from where it’s safe?” Johnny’s question has a hint of insult in it. Imogen counters, “It’s not the stage fright I’m concerned about.”
“I like it!” Johnny smiles as he stirs the food a few more times, and then he brings the pan to Bella and dishes the food onto the book Bella is reading.
“Food for thought, my favorite,” Bella says rubbing her hands and Johnny points to Bella’s bright smile as she looks up at him, something Imogen takes note of.
Imogen stretches her neck to see the food Bella begins to eat like an animal from the book she is holding—treating it like a plate up to her face. Imogen admits it does smell great up on stage.
“Do you have a plate or utensils?” Imogen finally asks, unable to recall the last time she ate….
PART 2
As she walks through the entrance, The Tourist is clearly overcome by the opulence of Rozelle’s dwelling, preserved as it once was. To her right is the ballroom, and at the top of the stairway that splits left and right to the rooms is a giant portrait of Rozelle, above the mirror on which messages appear when Ms. Zofen is less than pleased with her house’s occupants.
Metofeaz walks past the woman who is in awe to be standing in the entrance to her idol’s house.
Metofeaz is carrying the machine—a Lenovo in its laptop case.
“I wonder if Vodafone is in the house,” Litigatti says. His question is laced with cynicism for those who might be listening in on them; their choice of sponsor will have to give way for what LMLA-ink wants.
“Do you have an iPod, or something by Steve Jobs?” Metofeaz’s jovial mood continues as he reaches the top of the stairs and looks down at the Tourist, who is still away somewhere in “Nadaville” as she takes in the place.
“Yeah, I have pad and pod,” the Tourist absentmindedly touches her side, looking for her backpack.
Litigatti is amazed by the dumbfounding effect that entering Rozelle’s house for the first time has on visitors, an effect he had been told about by The Guy or the Novice and Jon Pierre.
Metofeaz decides it would be the opportune time to set up the office.
“Guest rooms on the right. The one down the front of the house is Rozelle’s—the rest are free,” Metofeaz calls out as he disappears to the left toward the library and study.
Inside the study, Litigatti decides to get himself into the mood as he hooks up the sound system. And then he logs onto the New Global Realm as the Novice and posts a warning for the Network:
LMLA-ink in the “Months of John!” Blockbuster! This Weekend the start… PS: LATEST UPLOAD in 2 hrs —Metofeaz Litigatti <3
PART 3
Page looks at the map of the desert, which shows him the patch where the mutation process will happen—it will “eventuate” in him so he gains a “New Soul”—terms the Novice used to describe the transformation that will take place once you are inhabited by an entity with entitlement.
According to Metofeaz, he is the smoothest operator he has met, just what their group needs to bring them together. The story about how the Novice—who is self-trained, self-taught, and evidently self-assured—ruined a test by the Network for new recruits when Litigatti was still in his teens and at the Military Academy is one for the storybooks.
The twenty-four hour test was held in the jungle. The Novice—a wild card who had been training in a boxing gym in Australia while working as a shop assistant—managed to drug all the other recruits using magic mushrooms while posing as a local in the jungle. In the end, the outsider claimed the title of winner without completing a single task set out for him in the test.
The act of defiance would normally have been dealt with by reprimand, but since the Novice had also taken care of the test master, that was not the case. Johnny threatened the high-ranking officer that he would leak how the officer had indulged in consumption of hallucinogens with the recruits while on the test. The wily move ensured that the Novice received the test master’s recommendation instead of the punishment deserved for the well-worked move.
Page places the handwritten work down as he hears noise from the street, which he would normally find enticing and inviting enough to make him venture outside to see what he could find on the street, on a table, or in a drink. But tonight, he is counting down to when he will receive his new entity to guide his tired shell, which has seen more than its fair share of action. And he will rest in preparation for the event for which he has been building his character since he made up his mind.
CHAPTER 17
(September 22nd 2011)
PART 1
Imogen realizes the haste with which she shovels down the food from the pan, using her fingers. She is now seated on the side of the stage facing the empty seats.
Somewhere behind her, Johnny is busy doing “stuff,” as she hears him say, while Bella continues reading on the sofa.
In some funny way, Imogen feels at home in the theatrical setting that must be Johnny’s home in the REPRO.
“‘Steal me some peace of mind,’ is what I want you to think of next,” Johnny says. Imogen, with bulging cheeks, turns around to see to whom he’s talking.
“Go like this,” Johnny says to Imogen, looking out the corner of his eye, while he waits for Bella to respond to his suggestion. Imogen uses the back of her hand to wipe her mouth, and then she places the pan down on the stage.
“She was left for dead after a cull. Used and abused since birth, but somehow the shell has managed to attract entities with what we call fight—and ability.” Johnny’s assessment of Bella sounds more like that of a practitioner than a player; once again, Imogen finds herself warming to him.
No sooner had Johnny shared Bella’s story with Imogen than the deafening sound of a cargo full of entities orbiting the SFD rattles Cameo Court as it breaks the “Percept Barrier” of the atmosphere.
“The cargo ship carrying entities from the MMD will land within the next few scenes,” Johnny says as if he is narrating the story’s events, which Imogen feels like she is a part of now....
PART 2
The Tourist reaches for the banister as she concedes that Rozelle’s amulet, her haven’s charm, makes her weak when she thinks of what could happen to her within these walls.
She hears the music blaring from the speakers, but the languid layer of mystique is like a blanket as she manages to remember which side of the stairs the spare rooms are on.
In the study, Litigatti taps on the machine’s keys as he looks to intersect paths with whoever is responsible for the story’s maligned threads thus far. He reviews The Poet Soldier’s legacy and memory of Jon Pierre Solomon, the only father he knew, and the honor of Rozelle Zofen, a heroine to him, and the crew he must uphold….
An hour or so later, Metofeaz remembers that he has a house guest when he hears a knock at the door.
On his way downstairs, he sees that the room The Tourist must have chosen has its door open. Metofeaz thinks he should close the door in case the person waiting for him to answer the front door is here to discuss private matters. He has to look twice when he sees what he can see through the gap in the door. Her leg is thrown over a pillow she holds on to. The naked line runs from her toes and up her shapely legs, over gluteal muscles, to the small of her back and to where hair covers her bosom. Litigatti, no stranger to a woman’s body, closes the door as she turns in her sleep, revealing more than Litigatti should allow himself the liberty of seeing.
The knock at the door straightens out Metofeaz’s thinking as he ensures the door is shut tight.
Downstairs, an errand boy has Metofeaz’s phone, which Litigatti thanks the lad for, and then Metofeaz goes out onto the balcony where he checks his messages from the previous twelve hours or so.
PART 3
Page wakes to the sound of sirens. The orange curtains flapping in the wind signal a reprieve—the noise is coming from outside the window through which he sees the neon sign—it is still night time.
A hot and cold shower, not at the same time, make the “operative,” as he reminds himself he is, smile as he thinks of the few hundred thousand dollars in his knapsack and how he can forgo luxury as a part of his mutation process—a requirement by the crew to show that he has left his old ways behind him for good.
Page thinks about the entity that will inhabit his tired shell of less than twenty-one years in the MMD, changing his thinking forever, fortifying his resolve, and giving him the strength to save lives rather than taking them like he was trained to do as he decides that it is time to head out into the desert.
CHAPTER 18
(September 23rd 2011)
PART 1
Imogen sits cross- legged on the stage, watching as Johnny places a blanket over Bella on the sofa. The little girl has a smile on her face from the thought of new entities arriving—an event that Johnny promised her will happen at dawn, and for which he will take her down to the docks.
Johnny then jumps off the stage to make himself a bed on the floor. Once he goes to sleep, Imogen wonders what she will do.
“Back to back, it’s the only way to know whether you’re dealing with a reptile,” Imogen hears Johnny say with what she could misconstrue as a line to get Imogen into the sack.
“I’ll take my chances onstage before taking that chance,” Imogen says as she lies down on her side on stage, where she can look down on Johnny, who now has his back to her.
PART 2
Litigatti meditates on the idea, and then he mulls over the possible outcomes before he contemplates what he will do. Meanwhile, he squints to see the message from Rocol that she sent last night when he was busy getting to know the Tourist, whom he now realizes is standing at the balcony’s doorway.
“See you tomorrow R x”
The Tourist is dressed in a sarong that meets in the front, high up on her bare thighs. It makes it hard for Litigatti to look at her, after seeing her the way he caught her in the room asleep a few hours ago.
“Rocol is in on her way,” Metofeaz blurts out as if he had to get it off his chest.
“No harm done, right? I’m a long lost relative—not the little bird, or bitch, as she put it.” The Tourist reassures Litigatti there will be no problem with her being around when Rocol arrives.
Metofeaz nods his head as he stands up and turns his back to the other woman as he looks out over the valley….
PART 3
John Page pays the cab driver with a bundle through the driver’s window. Then he taps the vehicle’s roof before he crosses the desert highway.
Page can see figures in the distance—those of others who have heard of the site where spirits converge here on earth, or the MindMorph Dimension (MMD), in the Nevada desert. They might be here to scatter the ashes of a loved one so the loved one’s spirit may be transported to the dream dimension or the SenFenide Dimension and then be able to communicate with those left behind in their dreams. Or, they might be here to collect the spirit of a loved one from the SFD after it has been reconditioned or reprogrammed, as it were.
“Come work for me and you’ll be around to celebrate your thirtieth.” Page hears the voice behind him—that of Mr. Businessman, one of Jon Pierre’s known adversaries.
“He doesn’t do birthdays.” Page hears the snarl in the smile of Jon Pierre’s other foe, Hannibal Ammer—the reincarnation of a traitor more devious and spine chilling—even for a thief and killer of Page’s notoriety.
Page decides he’s come too far to make deals with those from his past. Both Mr. Businessman and Ammer—who has with him some phony who claims to be John Reyer who wrote the manifesto in Page’s knapsack— will only ever cast Page as a lowlife and fall guy; neither will he assign Page, who is a medium and gifted mind reader, the kind of roles he was born to take on—roles that will facilitate change based on the cornerstones of the New Global Realm, a concept that interests John Page for the way it will change people’s lives….
CHAPTER 19
(September 24th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen lies on her side. She listens for the discernible sounds from the crowds outside on the Neon strip. In the sky, the cargo ship of souls—a fiery ball the size of a stadium—absconds another atmospheric layer of the Dream Dimension, hurtling its way toward the crust of the forgotten planet.
Imogen is neither sure, nor is she concerned any longer, about self, or for that matter, motive, and moral as she’s decided to render her shell, succumbing to the role she must play with unadulterated passion if she is to find her place in the story that’s being reprogrammed—its benefactor yet unknown.
Johnny, who lies still on the ground, doesn’t seem to pose any physical threat and by all accounts is like-minded, in an unruly world someone created as a platform for someone’s redemption or for someone to counter its unlawfulness.
Imogen, careful not to disturb Bella or Johnny, decides to put Johnny’s offer to the test; she places her hands on the ground, and then she uses them to support herself as she eases herself onto the ground and begins to slide herself toward the mattress made of cushions on which Johnny sleeps….
PART 2
Rocol Récene toys with him, with one eye on the Tourist in the light of sunset that is devilish in color but heavenly in the glow it casts on proceedings.
Metofeaz remembers why he fell for the exotic looking beauty in front of him. She has not said a single word about his house guest, who is somewhere behind him on the balcony.
Music chimes harmoniously with Nature, braids chemistry, creates euphonious surroundings, and soothes as it smothers any angst from any possible jaundiced eye Rocol may have. Strings cascade to tell a story as the meaning of the words transcend his meager thoughts lost somewhere in the valley where he looks as the notes and the message acoustically settle and then reinvent themselves as the music rests in the yonder.
“I have climbed the highest mountain…”
The song’s words remind Litigatti of another time and the person who, even though he is Lazoo’s biological brother, feels like Metofeaz’s little brother: John Page.
PART 3
John Page hears other voices sent to talk him out of what he is here to do. When he finally turns around to see who else has come to talk him out of what he’s about to do, he sees a multitude of faces.
The mob is easily five rows deep, and as many if not more wide. He can only imagine they are fearful of what might happen if he goes ahead with his decision to change his life.
He notes that he does not see Metofeaz, or Lazoo; nor can he make out anyone fitting the description of The Guy, or Jon Le Mac—the people who came to visit him when he was in prison.
Nor can he see Ali Lévon or her child whom Page gave to Sylvia Rada, his girlfriend at the time. Polina Rada, the baby he handed to Sylvia in the hospital in Germany, must be a little girl by now. The ruthless act John Page carried out, basically with a gun pointed at his head and held by Hannibal Ammer, was unforgivable—something Page conceded a long time ago.
Page’s vision begins to blur when he sees her step out from behind Ammer. Page never thought he would get over Sylvia Rada, whom Page used in a covert operation. But now the German heiress appears, standing on Hannibal’s other side.
Page reaches for the knapsack as he recalls the warning in the three-part story of how an operative’s character will be tested. The test will create itself when circumstances prevail over consequential outcomes that should be the operative’s main concern. He should consider the many lives out there in the field who depend on each other opting for the right decision at the right time, a trait for which Page is not famous.
Page tries filtering the hidden messages and their many meanings that are muddled in the mix so only those with the framework in place will see the coded primary objective without conjecture, as pointed out in the story.
Page once heard Metofeaz joke about how the three-part structure in which the story was formatted is a possible therapy for dementia: “Perfect for dementia; made up to suit what you remember today.” The comment was more about the doctrine’s apparent randomness, but now Page looks for what he should hold onto as valued memories, which he cannot count on one hand. He realizes the story was designed to trigger the three main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory: Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval.
“The imbedded detail that flows from the whimsical nature of the syntax is there already….”
Page remembers reading that statement somewhere in the work as he sees the first sign of day on the horizon….
CHAPTER 20
(September 25th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny Shawshank, the shell of a hardened confidence man, finally closes his eyes as he feels a woman’s arm that slides its way under his and then it grabs him.
Johnny, still unsure of what it is he’s here in the SFD to steal, kill, or play for, feels safe for the moment.
Johnny feels the thundering sound that showers the SFD with shooting stars in a spectacular fashion unseen in any firework display in any dimension. Johnny finds comfort in the thought of the shipment of entities, engulfed in astral wildfire as it breaks through another barrier in the atmosphere bringing it closer to landing.
Johnny is tired from his first day in the SenFenide Dimension, which could be as long as a century somewhere else. Or, a fleeting thought in another. Imogen, still an unknown quantity to Johnny, nestles her body closer to his, drawing his attention to her figure and its curves; he has to stop himself from responding to those curves. He lets Imogen know he is okay with how she’s playing her role by taking her hand and kissing it gently before he tucks it back where it was. Then he closes his tired eyes to rest them.
PART 2
All that has rested easy in Metofeaz’s mind since he arrived at Rozelle’s home in the Valley of Vineyards now join hands. The utterances of visual stimuli here and there—glimpses of her in bed naked, in the paddock of “Lillies, Lilac and Lavender”—intensify his attack on the woman’s body in front of him.
Never mind that The Tourist is out, having politely excused herself not long after dinner, saying she was going for dessert down in the small village. Facing the wall, he envisions her legs spread shoulder-length apart as his mouth devours her.
The back of Rocol’s knees, and then the inside of her thighs, makes the woman shake—maybe she would even shudder if she knew what the man is dreaming that he and his mouth are doing to her.
Out on the balcony, the Tourist sits in the dark. The picture of Rozelle glares down on the entrance to her home. Beneath the painting, Rocol’s breathing intermittently fogs up her reflection in the mirror as her gasping mouth, pressed up against it, illustrates irreverence by the Poet Soldier’s protégé beneath Rozelle’s portrait.
Metofeaz’s head, buried in-between Rocol’s buttocks, rises like mercury up Rocol’s slithering body until his mouth finds her neck, and he finds himself inside her….
It dawns on Metofeaz that his arm around his lover’s neck, whose tongue signals for more, is an aggressive gesture now that he looks into her eyes. The thought merely fuels the fire in his body as he lets her have his tongue—and all that is pent up inside him. He hears himself yell before he plunges into her whims, deeper than before….
PART 3
“One of these nights
One of these crazy ol’ nights…”
The footsteps he hears are his own; the ringing in his ears are the reminders he tries drowning with the stereo. It blares as he tries to steady the gun he holds to the owner of the vehicle, who sits in the passenger seat.
The sign that says “Las Vegas” brings him back to reality as John Page tries to figure out what to do next with the crying guy, who says he’s a roadie for U2.
“Will you shut the fuck up? They can fucking hear you at Caesar’s, for crying out loud….” Page hears his voice, and then he signals for the passenger to bring the bag on the backseat to the front.
The last thing Page remembered was running through the sand and out onto the highway and into an oncoming vehicle.
Motioning toward the bag, Page orders the guy “Open it!”
Page’s eyes light up when he sees what’s in the bag; it even makes him uncock the revolver and put it away….
CHAPTER 21
(September 26th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen, lying on her side on the ground, becomes aware of voices engrossed in the most oddball conversation somewhere behind her.
Johnny Shawshank stands on the edge of the stage with his cup of hot water. He watches Imogen, who looks like she is asleep. Next to him, Bella sips from her cup of “fairy tea”—the name Johnny has used to sell the cup of hot water to his latest sidekick.
“She would make an awesome mom, pretty and such…” Bella says.
“I said you were my sidekick, not my daughter.” Johnny has a smile for his little, friend who now has her finger in the air with a suggestion.
Imogen realizes the conversation is not so odd once she remembers where she is. She decides to lie there for a moment until she realizes the sentiment of Johnny and Bella’s conversation as it continues.
“I want an entity that’s wise and wily, cracks safes in a breath, and hacks firewalls in a blink...” Bella smarts.
Johnny’s next words; his advice for Bella is drowned out by the cargo ship that sounds as if it just flew by the window, shaking Cameo Court. “Careful what you hope for. It might change what you believe….”
Imogen looks at her dress; somehow during her hibernation, she believes it has become a beautiful gown of some sort, but alas, it is still a tattered reminder of some time that remains amiss in her memories, none of which the unlucky shell of a woman would like to recall—all her memories have left a residue that makes Imogen weepy when she tries to recant a story she can’t quite remember.
The song in the atmos is a scruple of her heart’s wish, the words wandering over and over in her unmade mind.
“I thought it was over…”
“But I can’t go a day without your face….”
“Time to go, so we can get a front row seat.” Imogen hears Johnny’s call for them to make their way down to the dock for the welcoming ceremony where they might meet an entity who will free their spirits for re-entry into the MMD….
PART 2
Metofeaz breathes in the still summer night. It has a redolent quality about it. He places the familiar scent once he hears her. He was wishing for her but hoping it wouldn’t happen because of what might develop.
“Long lost relative thinks that home is where the heart is.” The Tourist’s voice is sullen, just like her pouting lips. He can hear her teasing him just like always as Litigatti turns around to see her pout.
“Rubbed out Wings in mid-air, recycled Piccadilly concept with snakes and rodents,” says Metofeaz, giving the Tourist something with substance that her handler and team could live off of for a few years.
Rocol switches off her phone when she hears Metofeaz tell the Tourist what the Novice has spent almost fourteen days online; designing the scenario so the operatives could pass on and receive the information.
Litigatti swallows a lump in his throat when he says what he says, having just blown his favorite cover as that of a homeless man. His involvement in bringing down a cluster of a faction of the Network in London has been broadcast by the Novice, a move to show the corrupt factions in the Network that LMLA-ink means business in 2011.
Litigatti feels like a load has been lifted, a veil, vile in its condemnation of the innocent ones like Metofeaz and the Novice. His thoughts feel safe as he imagines how he could quite easily retire to this peaceful place, made up of rolling hills. Then he allows himself to let his guard down for a moment as he sees the woman moving closer to him; he imagines she could escape the game some day, a move that defines someone’s character for Litigatti, who was born into the game.
Rozelle’s fateful story, and how she waited for Jon Pierre to return to her, carries Metofeaz away, the result is magical as always for whomever the whimsical sniper has in his sights, The Tourist, an innocent bystander, he tells himself is here on a mission, with a life she has to return to, and so he shouldn’t entice the accidental tourist into the fortuitous foray of fantasy for which he is renowned.
But the look in her eyes, and the way they look at him, leaves him weak and open to a capricious and callous notion that Metofeaz, in the next moment, acts upon. As he summons music to do his work for him, it brings to life the valley where they stand alone in the dead of the night. When The Tourist’s hand reaches for him, it is a sign that she hears his approach so she can take the next step….
PART 3
John Page pulls up to the place where the man, holding onto the bag as if his life depended upon it, says he has to deliver the bag.
The surly character, who has given Page enough evidence of his ill-nature, justifies for Page his somewhat over the top reaction to the man whose car it seems as if Page has stolen.
“I’ll be waiting; meter’s running,” says Page, smiling at the man who is still shaken from the ordeal and holds out his left hand for the man to shake. The man nervously thinks about which hand he should use and then offers his right turned backwards, but Page nonchalantly, as if it were common practice, grabs the man’s right hand, and then with almost a giggle, he produces a switch blade from his right sleeve and severs the man’s right thumb from his hand as if he were slicing a piece of fruit.
Holding the man’s thumb up for them to look at, Page advises the man, “Deliver the bag and then I’ll drive you to the hospital to sew your thumb back on.” The shaking man begins to cry again until Page wipes blood from the blade on the man’s throat, and now all that can be heard is sobbing and one scared dude trying to exit the car.
“Think of it like you’re thumbing a ride!” Page laughs as the man almost falls out of the car.
“Close the door; where are you manners?” Page shouts out to the man who stumbles to find his feet as he flees from the car. He looks over his shoulder at Page, who finds a newspaper on the seat and tears a page from it to wrap up the man’s thumb; then he puts it in his pocket before he checks himself in the mirror, as a familiar tune comes on the radio.
“Shit! I love this song,” Page says as he checks his eyes in the mirror to see whether they are bloodshot or not….
CHAPTER 22
(September 27th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny Shawshank steps out into the alley. He searches for something in his pocket, and then he produces the pill, which he shows the crowds, who are still as vigilant as ever. He signals for Imogen and Bella to get in behind him as he displays it.
The cargo ship flies by as Johnny begins to wind up the followers, who are ready for the walk to dock.
His hand turns in the air as the ones who were sleeping get the word: “Johnny the Phenomenon!”
By the third time he does the lasso, which coincides with the passing cargo ship now behind the buildings, the people in the crowd are on their feet and their heads roll in unison with the pill in Johnny’s hand, round and around as music begins by Ladies Love Cool James, talking about the revelation going down in this and other dimensions.
“Something like Phenomenon,” the chant goes up in the SFD.
“Something like Phenomenon,” in the MMD too.
The crowd parts like the Red Sea as Johnny, followed by Bella and Imogen, makes his way through to lead the procession down to where the landing of entities will happen by the end of the song….
PART 2
Metofeaz looks at the plates he carries out onto the balcony; he woke early to prepare breakfast for his guests; he wonders how his live-in-lover from New York, who decided she’d show up, will get along with The Tourist this morning.
The sun shines, so there’s something to smile about as he walks out onto the balcony where the two women have decided they will face each other.
He places the plates down in front of the women; then he takes a seat facing the hills.
The conversation is amicable between the women, for which he feels thankful to Rocol since she is technically the lady of the house in this scenario.
He is grateful for Rocol’s cordial nature today since he is still unsure whether Ms. Récene is in the game purely as a financier investing in LMLA-ink’s theatrical lifestyle, which interests so many people as if it were a real life documentary. Or is she involved—passionate about what she’s invested her money in, meaning she is fully aware of LMLA-ink’s business as operatives? Or, did she just buy her way in for the sheer thrill of it all?
Surprisingly, they have a lot in common—both orphaned at relatively young ages, which Metofeaz knows is fact in Rocol’s case from the media, but he has no evidence that this is the case with The Tourist, who seems to agree with everything Rocol has to say.
“I’m staying here for another week,” Metofeaz announces out of the blue when both women start to eat.
Rocol has a smile for him and his plans, which she hears for the first time. To Metofeaz, the smile is more of a snickering as it may seem, but a smile nonetheless for someone like Rocol, who never hides the way she feels.
“I expect the paperwork to be signed when you return. Sharon has promised me there will be no further problems,” Rocol advises him, and then she slides an envelope toward the Tourist, whose head is bowed to cover the nervous look she has for a moment before she places a hand on the envelope Rocol pushes toward her.
“Oh, that! No problems with that.” Litigatti remembers what he’s here to do in LMLA-ink’s cloak of events taking place.
“I’m sure we can work something out,” The Tourist confirms as she sees Rocol place a hand on Metofeaz’s leg under the table and then signal with a finger for him to come close to her. She licks her lips for him and for their guest to see….
PART 3
Page sees blood vessels in each eye—long lines of wilting aspirations, and a premonition that something has changed—a fantasy no doubt.
The flashing lights in the mirror where he stares at himself make him sit back and think about registration and license details as the cop car pulls up behind him.
He reaches into his pocket and finds something wrapped in newspaper, and then he checks his sleeve and locates his blade before he slowly reaches down the side of his right leg to check the holster for his revolver, where he finds the piece.
“Dumbass!” he says to himself as he sighs, resigned to the fact that he has breached his parole and is about to face the consequences.
He unwraps the newspaper from his pocket. When he sees a thumb, he shakes his head about the situation he finds himself in once again….
CHAPTER 23
(September 28th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen lets herself be carried away by the sound of a million souls coming together at the break of day to welcome and sort out the visitors from the intruders aboard the cargo ship of entities arriving in the SFD.
Imogen is resolute in her decision that she will remain the entity she is at the moment, dreading the upheaval she reminds herself she will not be aware of if she is inhabited by another entity on the docks.
The overbearing feeling of “Here we go again” is put to rest as Johnny turns to her and reminds her, “Love for the Loveless.” His whisper makes her smile for the first time the same way that he does….
PART 2
The Tourist all of sudden becomes wary, her behavior prudent, holding onto a coy smile from Rocol’s display of affection at the table. At first, Metofeaz doesn’t respond to Rocol’s pouting lips until she decides to make her statement clear for The Tourist whom Rocol keeps her eye on while she lets her dress fall open. Then she places a leg up on Metofeaz’s lap, revealing she is bare and ready for him.
“I have stuff to do; will you excuse me?” The Tourist sounds as if she’s pleading to be excused, at which Rocol just smiles and responds, “What’s wrong? Don’t like the entertainment?”
Metofeaz realizes what Rocol is up to, but he can’t be bothered with Rocol’s games; he has gone back to despising her, a feeling that is well-supported when her phone rings and he sees that it’s Tone Horroh.
Metofeaz leaves Rocol alone at the table when she chooses to take the call, although she still insists, from the way she places her foot across his leg, that he carry on with business.
“Fuck this shit!” Metofeaz says to himself as he confirms for himself that his and Rocol’s stormy relationship is over.
“I’ll be waiting in your favourite position, my dear,” Rocol calls out as Litigatti reaches the bottom of the stairs, where he can see The Tourist, who is about to enter into her room. She stops as if she is looking for something, and then she looks over her shoulder at him as she lifts her skirt up over her waist to show Metofeaz that she is no slouch herself.
Metofeaz reaches the top of the stairs where the mirror is. In it, he can see that Rocol is still on the phone, so he decides to see how the scenario will play out; the Tourist has made it interesting by showing him that she is willing to play her and Rocol’s part if need be.
When he reaches the door to the small room, he sees the Tourist on the bed. She lies on her side, reading with her skirt up over her waist. The lips between the cheeks of her splendid arse are presented perfectly to him, and most likely only for his viewing pleasure as these teasing scenes tend to be an entree for something else later. Not that Metofeaz is in any hurry since he has already declined her advance on the balcony the evening before, his reason being, “Love for the Loveless happens when one leaves his Loveless life….”
“So! What’s the mag?” Standing in the doorway leaning against the doorpost, Metofeaz stutters as he says in a voice loud enough for anyone listening to hear.
PART 3
Page winds his window down as he brushes his teeth with a finger before he smiles for the rearview mirror, through which he watches the officer walking toward his door.
“Good…what is it? Dusk or Dawn?” Page remembers his manners, smiling for the cop, who leans on the window and tells Page, “Get this heap outta here…”
“Aye, aye, sir,” says Page, quickly following the request to get lost, while noticing, according to the cop’s digital watch, that it is now evening.
Page drives down the road and turns the car around. He parks across the road from the dive bar off the strip in Vegas. The place looks like a throwback, straight out of a film noir….
The blistering desert sun beats down on the car; inside, John Page wakes to the smell of blood and his own body odor. The life-changing experience, someone had promised him, must have been spun by a sadist since the signs around him already spell disaster. The dive bar across the street is cordoned off by police who swarm the joint….
CHAPTER 24
(September 29th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny Shawshank opens the door to Cameo Court in the alley; it’s just another day for the bar owner in the SenFenide Dimension.
Liquid memories flow through him; he holds onto none of them in case they stay with him, holding him back from doing what he’s here to do, and that is to make dreams come true for others.
Every so often, he’ll see someone or smell something that reminds him of someone, but within seconds, he’ll let go of the reminder in case it causes him to feel something.
The procession begins to flow through the door as Johnny watches for a hopeful someone who will join him on stage, usually only for a couple of scenes, and then the shell will no longer need his help or support, leaving Johnny alone again, a state he maintains that he prefers.
His smile is brave as he still uses the same template to discern whom he might coerce in his routine to join him on stage to see whether he and she share that magic, or on some days, he feels gallant and hopes he and his guest might create sparks for a fire that he isn’t so sure he is game to start….
Bella, Johnny’s sidekick, who is also always on the lookout for someone to join them on stage, makes a face that makes him smile as she lugs what looks like a body-bag in comparison to Bella’s size down the alleyway.
“Make way ladies and gents; we have cargo,” Johnny calls out so people will let his little helper through.
“Hot merchandise!” Bella gleams as she places the bag at Johnny’s feet, and then Johnny places a hand on the girl’s head, letting her know she has done well….
PART 2
Metofeaz hears Rocol calling from somewhere in the house that her cab is on the way.
The thought of her finally leaving is a relief, but it also has some sadness to it, so he realizes that it is over with her as far as he is concerned.
The Tourist, who has gone down to the village for sure this time—not like last night—has served her purpose, confirming for Litigatti that he and Rocol had nothing to save in their relationship.
Metofeaz feels strong in his belief that he will not allow anything to happen with The Tourist since their first encounters happened under a shroud of dishonesty; he cannot feel that his relationship with Rocol qualifies as one worth nurturing or being faithful to.
Litigatti realizes that he thinks more of The Tourist than he previously gave her credit. That thought of a fling with a hot chick hasn’t crossed his mind, and when he thinks of the Tourist, it’s always in a permanent situation. The thought freaks him out a bit, but at least it’ll do the job in keeping things platonic while they’re here in the house.
“How about a bon voyage fuck?” Rocol’s voice, behind him in the room, isn’t what Metofeaz was expecting as he tells her he has something else to do….
PART 3
Johnny remembers the cop from last night who told him to move along. He sees him now across the road in plain clothes, no longer posing a threat for Johnny as he sees him talking with Hannibal Ammer, the former CIA agent, and the phony posing as the Novice, or John Reyer.
As Johnny looks at the blood on the front seat, it becomes apparent that the cop has pulled a swift one on Johnny.
After weighing his options, which amount to none, from having no recollection of events between leaving New York and running for his life through the desert, except for hearing the voices from his past that include Ammer’s and Mr. Businessman’s, Johnny decides he will chance his hand and find out the worse-case scenario….
Johnny walks briskly through the traffic, timing his walk so he makes it across the street after Ammer and the cop enter through the front doors of the Dive bar.
Inside the musty smelling foyer, Johnny sees the elevator has left the ground, and to his right, there are people in the bar. Something tells Johnny to check his pocket where he finds a room key for a room on the third floor.
As he’s about to press the button for the elevator, the red board in the corner that covers the booth slides up, and within moments, the front door opens and two young women appear.
Johnny decides to play it cool as he looks over at the booth where the cashier acknowledges him, but doesn’t say anything.
Johnny takes it as an all clear to go up to the room he has a key for as the two girls pull up at the booth.
“Room for Genisis Jones, please.” Johnny hears the name, a well-known code name in the Network, or is it just a coincidence that Johnny quickly eliminates as he counts the number of coincidences for the day already.
When the lift arrives, he steps inside and turns around to see who it is who claims to be Genisis Jones.
CHAPTER 25
(September 30th 2011)
PART 1
“What is this thing?
That we call Love…”
Johnny Shawshank marvels at how life carries on without those who hold to the past as he walks along the strip with Bella by his side.
Chic Lit Models with the same name strut their stuff down the buzzing lane of activity; street hustlers step out from the walls to greet their marks, who are from other dimensions but here for a taste of the seedier side of life; and a group of hookers assemble for their assault on the unassuming….
Johnny hears the music in the air that adds a touch of pizzazz to the action going down; the song he didn’t mean to conjure up dresses up the sleaziness and makes it look a Trillion Cool dollars for the tourists and the citizens of the SFD. The locals are happy, telling themselves something good will come of it, aside from the intoxicating high they get from seeing the forgotten planet prosper from Johnny’s latest production marketed as the GUIOPERA in the New Global Realm behind the horizon in the MMD, and known as the REPRO here in the SFD.
Someone catches the creative producer’s eye, which doesn’t go amiss of Bella’s attention; she looks up at Johnny, who is unaware of how lost he looks.
“Does she remind you of her?” Bella asks. But there’s no response from Johnny.
“She does, doesn’t she?” Bella insists.
Johnny snaps out of his daydream as he catches on to what Bella is getting at.
“Shit happens,” Johnny says, and then he points at a troupe of mimes coming down the street.
“You should go join them and leave me in peace,” Johnny jokes as Bella elbows him in the leg. Johnny steps down onto the strip to post a bit of “PR,” as he puts it, when he reaches into his pocket for his pill so he can grab everyone’s attention; he points to the horizon where the words of the song appear for all to see.
“You open your eyes
And she’s the first thing
On your mind.”
He wonders whether those behind the horizon will get to read about this adventure—the one he’s about to embark upon in which he’ll find her, the one with the eyes he can still see each time he says, “Love for the Loveless.”
Litigatti looks down at himself as he enters her again, smacking her backside with his thrust. Her head is pulled back by him and the fistful of hair he pulls callously makes her groan short and sharp. She can see his face out of the corner of her eye as Metofeaz grunts at his reflection in the mirror. He can see there the corners of Rocol’s sinful smile as he yanks her head back some more and whispers, “Where’s that slut tongue of yours?”
The Tourist sits back in the sun, watching. The feeling she gets is one of anger and delight mixed. The sight of Metofeaz fucking that bitch again beneath the portrait of Rozelle is entwined in wet thoughts with sensuous and then climatic endings; it makes her want Metofeaz to bite the tongue Rocol gives to him; instead, he begins to lick it as if it has more energy to fuel the dual their bodies engage in—rhythmical and animal-like….
Out on the balcony, the Tourist is busy reading the book—Frost Maiden. She had asked the restaurant owner whether she could borrow it when she returned Rozelle’s heels to the restaurant earlier.
“Did you enjoy the entertainment in the end?” The Tourist ignores Rocol’s question for a second to give herself some time to come up with the right reaction to what the Tourist did to appease Rocol and her lustful ways.
“Oh, I didn’t want to break anything up, so I just took a seat here and read.” The Tourist blocks the sun with her hand, partly blocking her view of Rocol. She hopes her reply is enough so the hedonistic person doesn’t ask for any feedback from her.
The sound of the cab down on the road saves The Tourist from any further anguish in the awkward moment.
Metofeaz appears to bid Rocol farewell, and then he vanishes back up the stairs. Rocol sets off for her ride out of here, leaving the Tourist bemused as she settles back into reading what was Rozelle’s fave book in her lap….
PART 3
Page pushes the door to the room with the number on the key. The door has been left ajar by someone—was it him? The sound of rusty hinges makes him stretch his neck muscles left and then right, a nervous reaction as the leary character listens for signs of an intruder inside the room where he might be the perpetrator or the unwelcome party.
The door finally opens to show him an orange tinge to everything inside the seemingly empty space he can see. It reminds Page of scenes from the past. The "red ochre" atmos, akin to places in Page’s heritage, calms Page as he sees the door to the bathroom is closed.
Page steps into the small room with a bed in front of the window, orange curtains waving in a humid wind. He gets down on his knees and crawls past the bathroom door in case someone’s on the other side, ready to blow holes in the door and in him.
Once he is clear of the doorway, he stands up and jumps onto the bed, and when he lands on his back, he shouts, “Come, get me!”
The two girls who happen to be outside the door entering into their room across the hallway look in on Page, who calls out, “Which one of you is Ms. Jones? And by the way, that wasn’t aimed at you… The ‘Come, get me’ thing….”
The blonde girl with the bright blue eyes is looking at the revolver she can see in his jeans, rising above his boot.
“Pleased to meet you, Genisis,” Page says to the one who noticed the gun, while the other one looks at him vacantly, as if he is one of those their parents have warned them about. Page crosses a leg to cover his piece, and then he asks the girls, who remain silent, “Close the door for us, will ya?”
“What is this thing, that we call love?”
PART 1
Life for Beatrice DeLani is like a song as she strolls arm-in-arm with the man of her dreams, Harold Clarenta, up the strip.
Johnny Shawshank has the pill in his hand. He lassoes the atmos and then he points to the sky where the words appear for the song Beatrice sings along to. Her boyfriend doesn’t much care for Johnny’s show, probably his only fault, if not liking an artist can be classed as a fault, for the otherwise perfect man, as far as Beatrice is concerned.
“If you ask me, I think he’s gay.” Beatrice laughs at Harold’s green eyed monster as she scoots to her left, dragging Clarenta with her as she jumps to get out of the way of people rushing to be close to Johnny, the cut-throat creative who has announced that this, “Love for the Loveless,” will be his last REPRO in the SFD.
“Awww, look at her.” Beatrice almost sounds clucky when commenting on Bella and her locks that swing when she begins to dance, lassoing the atmos, leading the crowd that now jam the street from sidewalk-to-sidewalk as they celebrate the beginning of another fantazmo season of fun and mayhem in the heartfelt story that Johnny has in store.
“They say he’s looking for her—his true love.” Beatrice knows Harold doesn’t want to hear it, but the thought of Johnny dedicating another production to finding love makes her sigh.
In the study, Metofeaz reads the LATEST UPLOAD on the Novice’s Facebook page, masked as the New Global Realm as he hears the cab outside back up, turn around, and slowly pull away.
Between the balcony barrier, and over the top of the heads of the Gargoyle statues that line the pool, The Tourist can see out the corner of her eye the cab with Rocol inside. It causes The Tourist to lose her place on the page of the book she’s trying to get into as she waits for Rocol to leave the valley.
The waning sound of the engine in the distance brings a sigh of relief for the two people left behind in the Valley of Vineyards.
The sigh of relief is shared by both people who remain in the house; their minds made; and that is to refocus on the mission. The feeling of lust that was in the air settles like the dust in the wake of the vehicle. The Tourist stretches her neck to see over the top of the balcony as the cab finally disappears.
In the GUIOPERA, Metofeaz sees the humorous side of it all when he reads about his antics in the story so far. Litigatti almost breaks out in laughter when he sees the Novice is using his photo as his profile pic.
Metofeaz quickly checks the profiles for the select ones who comment and “Like” LMLA-ink’s stuff that John Reyer posts as props in the project the Novice has given a heart to once again. He sees the names: Tamala, Pearl, Stacy, Leslie, Kay, Sally, Teri, Michelle, Tracy, Kat, M.R., Nuski N Flo, Afele, Chris, Moon, Jo, Jolynne, Reye, Beth, Laura….
Metofeaz clicks on the YouTube link for the track the Novice has decided will be the theme to part one of this year’s online blockbuster “This Thing Called Love” by Marc Evans.
The Tourist smiles as she hears music in the air; it makes her wonder about “Imogen,” the name Rozelle wrote in the book The Tourist reads—Frost Maiden by Michelle M. Pillow. The Tourist thinks the name Imogen would be a nice name for a girl. It is handwritten beneath the author’s dedication to JRA; a pseudonym for the Poet Soldier, some say….
PART 3
Page looks at himself, still wearing the leather jacket, which he opens to take a smell of his armpits. It gives the oddball character with idiosyncrasies on top of eccentricities an excuse to risk his life and go through the closed bathroom door he’s gotten impatient waiting for the person inside to open.
The girls from New York left his door open, and now he can hear music coming from their room—not his type of music, but music nonetheless, and enough to douse the silence and noises from the street outside.
It’s one of those songs that Metofeaz would play when they were kids when a new girl would come into the neighborhood.
Thoughts of his childhood, Genisis Jones; the Network’s “girl next door” and the music in the air make Page wonder about his twin brother, whom Metofeaz had told him about, named after the Phantom Operative, Little Lazoo.
Page sees something in his pocket. Then he remembers it’s someone’s severed thumb, as he gets up from the bed and onto his feet.
Page lets the blade drop from his sleeve, having decided he’ll chance his arm against whatever waits for him behind the bathroom door, using a blade and not the revolver, as it will make for a better story to tell. Then he hears Genisis and her friend scream for joy and turn the music up.
The strings begin the emotive process for Page. The horns that follow wake his senses, and then a running bassline gives him his groove, followed by a chorus in what LMLA-ink call a LeaderLoop:
“What is this thing?
That we call love”
PART 1
Johnny watches the woman on stage from where he’s seated in the audience; none are none–the-wiser that the storyteller is among them.
Onstage, a therapist and Bella discuss Bella’s penchant for taking what’s not hers.
Johnny counts down in his head, “Three, two, one,” and then he rises to his feet and calls out “Cut!” And then, without looking at the person next to him, he reaches down and touches their arm. “You’re up!” Johnny says, encouraging those in the audience and those in the street lining up to get into Cameo Court to go wild as another contestant gets a chance to live in “Love for the Loveless.”
Johnny then slowly sits back down and takes a good look at the person he tagged to take the place of the woman now making her way down from the stage where she’s greeted by reporters and agents who want to talk to the REPRO’s latest star.
The roar gets louder as Bella waves her hand in the air, showing off the diamond bracelet on her wrist; the woman, with an astonished look on her face, checks for it on her wrist, not understanding how the trick could have happened.
Johnny smiles for the crowd as he wonders how much longer he can live off his exploitation of Bella in a rip off of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
The woman onstage now smiles for the crowd, glancing sideways at Bella, and then back at Johnny, who says nothing.
PART 2
The Tourist giggles as she checks out the LATEST UPLOAD on her iPhone.
What makes her laugh is the Novice’s post on the New Global Realm about Madonna and Angelina getting in behind the *TrillionCool.*
“The F3quenZor’s humming, ain’t it?” Metofeaz’s voice makes her lose her grin, worried that Litigatti might be offended that she laughs at their work.
“I wanna friend him,” The Tourist says, trying to redeem herself. “That’s why it works; we never take ourselves too seriously.” Litigatti’s comment puts her at ease.
Metofeaz pretends to look out over the Valley as he waits for her reaction to the Novice’s Magic Trick, as he puts it when the Novice broadcasts on the web what he’s not meant to know about, under the guise of being delusional.
“Does he know what’s going on?” Metofeaz hears the true inflection in The Tourist’s question as he decides they should go out for dinner this evening.
PART 3
Genisis Jones, sixteen years of age and from upstate New York, doesn’t know yet, but she’s about to intersect paths in her own destiny with people whom the “A” student has only seen in movies like Oceans Eleven and Pulp Fiction.
She is here in Las Vegas because she won a radio competition to appear in the U2 video for their hit single, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
She has just had her first real taste of the type of character her dad warned her about, which reminds Genisis she should call home to let her parents know she has arrived at the “palatial hotel” as it was advertised on the radio.
PART 1
Beatrice makes her merchant banker his lunch to take to his office high up in the skyscraper.
Her thoughts race from one delicious thought to the next, not a single cloud in her starry blue eyes.
The REPRO playing on every wall in the SFD, and behind the second horizon on walls of the New Global Realm, is a welcome relief; optimism others try to deny in slanted headlines as words from bygone GUIOPERAs ring in the air as they come to light in the sky:
“Sustenance and goodwill to all, today…”
“Positivity, Prosperity, Patience.”
The feel good groove is infectious as Johnny, in his one and only suit and clean-shaven with short back and sides making him look more handsome than ever, steps down the strip. He points to the sky where The Emotions make the sky rain “Flowers.”
Tulips make Bella, in her pretty dress to complement Johnny’s dashing appearance, closes her eyes as she begins to rock from side to side in time with the tune that rocks the planet. Bella’s motion brings little girls out of their houses. Bella’s fans make the orphan feel special when they line up on her side and behind her for miles. They join the little thief of hearts, which she has become in her dance that’ll warm any heart. There is happiness on Bella’s face as she skips to the left and then to right.
“Bless you brother!”
“God is watching you…”
Johnny hears the words to the song; they resound in how he’s been given the responsibility of ensuring that there is hope in the worlds where he is seen and heard.
He concedes that Bella scrubs up well after he decides to inch forward with his new plan.
In her mansion, Beatrice is surrounded by lilies, amaryllises and baby’s breaths that float from the ceiling—the sky—as Bella and her followers feel like they are in her house, close enough for Beatrice to reach out and touch the girl on her rosy cheeks.
Beatrice notices him out the corner of her eye; Harold is grumpy, like most people this time in the morning. She instantly turns off the REPRO, which is nauseating for Harold, and walks primly back to the kitchen to prepare him his breakfast….
PART 2
In the restaurant and seated across from each other, Metofeaz checks the events on his Nokia as The Tourist does the same on her iPad. They avoid conversation as they seek to settle a past that already exists, marred by Rocol’s whirlwind visit.
The Tourist holds out her iPad for a better onscreen view of the Novice as he does his thing online while his family are asleep.
Metofeaz takes a moment to think, and then he gets up and moves to the left side of the table. The Tourist edges closer to that side of the table so they can both share the view of LMLA-ink’s anchor as he orchestrates what he does for readers; it will be a story they’ll tell their grandchildren they were part of, and for the operatives out in the field, it will ensure those grandchildren that they will have a better place to live.
The Novice shares a link on the walls of the New Global Realm; he looks like he’s back to himself pre-new millennium. Only now, he no longer has to hide behind the role of a womanizer, and petty criminal. The irony is he still plays to appeal to women, who are sensitive to him and his cause.
“John Reyer is on fire,” says The Tourist, repeating what’s written on walls all over the web as the song for the LATEST UPLOAD begins to play.
PART 3
Page stands to the left of the door, smiling; the song in his head has changed as he kicks the door in….
Tone Horroh, a look alike, has his glock pointed between Page’s eyes. Page swears the silencer on the famous L.A. hitman’s gun is still warm from a hit. Hannibal Ammer, as usual, stands somewhere safe, snarling at Page and his woeful life. In the bath is a body, with a bloodied hand, that Page can make out from the corner of his one working eye.
Page’s knife is useless to him as Horroh slowly takes the gun from Page’s face. Then the feared killer looks like he’s about to reason with Page, just a part of Horroh’s sadistic routine before he does what he always does—collect entities, or souls, as Ammer prefers to call them.
“Johnny Reyer wants your soul.” Ammer does the speaking for his muscle, Tone, who is now studying his gun as if Page has damaged the weapon in some way.
That is the last of Page’s recollection of the scene inside the bathroom as a smile comes across Horroh’s face. With his finger, he motions for Page to come close, as if he wants to tell Page something. Page’s only other encounter with Horroh was in a London restaurant when Horroh almost drowned Page in the sink in the Kitchen. The Guy, another of John Reyer’s covers, had to knock Horroh out, using a wrought-iron frying pan, as Page began seeing the future, something that has stuckwith him from the ordeal.
Horroh’s face comes toward Page’s head too quickly for Page to react. Page remembers thinking—of all things: a “Liverpool kiss!”
PART 1
Johnny runs over the footage in the archives known as AFP (Archive of the Forgotten Planet) Files, inside the small office that still feels crammed to Johnny. But Johnny doesn’t want to refurbish the dingy space like he did with the bar, which now looks like a stadium out front where Bella practices her new act, that of a loveable orphan whom everyone wants to adopt. On the monitor, Johnny recognizes the shell he’s somehow managed to remain in. He scans all the possible case scenarios submitted to the dimension as potential concepts for the REPRO that’s running; he searches for any oddities he can manipulate for a story that has to run for some time yet.
He has a smile when he sees himself as a Pirate with a split personality, trying to woo Imager, who reminds him of someone in one of the ideas that ended up on the heap of rubbish—the archive. Then there was the one where he was responsible for a beauty pageant, and the woman in the passenger seat whom he can’t quite remember.
Music from the first idea, by Lennon & McCartney, plays. It makes Johnny somewhat emotional, something the ringmaster must never show.
As he looks around the office, he notices that in the corner the bag Bella brought in from one of her sprees looks deflated. Something else catches his eye; it’s a book on the ground that looks like it must be dropped there by someone….
The Tourist places her order, and Metofeaz moves back across the table.
His mellowness surprises her, even during the GUIOPERA. Litigatti, Lazoo, and Le Mac spend most of their time relaying information about it to each other over the telepathic relay, the F3quenZor, which the Novice then broadcasts via the online serial in the story about the story being told.
The Tourist can’t help smiling after confirming for herself that she can hear the relays between LMLA-ink; she recognizes some of the changes in the storyline, but most of it is still too well-disguised by John Reyer in the twisting tale he tells for those who are a part of his Semi-System, which The Tourist is here to infiltrate.
“General Jack Stephans, traitor? Or is he just taking what he believes is rightfully his?” Metofeaz makes conversation with the Tourist, who produces her book from her bag.
The Tourist looks at the book—Frost Maiden—she pulled it from her bag as a ploy to try and make Metofeaz think she’d rather be somewhere else.
“It’s the Frost Maiden’s story, Josselyn’s, so, therefore, he’s a prick!” The Tourist studies the cover of the book in her hand and then opens it up and begins to read as Metofeaz reaches for the paper while the waiter waits to take his order; Metofeaz realizes the waiter is still waiting for his order, so he apologizes to the waiter for making him wait….
PART 3
Page wakes. His head aches like someone jammed it in a door. Unconsciously, he tries to move his thumb for whatever reason, and the pain from it is also equal to it being slammed in a door.
Page, still a child in many respects, falls back asleep when he sees stitches on his left thumb that he cannot feel….
Genisis comes out of her room. She sees the door across the way to the delinquent’s room is still open, only now he’s passed out on the bed.
“Shit!” Danielle, Genisis’ best friend, says in a whisper, careful not to bring attention to them in the narrow hall of the seedy hotel when she appears from inside their room.
Genisis accounts for the racket earlier when she sees the guy on the bed is covered in blood. His thumb on his left hand has stitches in it, and he looks like he’s gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson; both of his eyes are blackened.
“Let’s go.” Genisis turns her friend in the direction of the elevators when she puts an around her shoulder.
“Shall we tell someone?” Danielle asks. Genisis can tell her friend is about to lose it. She shakes her head in answer to Danielle and she quickens her steps to hurry her friend….
CHAPTER 30
(October 5th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny runs over the characters in his head whom he can’t remember, but who are in the archived files he studies for clues. The name of the woman whom he, as the Pirate, was talking to only seconds before on the monitor escapes Johnny now.
He then reads over the transcripts and finds further information, giving an idea of where in the history of the SFD he is—a scene, in which he and the first ruler of the dream dimension, SenFen, reach some sort of deal, lets him know he’s either landed pre- or post- the first ruler’s reign.
The knock at the door makes Johnny jump!
“Come in!” Johnny calls out.
When the door opens, it’s Bella, whom Johnny can’t recall seeing in any of the footage.
“Shit, don’t do that to me,” Johnny jokes, referring to Bella practicing her manners by knocking before she enters a room.
Johnny looks around at Bella, who is quiet. She looks at the book on the ground. The look on Johnny’s face is one of submission as Bella goes over and picks up the book and dusts it off before she brings it over to Johnny….
Metofeaz picks up the book The Tourist places down on the table as she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. He hears from the Novice that another print edition of Frost Maiden is about to hit Amazon.com. The idea that someone else is leveraging their cloak or story, the one Metofeaz is a character in right now, is hair-raising, impressive in how someone has managed to manipulate the story to their advantage—complete with the dedication to JRA, coincidentally the current Poet Soldier’s real initials.
The copy in Litigatti’s hand was written and published eighty years ago by an author of the same name, Michelle M. Pillow, thirty-five years before John Reyer Afamasaga was born.
“Quite freaky, ain’t it?” The Tourist, returning to the table, gives Litigatti a fright. Her comment about the book and the dedication makes Metofeaz think….
PART 3
Back in New York, Meigon waits for the train in the subway. Her time in Vegas was well spent. The highlight of her trip was the indecorous and lascivious frenzy in the Nevada desert at daybreak; those who showed up for the inhabitation ritual numbered in the thousands.
Never mind that the author from the convention never showed. Instead, Meigon found a folder full of information under her door to the room that Genisis Jones stayed in the Dive bar hotel, directly opposite the one with the door that wouldn’t close, where Page stayed.
The folder contains handwritten manuscripts that belonged to John Page, including the ones he read before he vanished, according to another report in the file, one from the FBI.
Other information in the folder has given Meigon her next destination—L.A. She will visit there this weekend where the Romance writer will be attending another convention. This time Meigon has decided she will take her daughter with her….
Lazoo stands against the wall of the subway, his right foot cocked against the wall as he watches the single mother.
He looks at his phone for an update and sees that the Novice is on song, depicting, confirming, forecasting, and therefore, leading the way as he posts the LATEST UPLOAD on the New Global Realm.
Lazoo gets a kick out of knowing he’s part of what’s being considered a once in a million years’ event that he will never quite get over. Suddenly, he hears phones throughout the underground sounding the arrival of the next instalment of the story about the story being told—GUIOPERA IV!
PART 1
Beatrice has decided she’ll shop today. The morning coffee has done little to chill her temper after Harold’s surly behavior this morning. The outcome was Harold cancelling their REPRO subscription for the house before he stormed out the door to the office, saying he may spend the night in the skyscraper because of Beatrice’s behavior. Beatrice searches for which exact behavior of hers it was that caused Harold to fly off the handle.
Beatrice, the benefactor of nearly all the land on the planet after her parents vanished hours before her twenty-first birthday along with her childhood sweetheart, has taken awhile to rebuild her life, which to be honest, Ms. DeLani has very little recollection of.
She used to access the AFP files frequently and live her life through the memories in archive. But since meeting Harold, she hasn’t been back there to search for clues as to who she is.
PART 2
The Tourist looks at the plates the waiter places down in front of her and then back at where she is in her book.
Metofeaz gets into the food right away; sustenance may even give them energy for those who might be watching whether there are cameras in this place or whether The Tourist is wired for AV.
To be honest, he had been fading for awhile now, which can’t be great for his guest to be around, and also it makes for tedious viewing for those listening in. Metofeaz believes in doing things in style, even being spied upon. Some say that he’s the double agent Litigatti. But it’s because of his cordial behavior toward the enemy that has brought about this type of talk.
Over the top of her book, The Tourist watches Litigatti eat. How he devours food goes with the way he fucks. She wonders whether there’s a gentler side to his lovemaking repertoire—maybe one that goes with the Metofeaz she saw in the paddock before Rocol showed her face.
But when he’s done and then looks at her plate, she starts to believe that maybe that will be her way in. She’ll show him that side of him in matters intimate….
“Only kidding!” His remark with his trademark smile wakes The Tourist from her dreamy state and realizes that she’s no longer looking over the top of her book, but that the book was resting on the table and she was staring at him.
“No, you have it; I’ll order some more.” The Tourist insists that Metofeaz take the plate he has been eyeing.
PART 3
Meigon clears the arm of the gate at LA airport in a rental car. The Johnny Cash song on the radio makes her smile, not because of its meaning, but because when the Novice had asked her for a song for the chapter in progress, Meigon had requested “Hurt.”
In the end, she decided it was best to leave her daughter with family as she read further into the information contained in the folder left outside her room, thinking it wasn’t the ideal adventure to share with an impressionable teenager right now.
Another dive hotel, which would’ve seen its heyday back in the golden era, is her accommodation. And another Romance Writer conference, where the author who failed to show at dawn has promised she’ll make it up to Meigon, is the meeting place with a contact. Her study project for her marketing degree has definitely taken a backseat to her adventure for which her sponsor, Fashion House Charley Stevonsen, doesn’t mind footing the bill. The private scholarship was something her mentor Lina had organized for Meigon after their meeting at SIL HOUSE Café.
PART 1
Beatrice strides down the strip. The new neon sign of Johnny Shawshank’s joint glows in daylight like it does in the dark. She knows Harold frowns upon it and those who frequent it.
Ms. DeLani smiles a wicked smile as the big screen above the building flashes footage from the evening before when Bella and Johnny performed for the fans already queuing up for the day’s first session.
But then Beatrice sees the title of the show, “Love for the Loveless,” and thoughts of going inside to spite Harold—who does love her, she tells herself—begin to fade as she sees the first shop where she’ll start her spree.
Inside the apartment store, it’s like Christmas time, only the decorations and music is ala Johnny Shawshank and Bella.
“This Christmas,” the song goes, making Beatrice feel like she’s Doris Day as the snowflakes fall from the sky that opens up.
“Thank you, ma’am.” The handsome assistant in a uniform scans Beatrice’s wrist, accessing her account as she begins her spree in delightful fashion….
PART 2
The Tourist walks, thinking beneath a crescent light in the sky. Next to her is a colleague, she has finally decided.
Metofeaz walks with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. He looks up at the moon’s immature form and is thankful for half it s face that shines light on the path he walks. It gives light to half the truth that he is willing to admit right now. The other half he can’t quite fathom for he has yet to meet someone who makes him think of his actions beyond the call of duty.
But the woman whom he can hear thinking does make Metofeaz think about his actions. She makes him think about his behavior toward her, for whatever reason....
Only this morning, he’d written off any chance of amorous interaction with her, which he knows Rocol was expecting so she made the journey all the way from New York to ruin the possibility of something true.
In normal circumstances, Metofeaz would’ve thanked Rocol for her intervention and then immediately bedded The Tourist without a second thought. But something tells Litigatti that this is different—maybe even a new beginning.
In the distance, Metofeaz sees the heads of the statues that line the pool beneath the balcony as he announces that he’s returning to New York in the morning.
PART 3
Meigon checks in to the LA Hotel; a bungalow facing the swimming pool is the only room available since the hotel had bungled her booking, meaning she received an upgrade, which makes her day. And on top of that, she has to make her way through a bevy of male models sunning their toned and tanned bodies by the pool to get to her luxury accommodation in the not so rundown hotel.
Meigon fans herself as she steps over the last model’s body; she hears him mention the Romance Writers conference. Meigon’s fanning action brings laughter from the group of hot men as Meigon wonders whether the conference is the same one she is here to attend.
Inside the room, Meigon unpacks and then she checks her email, looking forward to a message from the Novice. She thinks of how homely is the person she once found intimidating. She clicks on his profile pic and then does what she always does—pine. And then she sees there are messages from the one they call the cut-throat creative, who has the looks of a model, the brain of an intellectual, and the heart of a lion.
She reads through his AM email to her again as she hears shouts from outside the room for what could only be one thing: the LATEST UPLOAD!
PART 1
Christmas Bells chime as the song begins for Bella and the chorus of leggy dancers to parade down the snow-covered runway that starts at the top of the elevation, a castle made of sheets of ice twice the size of the Empire State Building. The castle towers over the western end of the department store, which has been transformed into a landscape where heaven meets earth at the North Pole.
When Bella swings her tiny bag, the one made of a knapsack, the helpers dressed as elves follow her lead to remind shoppers that Christmas is around the corner. The Macy’s like-show ensures that mothers and their daughters will get into the full swing of the shopping season.
Beatrice rolls her eyes at the spectacle until she remembers she is alone and without Harold, so there is nothing the matter with enjoying herself.
Bella, who is growing more adorable by the day, curtsies for the crowd, who scream for an “ENCORE!” Sales assistants quickly circulate among the almost-satisfied shoppers who scan their wrists as Bella lassoes the atmos for the orchestra, seated at the entrance of the castle, to take it from the top. It ensures that the customers with freshly scanned accounts will feast their eyes on more merchandise paraded down the runway and instantly acquire whatever they lay their eyes upon….
When Beatrice looks at her account, which the assistant shows her, she feels satisfied. It helps that she could’ve sworn she shared a moment with Johnny Shawshank who showed his face at the back of the crowd during Bella’s number, and then he vanished before anyone else saw him.
“Did you see him?” Beatrice asks the assistant. “See who?” the assistant asks. “Johnny Shawshank!”
“I did!” comes a little voice that Beatrice recognizes, and when she turns around and sees that it’s Bella herself, she goes red in the face, unsure what to say to the famous person.
“He’s quite a loner!” Bella says, and then she thinks about what she just said and abruptly adds, “No, that’s unattractive; he’s a very astute judge of character…”
Beatrice is beside herself from Bella’s performance until she begins to feel flush from the redness on her face….
On the small monitor in the small office, Johnny watches Bella in the department store as she talks to someone he’s never seen before. The woman—Beatrice DeLani—has a name that sounds familiar; her account number was one of the first issued when the department store opened at the time of the big sleep that created the SFD. A significant number of nodes commonly known as a bunch of dreamers shared the same dream, and hence, the dreamscape he is in right now.
In the store, Bella responds to Johnny, who is across the street at Cameo Court’s suggestion that Bella leave the woman alone. But Bella takes things into her own hands—something Johnny finds amusing when he watches Bella take the assistant’s terminal while the assistant is facing away, and then Bella credits the lady’s goods, which the lady, now ready to leave, does not realize. The result will be an almighty embarrassment for the woman when she tries to exit the department store, which is about to happen....
PART 2
Metofeaz walks ahead of The Tourist to open the wooden gate. He feels obligated to give her an explanation for his sudden announcement that he is returning to New York. Instead, Litigatti decides to let the situation play out; hopefully, it will naturally bring about what’s meant to be with the person who so far has impressed Metofeaz with how composed she is….
The next morning, The Tourist wakes to sounds of a car horn, and then the front door to the house closing. She hears footsteps down the stairs until they disappear. The sound of the car leaving the house has a different meaning for her than it did yesterday when Rocol left. Yesterday, it felt like the car leaving was a chance to breathe; today it’s little like the opposite.
Not one to dwell on the past, The Tourist decides that it’s time to go to work on her role that she has been researching. No one has yet given her any orders, only a confirmation of a couple of pieces of information Metofeaz had leaked that have to do with a corrupt operative who was responsible for the delay in capturing certain individuals in London back in 2005, and some details have surfaced about an operation in the North of England, in which the same operative is responsible for the malfunction of another operation.
The fact that Litigatti invited her to the house and has now left her there is an invite for her to play the GAME.
The Tourist logs onto her Facebook account and sends the Novice, whom she is almost certain is the real John Reyer Afamasaga, a friend request, and then she reads the LATEST UPLOAD, of which she is one of the stars….
PART 3
Meigon decides she’ll lay down for an hour or so to catch up on some sleep since she left home early that morning.
Trying to make herself sleep, she reads through the history of the hotel she’s at. She sees one of the guests back in the hotel’s hey day was Jon Pierre Solomon—he had been a personal guest of Howard Hughes….
***
Page steps into the room. In the glass’ reflection, he sees the white powder still on his lip. “Oh well, all righty then,” he says; it gives him an excuse to take another decent hit of cocaine from the vile in his suit pocket.
He stops a second short of taking a snort when he sees his reflection again, clean-shaven with short back and sides. The vile he holds in his leather gloves, which he now wears for cosmetic reasons as much as tools of his trade, makes him think.
He’s here to find the owner of the hand who has his thumb. An L.A. cop who goes by the name Tait had sent news of a killer whose thumbprint matches Page’s.
The bizarre killings the LAPD was keeping under wraps for now have a touch of familiarity to them. All of the victims were male and all six of them John Does.
Page received the information about the person who has one of his digits from Tone Horroh. Page is here to meet Tone Horroh in the Bungalow where Page’s dad Jon Pierre stayed during an operation financed by the great aviator and Hollywood producer Howard Hughes himself.
Page, a little emotional about the setting he is in, looks at the cocaine, and then he decides against taking some more of the stuff that makes him see straight when he’s high, but when he comes down, that’s another entirely different story; he wonders whether he could manage without another one of his vices….
PART 1
As Johnny exits Cameo Court, the fans are there. “Love for the Loveless!” he says, and then he summons music to fill the alley and drown out the crowd.
Across the way is someone who is about to get a nasty shock when she is pulled up for theft, not of her own doing. The ramifications will be horrific if she is “someone” in the bigger picture that Johnny has to consider as director of a REPRO.
Bella’s reason for setting up the woman is unknown, and therefore, Johnny didn’t rewind the scene or notify Bella to do another take without involving Ms. Beatrice DeLani, fiancée of Harold Clarenta and someone else Johnny has never heard of before.
The combination of wealthy landowner and merchant banker is an interesting one for someone in Johnny’s situation as the controller of the REPRO.
Johnny steps down onto the street, and as usual, the crowds are everywhere. In this mood, he needs them to give him some space. So he suddenly stops and turns around and pokes his head at the ones following him as a scare tactic that works since they stop in their tracks. Then he does the same to the ones converging on the front of the department store from his left and right.
“Sorry, folks. It’s what is known as a matter of life and death, behind the second horizon,” says Johnny, giving an explanation for why he wants a closed session for the recant he might have to perform in the ensuing scene.
He sees the front doors of the shop slide open, and then he sees the woman as he hears that the song he summoned has changed. He tries requesting the first tune with the heavy guitar for background music to complement the drama he’ll help along its way, but the love theme keeps playing.
“Wait!” he shouts and holds a hand out as he nears the curb....
Beatrice feels like she’s floating on air as she steps to the song. Next to her, Bella skips, and behind her are shop assistants in a line that reaches down to the back of the store with Ms. DeLani’s goods.
And now, the front door of the shop opens and Johnny Shawshank is standing in the doorway. His handsome smile is the perfect ending to her amazing experience this morning.
“He’s single; that’s what I was meant to say,” says Bella, finding the words she was looking for.
“Is he now?” Beatrice hears herself, and then she sees Harold’s skyscraper out the corner of her eye.
Johnny decides the only thing to do, or the only thing he can do, is shut the doors.
Beatrice sees the doors are closing, and it makes her smile in anticipation of Johnny’s next move; he is the most creative guy a woman can imagine; the prospects are spine-tingling for her.
“Phew!” Johnny says as the doors begin to close. Beatrice has stopped in her tracks, and Johnny switches off the sensors to the doors, leaving a gap in the door wide enough for Bella to squeeze through, which the little troublemaker does on cue.
Bella has a quizzical look mixed with her cheeky smile as she shrugs her shoulders when Johnny questions her about what she’s up to now.
“What the hell are you up to?” Johnny asks Bella as he smiles for Ms. DeLani behind the glass door; Ms DeLani blushes as Johnny waits for Bella’sexplanation as to why she credited Beatrice’s shopping list.
“The poor woman could’ve been banished!” Johnny maintains his smile for Ms. DeLani as Bella begins to go into her shell.
“Give me a good enough reason and we’ll take her out using normal means. You just don’t ambush someone, especially during a therapy session….”
Beatrice finds it exciting to wait for the next thing to happen as she watches Johnny and his sidekick deliberate on their next fantastical move.
The music dies down and the doors begin to open. Beatrice feels like she’s the only woman in the world as Johnny stands with one hand in the air; he has the pill in it as he announces:
“Ms. Beatrice DeLani, it’s all on the house!”
The sound of his voice and the music that begins again is euphoric for the woman. However, she notices that Bella is somewhat quiet, and not herself….
PART 2
Metofeaz opens the door to the apartment. All the different reflections of himself, which he can see in the glass walls and mirrors that decorate the New York apartment, remind him he’s back in the chaos of his reality.
“I’ll be waiting in your favorite position.” Rocol’s promise has suddenly taken on a pleasurable tone now that he has arrived in NYC.
A txt message to her to let her know he is back in town on time and before he was expected is well-received with a reply from her, a pic of her in position from his fave viewpoint of her in the mirror.
Metofeaz heads for the room. His own promise that he would end it with Rocol on his return has been lost somewhere between the airport and the pic of her parting herself for him.
Litigatti finds the gift he bought Rocol in France, and then he drops the bag. He takes off the jacket and lets that drop in his wake as he nears the room and hears her turn in the crisp sheets of their bed….
Metofeaz wakes in the morning to the sound of a txt message received and Rocol complaining about it. He looks at the txt and then looks at the woman he’s in bed with.
Metofeaz checks the portal and sees the Novice is on his way to do the first of this year’s sessions or interviews in the city—Wellington—and from all accounts, he is back to himself. His sister, a current affairs producer, drops the Novice off in the city where he plays the part of roving reporter on the *TrillionCool* as sideline to his writing.
Litigatti smiles when he sees the Novice in front of the Vodafone building on Lambton quay, making it clear they want to do a global deal with the communications company. The Novice gives everyone a treat when he stops to chat with a busker in the subway who does a rendition of Robert Cray’s “Strong Persuader” for the writer, who tells the man, “I’ll write you in!”
In the end, the Novice didn’t end up getting the interview, not today, but at least he’s showing signs that he’s ready to treat the city he’s in for leg #1 of LMLA-ink’s World Tour of Planet Earth, branded as the *TrillionCool* by interacting with the locals….
“Poem!” demands Rocol as she turns over in the bed and rests her head on his chest. The demand annoys Metofeaz because he swears that she feels the same way he does about their relationship, so why the pretending, prolonging the inevitable?
Last night was a mistake; he knew it before it began. The ringtone on his phone that he doesn’t recognize just adds to the walls closing in on him from being near Ms. Récene who smiles at him as if he’s just fallen into a bottomless pit as he checks his phone and sees that it’s Sharon AKA The Tourist.
Rocol had obviously assigned the ringtone during the night to The Tourist’s number….
PART 3
Tone Horroh, or John Reyer as he calls himself, knows his time is up on the West Coast. The heat from the ungrateful ones, who feed him pedophiles for the work he does meticulously for them, has turned into threats to close ranks on the outsider meaning, they’ll hang him out to dry if given a chance.
Page knows this as he watches Horroh stitch up the corpse of someone with a diseased mind, this one in his mid-twenties but still infected with a disease that makes a pedophile the lowlife he is.
“Number seven,” Horroh says proudly, and then the two women, dressed like magician’s assistants, take from Tone his scrubs as he holds out his arms in front of them.
“The thumb signifies the way these lowlifes thumb their noses at society….” Horroh explains the metaphor for his piece of art, when he suffocated each of the pedophiles using a pillow, and then he swapped their thumbs.
“Promise me you’ll give up the drugs, and I’ll give you your thumb back….”
Horroh’s killing spree has lasted seventy-two hours, during which time he has murdered seven child molesters.
Page stretches his neck to relax himself as Hannibal Ammer enters the morgue that a friend has allowed them to use for Horroh’s show captured on video camera, which Tone now shouts at. “See!”
Page recalls the work, or the manifesto which LMLA-ink tries to live by, written by the real John Reyer as he looks around at the seven bodies in body bags. Each bag is unzipped to the waist, each one has a body with a hand on its chest, and each hand has a thumb that’s been sewn on. If the authorities felt like it, they could track the serial killer whose thumbprint belongs to John Page.
Tone Horroh’s interpretation of the works has meant he can slay any man he deems to be unfit as they prey on women or children. The fact that he has the support of Ammer, and Tait Stevensen, a bent cop who enters the room as the assistants now in bikinis bring champagne for them, means Horroh is untouchable….
CHAPTER 35
(October 10th 2011)
“Creep”
PART 1
Bella sits on the sofa as news spreads of the session in progress across the dimension.
The four walls of spectators that surround the stage in the middle can be a cauldron. But Bella seems comfortable with attention from an audience that can be vicious at times.
“So tell me, Ms. Bella, what were you thinking when you chose Ms. Beatrice DeLani as the recipient of “Today’s Gift?” Johnny questions the girl on stage, regarding her callous act, which he’s decided he’ll spin as a new contest.
Johnny glances at the big screen with a picture of Beatrice, the lucky shopper, and then he looks at the window of Bella thinking as the meter on the right, showing the audience’s answers for Bella’s reason, hits the one hundred million mark.
Johnny decides to shut off the voting for now, as he thinks about tomorrow and the day after that, and the billion mark he wants to hit somewhere toward the end of the REPRO.
Johnny points to the sky to divert attention; he requires dreams from behind the second horizon as the interlude while Bella makes decisions for the audience.
Johnny hears the words “X-Factor” in the dream he intersects as he waits for the audience’s answers to be collated.…
PART 2
The Tourist decides no news is good news. She thinks cleaning the house will give her cause to enter Rozelle’s room; she’s sneaked a peek into it from behind the door several times since arriving.
Metofeaz, in New York, has yet to respond to any of her messages asking whether she is allowed to deep clean Rozelle’s chateau.
“Long lost relative,” Sharon says to herself, and The Tourist nods that the role Litigatti himself assigned her is enough to give her the right to do what she believes a granddaughter would do to her grandmother’s house.
The Novice posts music from the LATEST UPLOAD on the walls of the New Global Realm; it floods the rooms of the house, overflowing out into the valley.
The Radiohead classic “Creep” surrounds the woman who questions what it is she is doing here; her mind tells her she could be in “John Reyer’s Mire” already.
Out on the balcony, the statues that line the pool are a panoply of creatures who will keep her safe from any harm mortal or sent from hell.
The song gathers momentum; the distinct voice, melancholy and malicious in its intent to make one feel for him, says,
“When you were here before
Couldn’t look you in the eye…”
The silk robe that hangs from her shoulder falls further when she lets her hand, holding it in place, drop to her side as she makes her way to the steps that’ll take her down to the pool.
In and around the giant statues, The Tourist loses herself in her character for the first time as she lets the robe drop to her feet. The feeling of the air on her body is second only to the feeling she gets when her skin pierces the clear blue water,
“You’re just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry….”
PART 3
Inside the morgue, where the concrete walls chill all that is profound, profane, and even sound, Page hears the tune simmering in the depths of his mind. John Page is confused as Horroh dances with the two women in another costume change. The seven corpses of pedophiles in their body bags are now zipped up to their necks, in the background on show for the camera. Horroh points at them as he mouths the words,
“I wish I was special
So fucking special…”
Page stands up as he feels the words, as the guitar sounds intensify Horroh’s passion for his cause.
The hooker in a body stocking and dancing at Horroh’s side now steps forward, her hand held out for Page to take. He finds it as inviting as it is daunting as he ponders what he might have agreed to by accepting Tone Horroh’s offer to come to his side of the Network, where things get done, and immorality is dealt with in no uncertain terms, the evidence of which are the bodies of the evil sick on display.
Horroh is a Nazi Hunter who allows the Network to bypass red tape when they assign Horroh a name to seek his passion of killing. “Morbid Mayhem” is what he’s branded his sideline act of killing pedophiles, which everyone turns a blind eye upon—the bigger fish must feed on the smaller fish in the pond.
Horroh came to the Network’s attention when Ammer needed a hitman, and now he’s poised to unite the crack unit the Poet Soldier dreamed of with the recruitment of Janine Elton’s eldest son.
Page takes the bottle of champagne from the table and takes a swig as he feels the woman’s arms around his neck….
“I’m a creep….”
CHAPTER 36
(October 11th 2011)
“Down On Me!”
PART 1
Beatrice, unbeknownst to herself, is the topic of discussion on everyone’s lips.
The private person finds it difficult to express her deepest desires even to Harold, the man of her dreams whom she talks to on the phone.
“What am I doing?” Beatrice suddenly clams up. The thought of telling someone what she’d like to do and have done to her by someone without a face is quite revealing for Beatrice.
Anyhow, Harold’s voice today dampens the fantasy, so Beatrice doesn’t mind changing the subject to what she’s preparing them for dinner, searching to see whether he has decided to go back on his threat to spend the night in his apartment in the skyscraper.
The rumble from activity behind the second horizon, as she understands the sound that always ends with song in the REPRO that runs all the time in the SFD, has a ring to it. Hypnotic and trance-like as drums that accompany a tribal refrain, it vibrates throughout the dimension, making many shiver at the sheer magnitude of Johnny Shawshank’s handiwork.
The song is louder than any other before in the REPRO to date. The words are like a chant, one that makes people throw their hands in the air, like a rain-dance in a land that precipitation forgot, and where the reward is a thundering shower of enlightenment that carries one away to another place and time….
“Beatrice!” the woman hears the voice on the phone she’s holding down at her side as she realizes it is only Harold, who might not even be coming home. “Time out,” he calls it.
PART 2
The Tourist reaches the end of the pool and turns as a familiar feeling starts to stir within her.
Coming from her iPad, up on the balcony, is the sound of drums beating in time with her heart. The rhythmic musing by Jeremiah and 50 cent:
“Put it down on me….”
exemplifies LMLA-ink’s bravado as it is witnessed everywhere on Planet earth. Sharon suspects the humming she’s been hearing for some time now is a precursor to a voice telling her something, and since meeting Metofeaz, it’s what comes before the music on what she now understands to be the F3quemZor.
Even as a protagonist from a different side of the Network, The Tourist can accept the Novice and his team have come up with an unbeatable formula. The unlikely mixture of literature and obscene narcissism is the way they now push buttons, needle, and play heavy. The output of an online serial is what’s required, giving the masses something to think about, subliminally accepting the hidden code that affects money markets, crime rates, and sometimes the weather —halting disasters even.
The stunning display of creativity is what no other creative co-op in history will come close to achieving: a consciousness that those who feel know cannot be replaced, as one man scribes the words that make people feel worldwide, coast to coast, as onscreen the most gifted creative of our times points to sky and then at himself as the song goes,
“Put it down on me….”
Inside the pool, The Tourist relinquishes control and lets go of any inhibition as she turns in the water to assume the position so she can do the backstroke for the next length of the pool.
She opens her eyes to see the same view as Rozelle would’ve looked up at; the twelve statues looking down on her—it is their vigil, earnest and forever, as they watch over her.
Inside the pocket of her robe, which lies at the feet of the twelfth statue, is her iPhone. She can hear the phone ringing but the exhilaration mounting in her body is too much for her to stop right now.
Her iPhone and iPad, made by the tech genius Steve Jobs, continue to receive and send out the message in the latest chapter of the GUIOPERA….
PART 3
Meigon wakes to the sound of her Blackberry. She sees that it’s dark outside and that it’s her daughter on the phone.
When she looks at the time, she realizes it’s late in the evening and she has slept through the alarm for her to get up to go to the conference.
Meigon talks with her daughter, happy now that she hasn’t made it to the conference where she won’t be able to talk with her teenager; she’s finding it harder to catch up with her daughter and her daughter’s routine.
The hour long conversation is light and seems to have only lasted a matter of minutes when her daughter announces to her mother that she is tired.
As Meigon hangs up, thoughts of Tone Horroh, who was touted as the next Poet Soldier, and his killing sprees, which began when Tone was just a child, come to mind.
Having just spoken with her child—like any mother she would gladly die for her child—the thought of Tone Horroh and his past time of torturing and killing pedophiles doesn’t seem so morbid to her, at this moment....
An email from the Novice or John Reyer, whom Tone Horroh was posing as while Horroh was the leader of LMLA-ink from ’91 to ’10, arrives in Meigon’s inbox.
The Novice’s LATEST UPLOAD is titled “Down On Me!” a message to the Network that he’ll lead his Semi-System through the wilderness, now that Tone Horroh is doing time on death row for the murder of Hannibal Ammer last Christmas.
The *TrillionCool* is the first initiative designed by the Poet Soldier, a drop-out. The World Tour of Planet Earth will shed light on topics like Refugee Welfare, Sustainability, Economic Development, and Environmentalism. All of this will be on the back of the other creation he built with his own hands, the Graphical User Interface Opera now known all over the planet as the GUIOPERA—the story about the story being told….
CHAPTER 37
(October 12th 2011)
“Ever Changing Moods”
PART 1
Johnny waits for Bella’s answer to the question as he sees the audience’s top three answers flash up on the screen for why Bella chose to award Beatrice DeLani a shopping spree on the REPRO.
Bella hears the taunts from the mob. Johnny warned Bella that they would turn on her. “Just ebb and flow; that’s all it is….” Their top three answers to why Bella chose Beatrice to be the recipient of a shopping spree are all centered around the notion that Bella is a “Bitch.”
- Beatrice is a Bitch and so is Bella.
- Beatrice is Bella’s mom and the REPRO is fixed.
- Bella is a Bitch.
Bella runs over their act since she and Johnny had little time to rehearse on the way over from the store. The number one thing the crowd wants is for someone famous to be demoralized. The other thing the mob wants is a moron to come through for them. As Bella looks at the answers, the crowd’s low-brow mentality is obvious.
Her real reason for doing what she did will have to wait for it to be told since she can tell Johnny is all about the business right now, and nothing can sway him to listen to her—he only expects Bella to repeat the lines they agree on for the audience’s sake that Johnny hates.
Bella feels what must be self-pity as she takes note of the angry faces on the audience, a new experience for her, but something Johnny has had to live with. He now uses the pill in his hand to calm the rude and rowdy cowards, as he calls them.
They often rib Johnny with snide remarks as they pass him on the street or ask questions designed to irritate him like “How are you today, Johnny? Are you okay?” Johnny had warned Bella of the change that would occur in people’s opinion of her if she were to stop her thieving ways and join him in the thankless job of trying and failing to make the audience feel good about themselves in their moronic tale, which they try to promote as Johnny’s efforts to voice their unforgivable fantasies. The more Johnny proves that he’s a stand-up guy, the worse it becomes for Low-Life MICERs—the secrets about themselves they cannot help but tell as they cling to the cut-throat creative’s coat-tails.
Bella sees one disgusting wannabe in the crowd whose obvious pedophile tendencies make her skin crawl. Johnny has already warned her about the moron, who wrote a disgusting story with Bella as a victim and submitted it as an idea for the REPRO.
Johnny has promised her the pedophile will be dealt with severely, but for now, it is best to keep him near in case he goes and commits suicide, thereby taking the fun out of torturing the despicable retard.
Johnny sees the pressure Bella is under and decides to cut to an ad break to give Bella time to come to terms with what she has to do in the new segment to their show they have just designed less than a few winks ago….
***
Beatrice goes outside to check the mail. She looks into the sky and submits her username and password so her inbox will appear. On the right is a link to the REPRO; she bites her lip as she tells herself she mustn’t click there.
She makes up what isn’t really an excuse—that she would like to see how Bella is doing. Of course, when Johnny Shawshank comes to mind, it is purely an afterthought and nothing else.
“Beatrice! You’re on the REPRO!” Her next-door neighbor, a tarty yummy mommy, a nice person still, screams as Beatrice turns and sees her in her bikini top and apple bottom jeans with her pumps as the excited woman comes running out of her house.
Through the open door of the house, Beatrice recognizes the woman’s gardener and the woman’s husband’s close friend as he puts on his clothes.
The woman grabs Beatrice’s hand and opens the gate, pulling at her to come inside her home. The pretty and heavily made up woman has a domineering look that reminds Beatrice of what Harold had told her about the couple, after the husband had propositioned Harold for a “Session,” as he politely put what they do for fun in their spare time to Harold, who was offended by the offer.
Beatrice can’t help but laugh to herself as she thinks of what Harold would say or do if he even knew she had stepped foot onto their swinging neighbor’s property.
“You’re on the REPRO. Come inside; I want to watch it with my famous neighbor.” Beatrice leans back, offering some resistance as she lets herself be dragged closer to the eager woman’s front door. Beatrice begins to use the heels of her shoes to try half-heartedly to stop the woman who is leaning forward at almost the same angle as Beatrice is leaning backwards.
The jarring and jerking action, with which Beatrice is pulled toward the house, assists the laughter that Ms. DeLani tries holding back at the thought of what’s happening to her in breaking free, much to her desperate neighbor’s amusement; she takes Beatrice’s laughing as encouragement as she continues to pull at Beatrice’s arm.
Beatrice contains her laughter enough to see where the woman is in relation to the steps, and then Beatrice yanks the woman’s arm to loosen her grip on her arm. She lets the woman’s hand go, sending the woman face first onto the lawn.
At first, Beatrice feels like laughing at the site of the woman face down on the grass. But then the sounds of the REPRO inside the woman’s house catch Ms. DeLani’s attention as she walks past the woman, looking up at Beatrice, shocked by what Beatrice just did to her.
“Lucky I didn’t twist your backward neck the right way around,” Beatrice hears herself say as she walks up the steps to the woman’s house. She quite likes the thought.
“Well, you comin’ or not?” Beatrice calls out over her shoulder to the woman on the lawn. Beatrice likes the sound of her words as she sees the man inside step to the side, his once sleazy smile replaced by a spare look as Beatrice looks around the walls where Bella’s face is plastered; all eyes on the planet remain glued to their walls as they wait for a response from the little star whom you either love or loath.
Beatrice traces the face of the child on the walls of her neighbor’s house as she walks, slowly captivated for some reason, beyond the cute child’s appearance as an orphan.
“They’re saying you’re a bitch!” Beatrice hears her neighbor’s voice behind her. The woman is straightening herself now that she’s back to her feet. The swinger’s remark sounds as if it comes from someone who cares, but then the pretty woman’s next remark puts Beatrice at ease that no such kinship or closeness, of which she was unaware, has developed without Ms. DeLani’s approval.
“And I believe there’s truth in their voice.” The woman’s true feelings about Beatrice come to the forefront as Beatrice forgets about what just happened between her and her swinger neighbor out on the lawn.
“Well, if you’re going to stay, you might as well make yourself useful—and fetch me and him a beer, will ya, dear?” Beatrice frowns at the woman’s suggestion that she go fetch beer for her and the guy who starts unzipping his jeans when the neighbor enters the lounge. But then Beatrice decides to play along and see where the scene will take her.
Beatrice finds the kitchen as, on the wall, Johnny cuts to another ad break for his strung-out audience that he has wrapped around his finger.
***
Bella takes another look up at the screen for the audience’s answers:
- Beatrice is a Bitch and so is Bella.
- Beatrice is Bella’s mom and the REPRO is fixed.
- Bella is a Bitch.
In one and three, they’re calling her a bitch, which Johnny advised her was a female dog—that says a lot about the crowd’s intellect. “DUH!” Bella feels like saying to the crowd in regards to number two’s answer as people now get to their feet and start chanting, “BITCH! BITCH! BITCH!”
“Don’t the retards look lovely today?” Johnny says out the side of his mouth to Bella. Then he starts the countdown to the cutover from the ad-break out loud. “Three, two; forgive them for they were given minced monkey testicles for minds,” Johnny says as he points to the sky for the theme song to play….
When Bella looks up at the screen, she sees a feed from somewhere in the dimension. It has Beatrice in a home; there’s a black box on the screen, blocking out something going on in the background. And when Bella tries to take a closer look at what she can make out as two pairs of legs, one with jeans around the ankles, Johnny reminds her that it’s one of those scenes she can do without; he does so when he makes a didgeridoo sound with his mouth that the crowd now imitates, bringing a break in the animosity aimed at Johnny and Bella.
Beatrice’s face onscreen calms the now angry Bella as the crowd flares up again.
“What’s the beer you’re drinking?” Johnny asks for the sponsor’s sake.
“Thudwiser! And I’m not drinking it; I’m at my neighbor’s…” Beatrice replies. Johnny quickly cuts her off with the sponsor’s slogan that he starts, and then he places a hand to his ear for the audience to join in and finish:
“Thudwiser! FOR THAT THUD THUD SOUND A SWINGER LIKES TO HEAR!”
Bella remembers what Johnny told her about the mindless antics performed by adults to spice up their relationships or just for kicks. Bella promises herself she will “marry for love,” something else Johnny had shared with her that she thinks sounds great, even though his other thought about reasons as to why people get married, such as “for money” make more sense to the child.
Onscreen is the beautiful Beatrice DeLani. Bella imagines her smile to be like Beatrice’s bright smile that lights up the arena for Bella, who sits up straight because Beatrice might be watching how this young lady holds herself.
Bella glances at Johnny, hoping he feels the warmth of Beatrice’s appearance onscreen. But Johnny is too busy thinking of the next line, and how he’s going to increase ratings of the REPRO; Bella hears a thought of his, “HBO, Warner Brothers, New Line Cinemas, One Hundred Million Dollars,” that confirms for her where the creative producer’s mind is at—busy working on a magic trick as usual!
“And for the answer we’ve all been waiting for.” Bella hears Johnny as she wonders what Beatrice thinks about what’s going on.
Bella thinks of what she’s about to say; answer number two is half the answer to the answer that would make her dreams come true. The part about the REPRO being fixed—well no one else can give another some sense, and if the crowds are willing to play dumb, then who is she to hold them back?
The unfinished design to Bella’s dream includes Johnny. The man can’t remember it, but he has been popping in and out of her life for as long as she can recall. He’s been rescuing her in various guises, saving Bella from a life as victim of some deviant—the effects nested in the shell have yet to reach an age beyond double digits, but the results deeply rooted in the child’s ultra-ego stop her from a life and containing an entity or soul for any decent length of time.
“Number two, Beatrice; she’s my mom!”
PART 2
The soles of her feet leave puddles on the floor as Sharon Smith makes her way through the house.
Her soaked complexion hides evidence of an emotional upheaval she shared with the mounted beasts that encompass the peacefulness of the pool she swam in till it felt like her tears had caused the pool to overflow.
Her ex’s number is highlighted on her iPhone, on which she has footage of Metofeaz and Rocol in bed the minute Metofeaz arrived back in New York.
She tells herself she has no right to feel the way she does about someone whom she’s told herself is nothing more than a colleague, and one she is here to mislead.
Her finger, as it pushes the button, is like a cursor onscreen out of control that selects the wrong link. She feels enough anger to go through the motions of an act that does little for her self-esteem as she hears his voice. She pauses for a second as her ex-, a nice guy but not the one for her, says, “Hello!”
The Tourist clicks the button to put him out of his misery, and then she accesses the portal and sees Metofeaz at SIL HOUSE café and the Novice still carving the story in which she reads about her every thought, move, and ever-changing mood.
The moment brings with it a breeze as she looks over her shoulder at the Valley of Vineyards responding to the change when she sees LMLA-ink online. The Novice, aka Afamasaga, is somewhere near Antarctica in the window above the one with Lazoo, Metofeaz, and Le Mac in TriBeca, where they’ve come out for the fans who are in support of the *TrillionCool*.
The thought is like the calm before the storm as she senses that LMLA-ink are in a mood to entertain their adoring fans on the New Global Realm, and on the earth, which feels like it moves for her. As she hears music, she sees the Novice find on YouTube what will act like sugar for the truth he administers….
PART 3
The Style Council’s ’80s hit “Ever Changing Moods” spills out onto the street where actors, models, musicians, beatniks, poets, and mod squads on their vespers arrive to be near the crew who leads the modern movement with its cornerstones being: “Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect.”
Inside the buzzing café, Meigon is enthralled by the sight of Litigatti, Lazoo, and Le Mac, who sit at their table under the arched logo of SIL HOUSE Café.
The last time she was here to meet Lina, her mentor for her marketing degree, she thought the men seated at the window table were look-alikes or extras brought in by the owners of the café to market the place as in the End-to-End Saga at www.etfiction.com, another branch of LMLA-ink’s online empire.
Lina—whom Meigon now has confirmed to be none other than Polina Rada, the Crowned Princess of the New Global Realm, the Russian orphan whom the late John Page adopted as his redeeming act in his woeful life—enters the packed café in the TriBeca district.
Meigon inconspicuously looks at her phone and then at Litigatti, who resembles his profile pic on Facebook where they are friends.
His mannerisms and Lazoo’s and Le Mac’s are so similar to the Novice’s. Their intonations, regardless of local accents, are amazingly close. The slight variations in skin tones from Lazoo’s light shade to Le Mac’s mocha tone are the only thing that one can use to separate the four leads in LMLA-ink from each other.
“The All Blacks play today, so Johnny Boy will be offline sometime,” says Lazoo, a keen Rugby Union follower and fan of the New Zealand national team (All Blacks), about the Rugby World Cup down in New Zealand and the Novice up on screen.
“Pity Samoa didn’t make the quarters,” Le Mac talks about the other team LMLA-ink supports due to the blood in them.
“The All Blacks would’ve played four days ago on Sunday when this upload is released,” says Litigatti, reminding Lazoo of the time lapse.
Meigon feels like jumping in on the conversation about footy or rugby; during their dates on Skype, she teases John Reyer about his passion for the fifteen man game, their version of gridiron, only without the pads and the breaks.
“Don’t mind them.” Polina Rada waves a dismissive hand and offers a smirk at three quarters of LMLA-ink, who are being pointed at by people queuing up outside the window.
Polina’s comment brings a smile from Litigatti, a nod from Lazoo, and a wave from Jon Le Mac for Meigon.
Litigatti’s comment about the time lapse interests Meigon as she thinks about the chapters in which they appear seemingly live.
“Coffee?” Polina’s offer is a distraction from what Meigon was trying to work out.
“Yes, please,” Meigon says as she decides not to think about the anomaly; when she thinks about it, the whole reality she is in becomes questionable, as the song goes:
“Cool before the warmth
Calm before the storm. ”
CHAPTER 38
(October 13th 2011)
“Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?”
PART 1
“Number two, Beatrice; she’s my mom!”
Beatrice hears the answer Bella gave as to why she chose her as the winner for the new segment of the REPRO.
The wealthy woman looks around and sees her next-door neighbor in a position that makes Beatrice have to turn her head sideways to get the gist of where her neighbor’s twisted body is at in the tangle she is in with her gardener.
“Don’t mind us!” Beatrice sees her neighbor’s face under the man’s knee as the sponsor’s product gets delivered by two men dressed in loincloths who put the cartons of beer down and take a look at the two bodies on the floor; then they join in at the woman’s request. “The more the merrier; they call me Marry!”
Beatrice takes the escalating scene as a sign to leave. And so while Marry and the gardener untangle themselves for the new arrivals to join in, Beatrice quietly slips out the door.
Beatrice steps lightly down the hall and down the steps where she sees her inbox in the sky is still open and Harold has sent her a message as he does when he decides he needs time out; the subject is “Time Out Required—Neurosis Is Killing Us!”
Beatrice finds the predictability of Harold’s behavior to be irritating rather than hurtful any more. Beatrice is not the neurotic one, as Harold tries to make her believe. And when Beatrice adds in his other behavior that irritates her, such as when Harold joins in the “Others” story about what Johnny would do, submitting his disgusting thoughts of how Johnny Shawshank would behave in a given situation, Ms. DeLani is almost embarrassed that anyone would know that Harold and she are connected in any way, shape, or form.
Beatrice smiles sarcastically as she sees the funnier side of Harold’s hypocritical behavior when he cancelled their subscription to the REPRO while he is, at this very minute, playing the sleazy pedophilic game with other MICERs who hate Johnny Shawshank….
Beatrice DeLani seats herself down on her porch on the swing chair. The afternoon sun has painted the porch in a warm and inviting orange that she wants to bask in for awhile as she runs over Bella’s answer that rings true to her for some reason.
The endorsement of the statement about her, which made it ring true, was when Johnny became speechless. For those few seconds, it felt to Beatrice like only three people were in the SFD: Bella, Johnny, and her.
Beatrice no longer has any reservations about what she wants to do as she responds to the email from Harold; she tells him to take as long as he likes, and then she clicks on the link she’s named “Johnny and Bella” in the sky.
Sometimes when you don’t know any better, you don’t know any better. For Beatrice, it was a case of not having had the opportunity. It was the morning after her family vanished, the day after her twenty-first birthday when she went down to the docks to look for them; there she met up with Harold Clarenta who said he was the man of her dreams, and the rest is history.
Beatrice sits back as the REPRO spreads itself across the sky.
The behind-the-scenes segment, in which Johnny and Bella are out and about on the Neon Strip to mingle with their real fans, is a relaxed affair by the smiles on both Bella and Johnny’s faces.
Johnny answers questions from women of all ages who then take time to talk to Bella.
Beatrice notes how Bella watches each woman and their interaction with Johnny; she looks the women up and down before she grabs Johnny’s arm, moving them along the strip to another spot.
Beatrice can’t yet quite get her head around Johnny and his story. He is a talented producer who owns the mega-franchise of the REPRO, but as the story goes, he only owns one suit that his brother gifted him, and he lives in the dive bar—the only other thing he owns.
Rumors of countless failed romances that litter his past, and suggestions that he used to cull entities for a living, make Johnny a risk rather than a sure bet for any woman looking for something long-term.
But something about the cut-throat creative makes him seem vulnerable, even helpless to Beatrice….
“Did someone say, ‘Don Juan’?” Johnny’s mocking tone goes unnoticed as the fans scream for what Johnny might do next as he mentions one of history’s greatest lovers of women.
Beatrice watches as Johnny points to the sky in response to one of the fan’s requests. He asks the question to which Beatrice would most like to know Johnny’s answer:
“Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Beatrice hears the flamenco guitar in the sky as Bryan Adams asks Johnny the question for her.
Beatrice wraps her arms around herself as she rocks on the swing chair to the music that’s everywhere. The sound spores and specs of gold dust form exquisite flakes that look like what Beatrice imagines to be the seeds of love. The trillion spheres float in and about her head; they begin to create an aura, or so it feels to the infatuated woman, who is intoxicated by the tingling sensation on her skin when the golden flakes touch her body.
The Elysian experience is enhanced when she sees Johnny’s smile in the sky....
PART 2
The Tourist decides she will put off cleaning for a day and relax in the sun; maybe she will take another dip in the pool later.
The book she reads—Frost Maiden—was taking on a life of its own, and each time she picks it up, she dreads the thought that it will be one less time she will be able to read it. Just like Rozelle Zofen did, The Tourist looks up at the painting as she envisions herself walking in view of the great woman, who watches her from her portrait, seeing from the entrance all the various paths through the grand house.
The Tourist has her iPad by her side and her iPhone in the pocket of her robe as she looks over her shoulder again at Rozelle, who looks out over her domain, which she, The Tourist, now rules. Or so Sharon Smith from the Southern States allows herself to believe.
The txt message from Metofeaz, asking whether she is okay, is sweet. The one that follows from Rocol, reminding her whom Metofeaz was with, is childish and is, for The Tourist’s liking, taking just a bit too far the “play” aspect of what it is they—operatives—do.
The humming The Tourist has become used to is almost comforting to the woman as she sounds out the prospect of some delight the Novice is cooking up for what she will see happening online.
It’s as if the Novice or JRA knows exactly what she’s feeling—the need to know whether Metofeaz is capable of love. The Tourist needs to know the same way a method actress needs to find out the depth of her love interest in the script for the role she’s about to play….
On time and on cue for when she needs something as a distraction, the humming fades into guitar strings, maybe even the same ones Imogen heard in the dream, according to Rozelle’s handwritten notes in the back of the book in The Tourist’s hands.
The lyric resonates with the question that’s on Sharon’s mind….
“Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?”
Meigon has decided to allow her daughter Sophie to accompany her to the meeting with Polina Rada at SIL HOUSE Café.
When the teenager found out that her mom’s mentor was none other than the star of etfiction’s eBook WIPE, Sophie hadn’t let up until Meigon agreed to introduce Sophie to Ms. Rada. Polina enters the café as Metofeaz, at the front table, fools around, mimicking the Novice onscreen whom most of the people in the café come to see as he writes what they’re up to.
Sophie is fascinated by the feat performed by the novice writer down in New Zealand as a feed of him live on the screen is mounted on the wall in the middle of the café. Somehow, John Reyer manages to write what he’s not meant to know is happening to him. The trick is said to be pulled off using telepathy between the three men sitting at the front table under the café’s arced logo and the writer from whom they channel the information for the story about the story being told—the GUIOPERA.
Whether there is any truth to the claim that the story carries hidden messages for operatives in the world of espionage, where the four bad boys who make up LMLA-ink are from, remains to be seen. But just being a part of the biggest rock concert on planet earth is enough for Sophie.
Meigon sees the look on her daughter’s face as Polina Rada introduces herself. But then the front door opens and in walks Rocol Récene.
Rocol’s appearance almost makes Meigon want to cradle her daughter’s eyes and ears from the character Meigon reads about in Part 2 of the story. Meigon realizes her daughter is also now in the story as Rocol signals for service and pulls up to the front table to sit down next to Metofeaz, whose smile has left him.
Meigon sees the look on Lazoo’s face as he glances in her direction. Le Mac looks at the staff behind the counter, who spring into action. Rocol’s entrance has desensitized everyone, calling for ambience from some place to liven the environment.
Metofeaz scrolls back up the page onscreen to Part 2 of the chapter the Novice writes where he shares the moment with who it was meant for. Meanwhile, the same song The Tourist listens to begins to play inside the café.
Onscreen the Novice looks for ways to thank his audience on the “New Global Realm.” He dedicates the chapter to his friends on Facebook: Pearl Gonzalez, Stacie Cole, Michelle, Nuski N Flo, Sally Aviga, Aiono.Friends, Kalpana Kc, Chiron Rae, Katrinas PoetryCove, Tamala Vinson, William Maltese, Stacy Wilson. The ones who responded to a post for the LATEST UPLOAD with a link to YouTube for the chapter’s theme.
CHAPTER 39
(October 14th 2011)
“Friday”
PART 1
Bella practices her routine to Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”
Seated in the front is one of those sleazy types who post in the “Others’” story.
Johnny notices that Bella feels uncomfortable with the man he recognizes to be the merchant banker and boyfriend of Beatrice DeLani. The slimy looking character sitting in the front row of the open rehearsals gives Johnny some concern.
Johnny wants to deal with him, but it’s difficult to remove him in case someone suggests it’s out of jealousy since the local news headlines have been about Johnny the Home-Wrecker in relation to Beatrice DeLani and Harold Clarenta’s now rocky relationship, made public when Mr. Clarenta talked to the media about his estranged wife and how she now lives on their porch.
Johnny walks down the second row until he reaches where the man sits. Johnny then crouches down behind the man, and in a calm voice, he lets the man know he’s not welcome. “I thought it was only little boys, from your posts?” Johnny lets Clarebta know he knows about their game.
Johnny calmly continues, “Careful or I might give you a panoramic view of the place, disguised as a friendly hug….” Johnny decides not to muck around and tells Harold that he’s not adverse to taking extreme measures, i.e. breaking Harold’s neck if he feels that Harold is in any way upsetting the equilibrium, in this case Bella’s peace of mind.
“I could put you and your two bit sideshow out of business; you know that?” Harold’s response to one of only two approaches that Johnny has is a calm one, almost despondent and unaffected by Johnny and his tactics, which suggests Harold Clarenta is either a righteous man, or he’s a cold-blooded character.
Johnny whispers Harold’s username for his disgraceful posts into his ear to see his reaction, which is that Mr. Clarenta quietly stands up and leaves.
***
Beatrice watches the parade in the sky from her porch. The cavalcade of color and celebration begins at the northern end of the strip on a Friday afternoon. As it makes its way down the strip, it grows in numbers as workers leave their workplaces after a long week to follow Bella down the strip and into Cameo Court.
The procession of people under Johnny’s spell grows as the party makes its way down the main street of Neon City. They are eager to see Mr. Shawshank, the name under which Johnny performs his Houdini-like feats; the creative hangs onto the lamp post he’s perched halfway up as he scans the crowd for signs of fractious behavior from inauspicious characters with less than admirable intentions that might mar the Friday night festival in Neon City.
In the forefront of Johnny’s mind is Harold Clarenta’s threat to put him out of business. Admittedly, Johnny took a certain approach that could only yield the type of response he got from Harold, but in the end, Johnny knew the visit from Clarenta was aimed at intimidating Johnny because of Clarenta’s involvement in the “Others” story, which resembles hardcore pornography and is a take on Johnny’s REPRO, but victimizes women and children without a story to support it. To further irritate Johnny, Clarenta had shown up and decided to sit in the front row to stare Bella down.
Johnny notes the ones in the sea of heads that see him out of the corner of their eyes; they number no more than tenfold; some of them he’s dealt with before, and all of them are predictable, but they are nuisances all the same....
***
On her porch, Beatrice ignores the newsflash about how Johnny Shawshank threw Harold Clarenta out of Cameo Court for no good reason.
Over the last few stanzas of the REPRO, Harold’s true colors have started to show.
Harold’s behavior is ironic but fits his flaky character; he has an education, but without Beatrice’s wealth, he would not be sitting in a skyscraper or end up appearing in the REPRO he has banned Beatrice from watching.
Beatrice sees Johnny’s counter PR “Clarenta Threatens To Do Me In!” And something inside Beatrice naturally assigns her allegiance to Johnny and Bella, which is how Beatrice sees Johnny whenever she thinks of him, with the little girl by his side.
Beatrice decides that in the next installment of the REPRO, right after she gets some rest, she will visit the archives to research someone’s backstory.
In the sky, Bella enters into the stadium with the crowd behind her as Johnny lassoes the atmos, stirring the thickened air, ripened from fruits of his works, as the music continues to play….
“Friday, Friday….”
PART 2
The Tourist cleans to her iPod playing Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night.”
As the house begins to shine, so do the ideas The Tourist has for the place. She wonders whether she should tell anyone about her nap earlier, on Rozelle’s bed. She had awoken from the deep sleep revived and alive like never before.
But then Sharon decides that it’s her secret, and that she’ll never do it again—enter Rozelle’s well-maintained bedroom for any other reason but to clean it.…
One thing leads to another until Sharon finds herself on the four-poster bed where Rozelle Zofen once slept, dreamt, wept when life was sour, and probably made love to many fine men.
The Katy Perry tune has given The Tourist the idea of holding a party soon, once she has successfully completed the one where she would make friends with the locals as Rozelle’s granddaughter and also open the house up for tours.
The plan about opening the house for tours is also a seek-and-find mission in seeing how much control LMLA-ink will give her in the role they’ve approved for her to play.
The many dresses that line the walls of Rozelle’s walk-in wardrobe are reason enough for any woman to want to throw a party in the house with a ballroom made for such a grand occasion.
It would be like a fairy tale ball if Metofeaz Litigatti would attend as her partner….The Tourist carries on with her plans that quickly put her to sleep for the second time today in Rozelle’s bed that she has made….
PART 3
Meigon takes a glass of champagne from the waiter who passes by. It is Friday night at LMLA-ink’s office in Chinatown. The party is in full swing. Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid” gets a spin for the crew and their associates by Le Mac behind the rig on stage. Above the stage is the screen with the Novice on it in a montage made up of highlights from the GUIOPERA so far and the *TrillionCool* that includes cuts from the Novice’s interview or session with Adam Awad, Refugee Activist, on Friday in New Zealand (yesterday there).
Polina Rada has invited Meigon to the Friday night get together at LMLA-ink’s offices so they can catch up on where Meigon is at with her project; needless to say, it is a good chance for Meigon to get to know the Novice or John Reyer’s colleagues.
Metofeaz Litigatti seems relaxed from a distance, Meigon thinks. The Novice and she have discussed the characters on numerous occasions, but being in their company is quite a surreal experience for Meigon. Add to that, the Novice on screen is transcribing the action his characters play for him, and this thing—an online opera as it is sold—takes on a dreamlike quality pertaining to the quality of the dream the cut-throat creative weaves for fans of LMLA-ink and the GUIOPERA.
“‘The Past’ is that dirty enough?” Lazoo jokes about one of the many games playing in the background that hinges on the Novice’s GAME on Facebook. It makes Meigon laugh, as John Lazoo and Genisis Jones pull up next to Meigon at the bar.
One of the mindless games—which Lazoo, Metofeaz, and Le Mac log onto under fictitious names to find out who’s who—includes one in which the Novice is expected to talk dirty to one of a few women assigned the task of luring John Reyer into the act.
Meigon is cautious as she thinks of how the Novice doesn’t see the people online as enemies, rather as friends whom he relies on for feedback for his writing, which in the end could be all there is to his act, and not the dark and mysterious story of espionage, murder, and crime that as a writer he’s managed to bring to life.
Meigon is reminded of the Novice’s uncanny ability on display in the hypnagogic work that scripts the tale only he can tell in a context of another phenomenon he’s coined—The Perfect Scarce Loop—which some say is the reason why the Internet was created and has spread worldwide.
CHAPTER 40
(October 15th 2011)
“So What?”
PART 1
Beatrice tries again, but her password for the archive is rejected.
“Password changed at last logon sometime whenever. Who gives a damn? Not us. You must feel really hard done by, but go tell it on the mountain, which will take you several millennium to climb. Good luck. Make sure you take a clean pair of underwear….”
Beatrice looks at the error message, telling her again that her password to the archive has changed.
“Lost are we? Or, is that just the look you carry around with you as an excuse for a face?” asks the librarian, who hovers over Beatrice outside the booth where Beatrice thought she would find out about Harold’s past.
“My husband must’ve changed our password; can I get it reset?” Beatrice smiles nicely for the librarian.
“Tut, tut. Mustn’t be a marriage of any great significance, let alone one of like minds. I can guess my man’s password!” The librarian walks behind Beatrice, studying her like a headmistress would one of her pupils.
As a comeback, Beatrice feels like telling the librarian they’re not married. But then Beatrice sees the Librarian’s hand moving in her pocket; she stares at the librarian to make sure the woman is aware she sees what she is doing.
Caught in the act, the librarian no longer tries to hide that she was in the middle of reporting to the “Others” that she had Beatrice DeLani with her.
Holding her gadget in both hands up close to her face, she screams, “I HAVE BITCH FACE BEATRICE DELANI HEEEEERREEEE!” Her spastic nature as she loses it is amusing, but also distressing for Beatrice, who maintains a nervous smile as she reaches for the wall to guide her quietly out and away from the scary person, who continues screaming into the device at the top of her lungs.
Outside on the street, Beatrice waits for the appearance of those who follow around the REPRO’s stars—even the reluctant ones like Beatrice—to create atmosphere and commentary. They are normal everyday folk, young and old, generally good-natured, and just wanting to be a part of the fun. But since Johnny Shawshank has taken on his new image, a faction within the audience—whom Johnny has named the “Others”—has started to make life difficult for Johnny.
“I’m sorry, but you’re a star now.” Beatrice hears the voice behind her, and somehow, it doesn’t seem to surprise her that Johnny himself has appeared. Or was she already expecting it to happen? Only her mission as of last night—which was to find out about Harold Clarenta, and which had hit a wall when she couldn’t access the archives—took the shine out of the moment. It would have been quite a moment for the part of the audience that waited for that sort of thing.
However, she heard genuine remorse in his voice, reserved for times like this when someone got caught up in the crossfire, as she knew from what she’d seen of Johnny in other REPROs.
“I did it to save you from embarrassment. The system had somehow credited your entire shopping that morning. Next thing, you would’ve been outta here on the next cargo ship…” Johnny’s explanation floors Beatrice, but she manages to take it in stride “Such are the perks of a lawless society; I could be lying on a beach somewhere by now….”
Johnny takes Beatrice’s response as a compliment for the rules he puts in place during a REPRO. The simple laws of the jungle, which the “Others” condemn as being a Common Crim’s Code of Ethics enforced to the nth degree by Johnny during a REPRO, are the only source of some control in the SenFenide Dimension.
***
Bella can’t believe her eyes and what she hears. She rubs her eyes as she calls out to Milly, the lady behind the milk bar, “Rewind please!”
The backtracking motion of Johnny, as Milly rewinds the REPRO where Johnny talks to Beatrice DeLani outside the library, is too good be true.
“Careful now; don’t go screwing with the mix.” Milly, who has known Bella since year zero, reminds Bella of her powers.
PART 2
The Tourist wanders through the village markets on a Sunday morning. The aroma of fresh bread and coffee is just the remedy to the lingering uncertainty that clouds an otherwise perfect start to the day.
Her iPad in her hip bag vibrates as other communication devices around her go off, signalling the Novice’s latest offering to the universe.
Tourists like her, from all around the world, all stop, as the locals do too, so they can check their devices for what is warming up to be the Novice’s biggest tale yet, already surpassing record-breaking downloads he set last year, making him the creator of the highest number of record downloads in history.
One vendor plugs the device into the speakers to spread the “feel-good” nature the Novice brings to them. People all over the planet use the music of Miles Davis, revamped by English TRUFUNK Soldier and Jazz Artist Mr. Ronny Jordan.
The guitar riff, which first states the phrase “So What?” makes the people in the small village in the French countryside stop in their tracks. And then the chord that slides to lament Mr. Davis’s statement pushes the happy people along in another surreal moment orchestrated by the writer who calls himself a novice.
The collaborating locals and the vibe—that swings one’s mood upward, skyward, and into the clouds where your head floats amongst the angels, who bless the whim on which the cut-throat creative glides on a jet stream he designs with the syntax from his singing soul—makes Sharon think “Whimsical.”
She notices one of the cooks from the restaurant passing around fresh bread from a basket. He’s already made a pass at her at the restaurant, not once but twice, and maybe he’s still in the mood.
PART 3
Meigon takes a seat in the last booth of LMLA-ink’s offices. Next to her is Polina Rada, whom John Page (now deceased) adopted as a way of bringing her, who is from the same egg donor as John Page, back to the west.
Also from the same egg donor obviously is John Page’s younger brother by seconds, John Lazoo, who sits across the table from Meigon.
Polina’s birth mother, Arley Lévon, a model who carried Polina and her twin sister, Missy, sits in the next booth up. Next to Arley Lévon is Jon Le Mac, also from the same egg donor as Lazoo, Polina, and Page.
Meigon listens in on their conversations as onscreen the sound of the Novice tapping on the keys of the Lenovo, just like the one Lazoo has in front of him, adds to the ambience of the quieted down place with only LMLA-ink left to wind down to Ronny Jordan’s sound.
From what Meigon can gather, there is still some conjecture as to what has happened within the tight ranks of the crew, although famous names, like director Peter Jackson, know their story. Steven Spielberg ranks the Novice as untouchable in another game in the background where writers try and come up with the next turn in the story. “You can never tell what he’ll do next, but guaranteed, it will be the right choice, and the only one….” the director of E.T. once said.
Meigon smiles as the magic by the Novice continues onscreen; he plays up, revealing what was said about him by someone online whom he has never seen or been told of—not because he’s cocky, but because he plays delusional as one of his possible exits. He shared with her what he has planned for the show that makes other shows feel contrived and painfully boring in comparison to LMLA-ink’s.
The upheavals for LMLA-ink’s members, ever since John Reyer Afamasaga released his first eBook John Lazoo back in late ’06, have been catastrophic to say the least.
First came the revelation of Lazoo being manipulated by Tone Horroh, and the cover up for Horroh’s out-of-control habit “The Tongue Murders”—the plot for the first eBook in which Tone kills seven more people. This time his spree takes place in New York, taking the morbid nature of his past time to another level when he swaps his victim’s tongues.
Once again, friends in high places—including Hannibal Ammer, then a former CIA agent; Jack Shack, the assistant DA; Jack’s close friend, defense lawyer Gene Reyer (no relation to the Novice),and bent cop Tait, who was now working for Harry Clarenta or Hariss Clariss, LMLA-ink’s then-financier—all pulled their weight to keep under wraps Horroh’s habit that he marketed to them as “Morbid Mayhem.”
In his next eBook, WIPE, back in ’07, John Reyer spills details of the power struggle between Hannibal Ammer, Tone Horroh’s handler, and John Page (who was not answerable to Ammer) who was assigned the task to adopt Polina Rada; Polina was held in a KGB facility for gifted children, which fronted as an orphanage designed to get the young agents into homes in the U.S.
The GUIOPERA, which began in ’08, reached its primary goal for the author, who started out writing the online serial as himself and then introduced one of his covers from the ’80s—The Guy—among a few others, when he forced Tone Horroh openly to admit who he was, rather than being JRA in last year’s GUIOPERA.
The results are wounds still tender as each member tries to come to terms with what they all knew but thought would never become an issue. No one believed events would end in the murder of Ammer, which has brought heat upon the group that knows no other way of life but the one fed to them as operatives.
Lazoo, who grew up behind bars, is an introvert they call the Maestro or the Illiterate Poet for how he wrote and played lead in the cover-up of Tone Horroh’s New York killings. He is now trying to resolve his issues that arose from the fall of Horroh in a fact-finding mission of his own.
Metofeaz Litigatti—who was raised by Jon Pierre Solomon, the twentieth century’s Poet Soldier—is the closest thing to an ally that the Novice, this century’s Poet Soldier, has right now. The current climate is one in which everyone scampers for his own safety in his own story with an alibi that will stick. Litigatti, who worked with the Novice under the cover of “Whimsical,” Metofeaz’s name as a sniper in the special forces, knows the Novice well as The Guy, who stitched up the deal for Polina’s adoption years before Page signed the papers, visiting Polina in Russia on her birthday and at Christmas from the time Polina was a baby.
Litigatti is also aware of the Novice’s other cover “The Kid From Nowhere,” which is how the Network got close to Harry Clarenta, the arms trader, in the first place back in the ’80s.
Jon Le Mac, probably the most cordial of all four members of LMLA-ink, is based in Rio, where he runs their hotel business. Le Mac grew up with Tone Horroh on the run up the West Coast and then across the Bible Belt and along the East Coast till the two boys, yet to reach their teens, ended back up in L.A. where Horroh, already killing, took refuge in the employment of an L.A. Gangster for whom Tone worked while Le Mac attended film school—until Hannibal Ammer came looking for someone with no name and a heap of talent for taking care of business.
And then there’s Polina Rada, who still remembers The Guy visiting her when she was an orphan.
“He hasn’t changed; new smile lines from the pain, but everything else is the same,” Meigon hears Polina say as Ms. Rada raises her cup of herbal tea toward the screen above the stage.
“As you may have gathered, we’re a close bunch, but we’re at odds with each other right now,” says Polina, who is a lawyer now with a Harvard education. Horroh, Le Mac, and Lazoo had made sure she completed law school, thereby showing another side to what some people in the Network see as a crime family. All members of Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac, and Afamasaga (LMLA-ink), apart from Genisis Jones, Arley Lévon, and Santina San Fé, who were sent in to infiltrate the family, are descendants of nineteenth century Pacifican Hit Man “AFAMASAGA,” Tone Horroh included.
“So why me?” Meigon asks, wanting to know why she’s been chosen for the project she first thought was help from Polina, posing as a Marketing graduate from Charley Stevonsen, the fashion house that belongs to Rocol. Rocol shows her face now, bringing murmurs as she walks down the bar.
“We wanna know where he’s at!” Litigatti can barely speak from the amount of liquor he’s consumed. Lazoo, who is not far behind him in drinking, adds, “Wanna see if he’s going to do the same to us as he did to Horroh.”
“So What?” Le Mac says on stage now behind the turntables as he spins the track again, showing his support for the new Poet Soldier on the screen above the stage in the LATEST UPLOAD to hit New York, Tokyo, Christchurch in New Zealand, Istanbul, Nepal at the foot of the world’s summit, and everywhere else on the planet….
CHAPTER 41
(October 16th 2011)
“Close to You”
PART 1
Beatrice walks alongside Johnny; their stride is in time, Bella notices. Johnny’s smile is real—something he seldom permits to happen, safe-guarding his thoughts and feelings. The look on Ms. DeLani’s face matches what Johnny has to say to her.
Johnny has requested that the Tranquil Zone blanket the scene at hand, meaning that the scene will not be released in the REPRO; Johnny rarely applies this request during the REPRO for the sake of transparency.
Bella is beside herself, but a little annoyed that she cannot hear the two people’s conversation; she thinks they are meant for each other, even if she has selfish reasons for such a belief.
Bella ducks behind a lamppost when Johnny and Beatrice stop to cross the road.
Johnny sees his shadow—Bella in the distance—and thinks of how it might look in the REPRO: Beatrice and him. Next to him in the scene is Beatrice, a great-looking woman, the kind to whom you say, “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”
Bella knows her account balance and the number of times already in this REPRO that she’s maxed out her source of energy. Crediting Beatrice’s shopping spree just about rendered her a zombie, and it sent Beatrice packing. It was only Johnny’s quick thinking that turned the mindless act from a random careless one into an engrossing spectacle for the audience, which in hindsight was how Beatrice made her entry into the REPRO.
“Yeah sure; you’ll use my logon to the archives….” Johnny hears himself say to Beatrice; it is a dangerous offer he knows the woman cannot refuse, and for a moment, the results, if Beatrice tampers with his past, excite the former player. Then thoughts of how he could manipulate the session to his advantage start to fill his head, but he quickly extinguishes them as he hears Beatrice ask whether he’s sure it would be okay for her to search the archives using his profile.
Bella closes her eyes to make a wish, the result of which could force Johnny to react to whatever Bella conjures, instantly ruining the closed scene for Johnny and Beatrice.
Johnny hears the beginning to the song he didn’t ask for. It brings a nervous reaction, one that Beatrice notices as Johnny stretches his neck left and then right; he is trying to relax himself as he senses the lifting of the Tranquil Zone, as he likes to think of the cone with which from time to time he surrounds himself.
“I love this song,” Beatrice tells him. Beatrice DeLani and Johnny Shawshank’s interaction, in which Johnny looks coy, is now on every wall Bella sees inside the shops along the strip, and up there in the sky, as she calls for back-up from her fans, who heed the call by starting to appear from everywhere.
“Why do birds —suddenly appear?”
PART 2
Metofeaz reads the txt from The Tourist about the party she’s planning. There’s no mention of an invite, just an outline of her reason for the party, and a request for his approval for the party to go ahead.
Rocol reads the message and approves for the party to go ahead, but not before her lengthy lecture about where the money comes from for such elaborate plans; Metofeaz begins to roll his eyes at the lecture until Rocol gives him a certain look.
Litigatti reaches for the headphones and clicks on the link in the latest chapter as a way for him to escape.
PART 3
Meigon listens to her daughter as she reads the chapter for the LATEST UPLOAD.
Meigon cannot believe the offer from Polina Rada for her and her daughter to spend a few weeks in France in the Valley of Vineyards.
Meigon clicks on the link to the song the Novice uses as a device in the story. She hasn’t heard from the Novice in a while, something he warned her would happen during the GUIOPERA. She feels like emailing him, but she stops as she reminds herself that theirs is a relationship of convenience, something they both agreed to at the very beginning.
CHAPTER 42
(October 17th 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice watches him as Johnny logs on to the archives for her so she can search the memory banks of the SFD.
Johnny doesn’t think of what he’s doing in case it will stop him from doing it.
At stake is everything he has worked for, including the REPRO, the franchise he painstakingly built when he felt like an illiterate in the company of other writers and creative types.
Johnny forcedly overlooks thoughts of how Beatrice might change someone’s destiny, his own in particular, if she is not careful, something he chooses not to stress with the woman who makes him feel comfortable, but also on edge from how she made him feel moments before out on the street.
Admittedly, Bella’s intervention with the song she conjured had a lot to do with it, and now Beatrice has that look in her eye that Johnny knows but is too scared to admit has anything to do with him.
The problems that can arise from another entity logging onto the moveable past by using another entity’s profile, especially if either of the entities is currently hosted by a temporary shell, can be life-changing or life-ending.
“Relax.” Beatrice feels like bursting out in laughter as she hears in person one of the cut-throat creative’s catch phrases.
“Maybe I should, ah?” Johnny feels like saying as he looks at Beatrice sitting next to him. Her smile is irresistible, and her eyes are so spellbinding that he has to look away to stop himself from getting lost in them….
PART 2
The Tourist opens the door to the chateau’s basement. Stories of what happened down there attack her conscious mind as she steps carefully down. Her lantern responds by flickering almost to a darkened end because of the back-draft of air created when the door slams behind her.
Torture chambers are renowned on The Tourist’s side of the Network. Behind each door, a morbid tale once took place, or a song was sung when interrogators put the clamps on someone who posed a threat to their side of the Network.
The txt message that arrives gives Sharon a fright, but when she sees that it’s from Metofeaz, it clears the thoughts of death and mayhem from her mind….
PART 3
Sophie reads the LATEST UPLOAD for her and her mom as they wait to board the plane that will take them to France.
Meigon becomes anxious that another day has passed and she has not received an email or even a post on her Facebook wall from the Novice.
Meigon, who has been on her own for some time, quickly reminds herself why it is that she chooses to remain an independent woman as she decides not to worry about things….
CHAPTER 43
(October 18th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny forgets the REPRO is broadcasting live as his normally aloof demeanor is replaced by a slightly excited, even animated mien when Johnny gives Beatrice pointers to help her find her way through the archive. Ms. DeLani’s search will be according to what the shell or body Johnny is in can access, from the perspective of the entity that he holds at this time and from his Ultra-Ego or experience. What someone feels in the SFD is the culmination of the entity’s carry-over information, and the shell’s knowledge, reinforced by recurring instances of the same scenario or scene.
Bella finds the scene, which builds gradually, taking on a life of its own each time Beatrice smiles or Johnny brushes an elbow against Ms. Delani’s arm, to be both cute and fascinating, since she’s never seen the cut-throat-creative in this boyish mood.
Bella stands in the middle of the street, surrounded by adults and children her age and older. They obey her wishes —a hand gesture through the air— to hush the fans, who along with Bella, ride every word and movement made by the two people inside the small and crammed office which the audience watch in the sky….
PART 2
The Tourist hurries through the markets as the cook from the restaurant follows her. Her hints that she is not in the mood for company today seem to fall on deaf ears. When he produces a bunch of flowers, Sharon looks at them, but she decides not to encourage the young guy’s behavior.
“Give it to someone who’ll think it nice, and not harassment!” says The Tourist, deciding to speak her mind, which the guy thinks is a joke as he tries hard in his limited English to counter Sharon’s brush offs….
Finally, she makes it to the other end of the markets where she parked her bicycle, having managed not to say another word to the guy she had coffee with a few days ago, something for which The Tourist now feels like slapping herself.
Once on her bike, she rides away from the noise of the village, which by big city standards, is the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. But she has already acclimatized to her new country surroundings, and soon the loneliest of souls finds herself secluded again, and in the solitude of her own thoughts, away from the interference of others and their needs.
As a rental car passes her, out of the passenger window a girl a few years younger than her looks like she wants to wave but is afraid that The Tourist might ignore her, so Sharon waves to the girl as the car passes by. Sharon soon loses sight of it as she begins to climb the incline that’ll take her down into the valley.
The Tourist looks down at her basket of goods from the markets as she stands up to pedal harder. The fresh produce’s colors begin to blur as she feels redness on her face—the heat on her cheeks.
A prelude of humming arrives as she imagines the Novice onscreen, typing the climb to the hilltop she’s determined to do on her single-gear bicycle rather than getting off to walk this time.
The sound that pervades the hillside she climbs simultaneously vexes and pleases her fighting spirit. Her mind is also perplexed by Metofeaz’s silence—he has not returned her txts since the one about the party, for which she received the go ahead, along with a list of names that LMLA-ink would like information on—footage of them in their “Natural States” was the requirement from Lazoo and Le Mac.
The tune lining the coils of her mind, as her heart pumps quicker than the beat before, is like the voices of fallen angels, wondering out loud in winds across no man’s land, why they were condemned. As her heart races beyond her pumping legs, the music becomes syncopated, unlike her irregular breathing as she reaches the summit. She sees the Valley of Vineyards, the prize of prizes. Each time Sharon Smith finds herself here, she begins her descent down into the Valley with the wind in her hair, and the receptors of her skin cells react with the thin layer of perspiration, creating a coolness over her body that makes a normal breeze feel stifling….
PART 3
Meigon is in awe of the arresting stretch of valley with Rozelle’s chateau in the middle of it. She admires the location from the tale Illicit Blade of Grass.
Next to Meigon, in the window of the villa that belongs to Rozelle’s neighbor, is her daughter Sophie.
Ambient music begins. Neither mother nor daughter can remember having put the music on. The music is haunting and immediately rouses enduring suspicions in Sophie that the story of Jon Pierre Solomon and Rozelle Zofen may be more fact than fable. Meigon glances around the room; she spots the stereo system and then the remote on the table not far from their handbags, which makes it possible for them to have accidentally started the music.
Meigon smiles—for a second, she thought all the talk about the telepathic relay by LMLA-ink had come to life.
On the stereo, she sees the title of the track is “6 Days.” When she Googles it, she discovers it’s a song by French Ambient artist Alexandre Liverneaux AKA: ALEXEL, who is friends with the Novice on Facebook….
CHAPTER 44
(October 19th 2011)
PART 1
Bella tip-toes into the stadium. She has a finger to her lips that reminds those who follow her that quiet is the quintessential state required to be a part of the scene they must sneak through….
Backstage Johnny sees the book he’s promised Bella he’ll read as he sits back in his chair.
Sitting to his left is Beatrice DeLani; he cannot believe how easy it is to be around her; the discerning man is almost concerned by his sense of ease with her because he vowed sometime ago that he would never go near that crazy thing called love again.
“Love for the Loveless, ah?” Beatrice says as she scans footage, looking for any sign of Harold.
“Is that a question, or a request?” Johnny’s natural way, his irresistible charm—its warmth accentuated by a smile that makes millions weak—makes the audience outside in the stadium want to gasp for air.
Bella bites her finger as she waits for Johnny, who is not known for having a romantic side, to instigate the next moment that will have Bella and her followers smiling from ear to ear. Some of them, not that Bella can see, have tears in their eyes as they watch Bella’s reaction to what they all know Bella wants more than anything in the universe.
Bella turns her head as she hears something in the distance. As the noise builds, she strains to hear what it is. Her only concern is that it will disrupt the scene on screen and in the sky that even Johnny could not have directed.
PART 2
Sharon arranges plants on the balcony as she waits for a reply to her question about whom the people are who have shown up at the neighboring villa.
She realizes they are the people in the rental car when she recognizes the girl.
Meigon, in part three of the story, is said to have some sort of thing with the Novice, according to the story in its published form.
News, however, from The Tourist’s side of the Network has it that she plays one of the small spin-off games by the hangers on and from LMLA-ink’s point of view is nothing but a nuisance for the Novice.
Code in the GUOPERA, which has been detected by several outfits, says that Meigon is a decoy but pivotal to the outcome.
Either way, Sharon feels for the woman who is caught up in the mix that Meigon, a single parent whoever she is, fell into when she signed on to get details from the Novice about the storyline for the “Others.”
PART 3
Meigon sets out the table in the courtyard on the side of the villa where she and Sophie will eat their dinner before they settle down for a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow they will explore the valley and the quaint town they drove through this afternoon.
“Mom, look; she’s waving at us again.” Sophie places her hands in her lap to contain her excitement over being acknowledged by the character playing The Tourist. Sophie makes believe for a moment that she and her mom were being invited into John Reyer’s major league GAME—the role-playing blockbuster, controlled by the designer using his last cover, as the “Novice” which insiders say the evergreen operative is using to come clean about his past.
The process has taken six long years, beginning in 2006. His debrief for his time with the Network, which began when John Reyer was just fourteen years of age, includes some of history’s most deft and life-changing missions, some of which he’s had to perform over the last few years live in front of an audience that follows him everywhere he goes. Planning and instigating covert operations have confirmed that JRA is already the most accomplished operative this century, according to agencies.
“Maybe she’s just lonely.” Meigon ignores The Tourist as she places the bowl of salad, made from fresh food in the fully stocked fridge, down on the table. Then the mom turns and waves at the woman standing on the chateau’s balcony.
Meigon looks at her daughter, one of the many young fans who were first captivated by Polina Rada’s story and now Bella’s story; she ponders whether she is a responsible parent for bringing her daughter here.
Rumors circulating, about four young operatives who came together unbeknown to the respective agencies that brought them in as young players during the Cold War, match John Reyer’s crew LMLA-ink.
Meigon stops herself from overthinking the situation any further as she turns again and waves to the woman on the balcony of Rozelle Zofen’s chateau, as Sophie screams, “LATEST UPLOAD!”
Her name in the story is enough for Meigon as she checks and finds there is still no email from the person who told her she was his muse….
CHAPTER 45
(October 20th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny hears music, which he did not ask for. He is certain that Bella would not have requested the music under the delicate situation he is in—a non-core character, Beatrice DeLani, has, according to the creator, initiated proceedings dragging the storyline in the direction of her choice. Johnny is sure that Bella is not behind the familiar tune he’s heard somewhere before, but it’s too faint right now to tell.
Johnny smiles as Beatrice waits for him to look at the error message in the archive, warning the user that the program has detected an intrusion in the form of someone posing as the owner of the logon.
Johnny looks at the warning; the music creeping up on them is the song he chose as the REPRO’s theme. Not one to admit that he’s not in control of what’s happening, Johnny casually asks Beatrice, “What would you like to do to get to know me a little better?”
Beatrice plays down her bemusement with Johnny’s past that she’s experiencing in her search; on one hand, it is filled with women and his role within the darker side of the SystemSpectacular, the framework on which all three dimensions run, and on the other hand, the kind deeds and millions of dollars donated anonymously to a wide range of worthy causes.
Outside in the stadium, where a million lights flicker in the dark and surround Bella, who stands in the middle onstage, the fans wait for Beatrice to reply to Johnny’s question—an opening for the pair to come together.
Beatrice looks at the arm that comes around and rests itself on the back of her chair, and then the hand that reaches out and rests on her hand on the table.
“Kiss me,” Beatrice tells Johnny to make the act more like a necessity rather than an accident they will regret at a later time.
“To help you with your search?” Johnny responds in kind.
“Yes, for my search.” Beatrice finishes her line, having already closed her eyes to receive the help she requires in her search.
PART 2
Metofeaz looks distant as he reads over the Novice’s plans for next year when he comes to New York to write the GUIOPERA. They include a new marketing product that costs less than the six figure price tag that is the minimum entry level for a brand or name to appear in the GUIOPERA.
Litigatti feels like escaping the organized and machine-like environment that Lazoo and Le Mac have adapted to already, which is one of his old friend’s trademarks. JRA’s ability to bring people together from vast backgrounds with opposing views for the sake of doing what John wants done is one of the reasons why John Reyer was successful as an operator with links to organized crime when he came in from the dark as a teenager to sort out problems created by those who were years his senior.
The powers that be have always been grateful for the reigning Poet Soldier’s ethics and integrity, which have carried him and his side of the Network through times where the truth became more twisted than the lies that eventually took their toll from the corruption that led to a weakened Network, a result witnessed by the world in 2001 on 9/11.
Unsubstantiated claims were made of how the young hitman would arrive in town, having been called upon to clean up a mess before it escalated into a full blown war between crime families, and then over a short period of time, he would, on his own, clean up the mess and then leave town without so much as a whisper lingering behind of what happened.
Other claims of how he’s negotiated deals that affect everyday life to this day, by a single phone call or gift basket bearing a note with two lines, are also out there. Not to mention the ones about the number of women he’s bedded; that one he’ll deny ardently, as he will the one about being the most successful thief/confidence man the world has even known.
Metofeaz, who was instrumental in bringing Horroh down, almost feels like he regrets what he did for his friend, the Novice. Litigatti always knew that Lazoo and the real John Reyer would click—both are ruthless, and both sticklers for the truth, the reason why no one has any dirt on JRA and Lazoo in terms of corruption or betraying the Network.
In a recent operation set up by the Novice, one of several he’s been involved in this year after his reinstatement, he has already delivered significant results that make some in the Network look over their shoulders because of the Novice’s sheer brilliance and the ease with which he does what he does.
Litigatti considers those whom the Novice is already making nervous and those who believe that LMLA-ink, under Horroh, was handled by an incarnation of the Poet Soldier’s foe Hannibal Ammer, from the other side of the Network, but linked to the corruption. It all makes Metofeaz nervous.
When an email from The Tourist arrives in LMLA-ink’s inbox, Metofeaz considers opening it, but then he decides to leave it for someone else to respond to, having decided once he frees himself from Rocol’s clutches that he will take a leave of absence from the game of love like the Novice did to find himself.
PART 3
Meigon reads the chapter she is in as she sees the light from her daughter’s room down the hallway go out.
“Good night!” the mother calls out.
“Night, Mom,” comes her daughter’s reply, relaxing Meigon in her new surroundings made eerie by the back story she reads in Chapter 45 of the GUIOPERA.
The Novice’s cavalier outlook on life—which Meigon now can attribute to his way of confusing matters for those with whom he comes in contact, so they cannot figure him out—plays on the woman’s mind as she again finds an inbox filled with emails from other men, but nothing from him.
Meigon clicks on one of the emails from someone whom she was once keen on, but since meeting the Novice, the person from near her hometown seems to Meigon to be like most men she meets—only interested in one thing or the other —owning her, or molding her—depending on what they’re after, which mostly means a teenage version of who she is.
“Love you, Mom,” Meigon hears Sophie call out, as she deletes the email before she even reads it.
“Love you too, honey,” Meigon calls out, and then she logs off before she ends up sending the Novice another email like she did two days ago, to which he has yet to respond.
CHAPTER 46
(October 21st 2011)
PART 1
Johnny stops walking. Beatrice, who is in mid-sentence, keeps on talking while she continues walking, having caught on to how each move she makes is for a reason, and every word she speaks has some meaning as long as it means something to her, something Johnny has taught her already—“Believe and they shall receive!”—is how Johnny has put it: the art of being attractive. “If you don’t buy it—whatever the hell it is that you’re selling—how will they want to buy?”
Beatrice accepts that this must be the end of what felt like a meeting of minds to her; for the time being anyway, Ms. DeLani is positive. The search through the archives showed Harold is someone prim and proper, from Johnny’s perspective, which must mean her boyfriend can’t be all that bad after all.
Johnny stops walking because he can see Beatrice’s home; needless to say, her boyfriend, Harold Clarenta, is probably watching him from an askew angle as far as Clarenta’s Ultra-Ego is concerned. Beatrice’s search on Harold, from Johnny’s perspective, yielded very little due to Johnny keeping his thoughts during the search to himself, something he did mainly for Beatrice’s sake.
Johnny’s search on Clarenta a few moons ago had brought up plenty on Ms. DeLani’s beau, which if Ms. DeLani knew about, would either put her in danger or make her an accessory to Harold’s evil crimes.
Johnny watches the first person in a while who has made him feel “liked,” as she keeps walking. He can still taste her from the kiss; he was surprised that he could stop himself from working it into something more because he wanted to know more about Beatrice—what she likes and doesn’t like—before going any further with her.
Johnny Shawshank, a one-man wrecking machine in the early days of the Dream Dimension right after the Big Sleep, still holds onto what made him a force to be reckoned with, back when he started entertaining people and back when his fee for culling entities became too high for anyone to afford his services any longer—Please no one!
Now Johnny considers what he’s done for a second time in the space of the same act in the REPRO; covering up someone else’s crimes concerns him from an ethical point of view. Admittedly, one of those crimes was caused by Bella.
The crowd would’ve gone wild for the sacrifice of Beatrice DeLani to the dimension for theft, and then imagine the reception from the citizens when a day later her evil partner in crime was also thrown into the REPRO in a daybreak ceremony down at the docks.
“You didn’t have to make Harold look so good.” Bella’s voice from behind Johnny saves him from torturing himself any further.
“No one can make Harold look good; I was thinking of….” Johnny pauses as he feels awkward about saying Beatrice’s name in front of the child he might as well call his, especially when he went and kissed Ms. DeLani in front of Bella and the entire dimension.
“Wave!” Bella says to Johnny as she smiles for Beatrice, who turns the corner and glances their way with only a hint of a smile to say she sees them.
“Well, would you do it again?” Bella asks.
“Let someone else use my login?” Johnny answers Bella’s question with one of his own, and then he sees the cross look from Bella, which he swiftly wipes away by saying, “Maybe.” Johnny Shawshank ponders the question further as he sees Beatrice disappear behind houses as the scene in the sky fades from view.
PART 2
Metofeaz steps down from the steps of the Greyhound bus. The country air is fresh. The cabin in the woods in upstate New York is a two-hour drive from here, meaning it will take him most of the day to hike there.
He checks his Nokia and sees that the Novice has decided to pay tribute to his beloved All Blacks—his favorite sports team—in a chapter he will post on the morning of the final of the 2001 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, one of the reasons why JRA returned to Aotearoa, or the Land of the Long White Cloud, for leg #1 of the *TrillionCool.*
John Reyer also seals a deal reflecting his loyalty when he steals the backing of iconic brand Coca-Cola, which he carries for free now, along with Microsoft and Facebook, who have earned their place in the select brands LMLA-ink can count on.
Litigatti transmits a confirmation via the F3quenZor that the Novice relies upon for facts in the GUIOPERA. Metofeaz feels like a rogue for how he and the crew don’t send details about what else is going on and only the information to do with the work. It was the Novice’s decision not to know about details of what those around him were up to, choosing only to receive information on key points for the plot without any names. The only names John is interested in right now are those of brands or famous names that show interest in the work, adding pizzazz to what is otherwise an instructional manual or playbook for the thousands of operatives in the field waiting for their next moves. The decision by LMLA-ink is to protect the innocent in the cloaking device the Novice scripts.
When Litigatti checks out Facebook, he sees a post by The Tourist. Metofeaz remembers another post a few months ago by The Tourist using another profile when the Novice added her during the build up to GO4, this year’s GUIOPERA, which makes Metofeaz realize Sharon Smith is no amateur.
***
The Tourist frowns at the news that Metofeaz has decided to leave town for the woods in upstate New York.
In the story, the Poet Soldier came to Rozelle’s party.
The news is not what Rozelle’s granddaughter, the skin The Tourist now believes she is in, wanted to hear.
“It’s okay, Rozelle,” The Tourist says out loud. Her arrant err sounds pleasing to the woman who says it one more time for good measure, this time to her reflection in the mirror beneath the portrait of the Poet Soldier’s inamorata.
“Pleased to meet you; my name is Imogen!”
“Imogen is my name; I’m honored to make your acquaintance….”
The name belonged to no one. It was a name her neighbor, Rozelle Zofen, called her soul or spirit, also known as the entity within the physical shell that makes one human. Rozelle is a vivacious and alluring female to most men—or a frolicsome pea-brain to a few—but captivating nonetheless. She was born in Vienna, never knowing her father, but accompanying her mother, a singer, onstage from a young age.
And when Rozelle turned up in the Valley of Vineyards, shoeless, the kind woman in the villa invited Rozelle to stay in her chateau, which had been uninhabited for nearly a century.
Onboard the train, which appears through the smoke that engulfs the entrance to the tunnel, is Jon Pierre Solomon, or the Poet Soldier, who is said to be on his way to the party at Rozelle’s place tomorrow.
“Imogen!” Rozelle wrote the name inside her book—Frost Maiden by Michelle M. Pillow—beneath the dedication to “JRA,” another one of the Poet Soldier’s assumed pseudonyms. The name feels right for the woman, who has made a name for herself in Rozelle’s house as a hostess for many a grand party....
CHAPTER 47
(October 23rd 2011)
“It’s On”
PART 1
Beatrice reaches her house. She sees her next door neighbor, Mary, standing in her doorway and looking deflated.
“Hi, Mary,” Beatrice says without looking at her neighbor. Beatrice is not comfortable about having put someone out. In Mary’s case, she probably bet on Beatrice not coming through the scene, or turning the story in a direction Johnny didn’t want the story to go, meaning that Johnny, or Bella for that matter, would’ve written Ms. DeLani out sooner or later, casting her aside like they do when someone does not pursue their dream.
As Beatrice opens the gate and makes her way up to the porch, she imagines the look on Mary’s face. She hopes Mary at least got a manicure or some groceries for her trouble, or a month of her mortgage paid—the way the “Others” get paid—for the trouble she went through when Mary dragged her into her home a few winks ago. Needless to say, Johnny has already made it known to Beatrice that he doesn’t mind that the followers of the “Others” get something for their troubles. What the “Others” get still relies on Johnny’s act, for which Johnny, a benevolent guy, even creates special scenarios. Not that the ungrateful retarded would know it or admit to it, even if they were aware of which scenes Johnny wanted them to do.
***
“Relax,” Johnny tells Bella as the two of them sit down on the sofa. Johnny points to the second horizon for Bella to look at as he searches for a dream for them to watch….
In the Sky appears a rugby field in another dimension, a place somewhere peaceful and secluded at the bottom of the world, where two islands resemble one white cloud that floats in a blue sea. There’s cheering rising above the cloud. The noise is unbridled passion for and against fifteen men.
The dimension is the MMD, the realm Johnny once roamed in shells that know the dream. One of them, if not all four shells, dream the dream that weighs on the shoulders of fifteen men in black and their back-up, who as a team, will throw down the final Haka a Maori Challenge in the form of a welcome before the whistle blows the start to the final eighty minutes of the dream that began four years ago for the All Blacks and their followers….
Johnny sits back on the sofa as he nonchalantly lassoes the atmos for music by TRUFUNK Soldiers Nesian Mystik. Their Pacifican soul track “It’s On” will smooth the sea of minds that await the collision of will, might, and finesse and that will decide supremacy in the code he played as a boy….
PART 2
Lazoo logs on to the portal to the patriotic and melodic sound from down under.
It’s the day of the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final.
The nation that lives and breathes the fifteen man game decides to sleep in, do brunch, and do chores to pass the hours until kick off. They paint their faces, and if you’re lucky enough, you start to make your way to the hallowed ground that is Eden Park. There, in Auckland, New Zealand is the site where All Black Captain David Kirk—the only All Black captain to do so—raised the Web Ellis Cup triumphantly above his head for New Zealand Rugby some two and half decades ago.
John Lazoo watches the Novice on screen as the leader places his fingers across his eyes to focus the little sight he has left in his one working eye so he can keep telling the story so many people around the planet wait for each day at this time of year.
Some say there are more stories based on John Reyer Afamasaga’s life than any other man on earth over the course of the last few centuries, and from all accounts, the next few as well because he continues to write what will go down in history as the story that defined the times we live in.
The fact that the Novice tells the story this year in his home country, the year after he is back in the Network in his rightful role as leader, Lazoo recognizes as being quite a special event for those close to him.
***
Metofeaz sits down on the porch of the wood cabin to admire the autumn colors Nature puts on display.
“Relax,” he tells himself as a great mentor recently said.
Metofeaz calms himself as he gets ready to send another confirmation to the Novice in New Zealand via the telepathic relay—the F3quenZor. Chapter Forty-Seven carries a significant amount of code wedged into what will hopefully be a feel-good piece once it’s read.
The names, which the Novice himself has recommended be mentioned, John gathered by conventional means from watching the current affairs program his sister Shalleen is a producer for in New Zealand “Close Up” and from “TV One News.
“Sir Richard Branson” is named for being Richard Branson. The All Black’s fan has flown in for the final of theWorld Cup.
Also mentioned is a local character by the name of “Mad Butcher,” an all around good guy for his work in helping people in Christchurch after the earthquake, which cost the city and region so much in lives lost and misfortune.
The Novice wants to mention the coach of the All Blacks, but he would rather wait until the men in black and their mentors have finished the work they must do this evening.
***
The Tourist sends out the last of the invitations by email to her fancy dress party; she will host it herself as Rozelle Zofen.
The music from the New Global Realm reminds her that she must logon to watch the game in the morning between the All Blacks and France; she’s heard a lot about it both online from LMLA-ink and from the people in the Village.
Jon Pierre steps down from the carriage and onto the platform where cheerful town folk greet visitors from far and wide.
The errand boy, wearing a Gatsby cap and with a crate hanging from his neck to carry merchandise, spots Jon Pierre in his new London suit.
John Pierre feels parched from the long journey. One of those red cans would go down like a treat to quench a man’s thirst….But then the woman in the outfit with stockings grabs his attention.
Jon Pierre checks his bag as the woman his age—he can already smell her confidence through her expensive French perfume—walks his way.
“Imogen, lovely to meet you.” The name sounds perfect for the occasion.
Jon Pierre hadn’t expected a welcoming party; it could be just a reaction to his new suit and that “something” Jon Pierre has never been able to work out—this sort of attention from the opposite sex some of the time unwanted or unwarranted—which he puts down purely to counter-intelligence. He sees the affairs sometimes as “Perks” and at other times as “Hazards” of the job. Regardless of whether the encounter is a benefit or danger, the Poet Soldier is always ready to work.
When the Poet Soldier says, “John Reyer,” it makes the woman, whose name and presentation is befitting for his visit, smile and then blush. Jon Pierre had toyed with the idea of using the name “Johnny Shawshank,” but in the end, he decided to use the German surname for the project so he could find out what a singer, a beautiful one at that, is doing when she brings members of the Resistance together at her chateau, which has been happening on a regular basis. The news of the gatherings had reached the top in the Network, which poses a serious threat for the underground movement against the Nazis. And so Jon Pierre, of his own initiative and with the private funding he had secured, has decided to find out the facts for himself.
“I’m a reporter here to do a piece on Ms. Rozelle Zofen,” Jon Pierre tells Imogen about his cover for the two day visit. He had already circulated the rumor that the Poet Soldier or the leader of the Network would soon be attending one of Ms. Zofen’s soirees—as a poet, one would naturally assume. The poet had published a handful of poems for attention via contacts in the press without alerting anyone but those in his Semi-System of the Network using code in his poetry, something which he is not even sure Rozelle herself is aware.
The Poet Soldier, who is often mistaken for a European, thinks about the name he goes by in this stanza of the “End-to-End Saga”—John Reyer Afamasaga—a name that is said to be the name of the one who will intersect dreams for the Network. Samoan legend has it that “AFAMASAGA,” the first Polynesian operative, who operated during the last century’s bloodline, will bear the child who will link the families of an assassin for the King of Samoa and Samoa’s royal family when the child’s parents meet. And the child’s name will be JRA.
Jon Pierre looks at Imogen and wonders whether she is the one who will bring him peace of mind, as his hand feels the outline of his diaries and the novel the romance writer gave to him in his green bag that looks at odds with his new suit.
The kid in the cap peers at him from behind the woman. He has one of the shiny red objects in his hand.
Jon Pierre wonders: Is it merely a distraction he requires to quench his other thirst?
Jon Pierre looks away from the boy with a can in his hand, and the woman waiting for him to make his next move. His smile appears when he hears the humming, notifying him of the nodes that logon to the New Global Realm to access the F3quenZor, letting the Poet Soldier know that this could be the “Real Thing” for their leader.
The result is music for the enigmatic figure who orchestrates his compositions when he makes plans, and then he carries them out in the name of peace.
“I’ll take two, and give yourself one.” Jon Pierre reaches around the woman for two cans of Coke as the music he’s never heard before streams, as it would seem, gradually flooding the platform in France where the young boy from New Zealand with a dream—The things his father could not do—ponders his next move….
Acknowledgments: Special thanks to my brother Geoffery Hern (TV3) and Sister Shaz (TV1) LOL…and the nephs, Teddi and Sano, for making life easy and most of all fun, warm, and inviting. Also to Ray and Rose for their support. And last, but def not least, Ed. Tyler Tichelaar who does his best to try and make my crap readable, and of course, the gang who takes time to read the stuff… “It’s On!”—GO the AB’s! :)
CHAPTER 48
(October 25th 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice watches the dream that Johnny and Bella watch in the Sky.
Curled up on her bed on the porch, Ms. DeLani closes her eyes to rest them as the final whistle blows.
Johnny’s expression was the same as it was before the final battle to decide a winner as LMLA-ink’s dream ends in true fairy tale fashion for the citizens of the Land of the Long White Cloud—Aotearoa.
“8-7”—in the end a single point separated the two dreams by worthy finalists France and the All Blacks from New Zealand. Although the latter small country is somewhere near Antarctica, you would never know it from the warm smiles of the host nation—who worship the fifteen man game and who hold their team and its captain in high regard. The nation sighs in unison as one the country’s favorite daughters, Hayley Westenra, sings the theme song for the 2011 Rugby World Cup “World in Union.”
The final curtain falls on Eden Park in Auckland, where jubilant screams are heard from fans as they reach for their stars, the All Blacks, led by Richie McCaw and guided by Graham Henry, who do a lap of honor with the trophy, their prize for making four million dreams come true the—Web Ellis Cup….
PART 2
Lazoo sings onto the portal after witnessing the All Blacks grind down a committed French team with what is termed in Rugby Union as “good old fashioned tight play by the ‘fatties,’” who look more like colossuses than the colloquial term for the forwards in rugby suggests.
***
The Tourist logs on to Facebook to check out links the Novice has suggested to add to her playlist for the party a few days from now. The artists are Facebook friends, and the recruiter wants to see whether any of the tracks will catch on.
The list includes: Jazzy Soulstrist & Cadillac Dale’s “One Love,” “Someday” by HERN from New Zealand, “Free” by English singer Kalli ft. Producer Bizniz Beatz, and “Runaway Sunset” by French Ambient composer Alexel, whose “6 Days” has already been selected as one of the themes for this GUIOPERA.
The surveillance crew has picked up no less than thirty-eight devices planted in the house as they mic up the house for The Tourist’s party. And wave scans of the valley with the chateau as focal point have detected multiple signals from a possible four hubs out there in the peaceful looking valley.
Sharon rolls her eyes as she hears a whistle in her headset from one of the male members of the surveillance team, and then she sees on the portal one of the cameras zoomed in on cleavage she covers up.
“xxx” The Tourist reads the txt msg from Metofeaz; it is an error, meant for Rocol or Arley or anyone, but her.
She clicks on the link to “Whimsical,” something she rarely does in case he does something that upsets her.
The feed of Litigatti in the woods—where he acts as annex for clusters made up of operatives, some acting on their own volition from their loyalty to LMLA-ink and the cause, along with those the agencies rely on to keep them updated as to what the Novice is up to—shows a committed but also tortured figure.
The Tourist feels like clicking the chat window to say “Hi.” Her reason for contacting him is already made up, along the lines of mistaken identities gladly accepting misguided advances, and to ask would he like his kisses back?
But the open format that allows all users to see all chats going on in the portal stops The Tourist from going ahead with her plan.
Jon Pierre’s thoughts go back to the romance writer in the U.S. as he lets Imogen lead the way from the station to the nearest watering hole.
The boy in the Gatsby cap heaves Jon Pierre’s roll bag with his soldier’s uniform inside over his back for the American money Jon Pierre paid him, and then he follows Jon Pierre and the woman from the villa in the Valley of Vineyards down to the main street of the village.
Jon Pierre likens his existence in his role in the Network to being two characters in a story. Evan and Rick, the two characters from Frost Maiden, present the difference in personas he jumps to and from insistently to suit the scene or scenario, which is how Jon Pierre simplifies for himself in fanciful theatre terms his interactions with others as an operative.
Evan, the empathic and benevolent one, has the gift of accurately depicting what anyone whom he comes in contact with or even just imagines is thinking or feeling; it is a power or ability that his self-serving friend, Rick, would harness for his, and only his, gain if he were so blessed.
As they see the hotel, Jon Pierre feels Imogen’s hand around his arm—as if the promise of a place for them to get a drink and for Imogen to share with him what she knows about Rozelle Zofen is reason for her to get closer to him.
Jon Pierre finds his own reason to get rid of her hand, and a way to let her know he’s a professional type in his cover as a reporter, when he turns around to see where the boy with his luggage is. Jon Pierre blames the move on Evan from the novel on his hip as Rick thinks about the information on Rozelle that Jon Pierre needs from the woman whose house Rozelle Zofen lives in….
CHAPTER 49
(26th October 2011)
PART 1
Bella hears the faint music as she refocuses on her surroundings after her session in slumber to rejuvenate her acuity.
Dreams are for those behind the second horizon—the citizens of the SFD are merely workers who produce the dreams, thereby providing a vivid account that those in the MMD use so they may visualize what one day they will themselves realize, using real shells and not placeholders like Bella.
“Wakey, wakey.” Bella hears the smile in Johnny’s upbeat voice, but as far as she’s concerned, it does little to pick up her spirits and prepare her for the next line in someone else’s opus.
Bella sees what seems to her like a trillion eyeballs as the audience surrounding her in the packed stadium waits for Bella to rise.
The crunching of snack food and rustling of wrappers fades with the murmurs that now become whispers as Johnny points at the screen where the audience’s answers to “What Does Bella Want for Christmas?” are tallied.
“Bella Wants a Sex Change to stop others from sniffing around!”
“Bella Wants Anti-Bitch Medication!”
“Bella Wants a Sibling with four legs and tail like her!”
Bella sensed the answers would be low-brow when she heard the crowd today would be mostly made up of the “Others.” Johnny now calls for silence as they do their best to put Bella off her game.
Bella sees their top three answers for what she wants for Christmas as she selfishly rolls over, holding her blanket up to her chin as some sort of protection from the hostile audience that has now gone silent, but Bella can still feel their animosity toward her.
Judging from the answers, Johnny has yet to read the book she gave him.
Johnny, a talented creative, has become complacent of late, resting on his laurels and choosing to manipulate the plot of the “Others” against him, instead of leading the way like he did when he first burst through the field of hopefuls to take the title of lead writer for the ultimate story, which would be whatever story he told, but is specifically the script to a REPRO in the SenFenide Dimension.
Bella is positive that the book she pick-pocketed from the suit pocket of the shell Johnny arrived in at the beginning of the REPRO will give the producer new ideas, which by all accounts, he is lacking right now.
That the same entity had inhabited another shell, which Bella was able to talk into coming back with her to Cameo Court to play the role of Johnny Shawshank on the morning when the last Cargo ship arrived, was a feat in its own.
Bella won’t even think about the other entity who went down with them to the docks that morning. The woman had taken off with the first man who walked up to her while Bella was busy talking terms with the non compos mentis, who would be Johnny Shawshank as he settled into his new skin.
Johnny smiles from having already received his Christmas present in the form of a win for four million kiwis in the MMD, and so he’s happy for now….
PART 2
Metofeaz Litigatti sees the sweep of the chateau has uncovered the exact number of recording devices the Novice had told him were in the house, some of which date back to WWII and others to The Tourist’s predecessor, Ms. Santina San Fé, a former FBI agent utilized in the fateful campaign with John Page in late ’98.
On screen, The Tourist seems happy as she flirts with the surveillance team’s members who replace cameras and sensors with state-of-the-art equipment, some of which will never see life in the real world. One of those technologies is the live image and audio simulating technology that could well be what Metofeaz is watching in one of the camera angles.
The onsite technician, replaces The Tourist’s dialogue and action with what he would want her to say in response to him as a joke to test the equipment.
Metofeaz captures the footage where The Tourist plays up to the camera, which zooms in on her chest as she pulls down one of her bra straps.
The skin stretches and creases like it would, and the data stream for the intensive work by the program remains the same, only requiring the same bandwidth and not switching over to another new technology in data transfer that utilizes end-point replication of data that the receiving node has yet to recieve by making use of Inverted Relativity Technology, which is also light years away from everyday application.
Metofeaz thinks about the tools at their disposal for what is meant to be for the sake of security. The end result they seek doesn’t quite match up or justify the means and lengths they sometimes go to make a point, which they were sent to prove and not manufacture.
The Novice’s decision to accept a contract, sub-contracting to three agencies for LMLA-ink to play a quarterback type role in up to seven different operations, is just the beginning of LMLA-ink’s work for the next decade.
The woman onscreen, whom he hasn’t been able to get off his mind since leaving her behind in France, is a rookie. His plan is to leave her behind so she can set-up the operation, which will hopefully snare her as an operative for LMLA-ink; however, The Tourist is not aware of his plan. Her side of the Network has made things interesting, unbeknown to Sharon Smith, by saying its members aim is to find out who the next “enemy” for the West will be. They plan to do so by identifying whom the likely backers might be—those with surplus cash and a grudge, who will end up being married to some group with opposing views to those of the West: Jews or democracy perhaps.
Metofeaz looks at his Nokia; then he picks it up, all the while hoping she is watching him as he goes to his sent box on his phone and selects the message he can only send once.
Onscreen, he sees the team scramble in the house as he sees in the camera on the driveway Meigon and her daughter Sophie, who are staying at the villa next-door, as they walk up the driveway to the chateau.
Metofeaz sees The Tourist click on his link as a means of acting normal while Meigon and Sophie approach the front gate.
Not one who takes much pleasure in uninvited viewing of other people’s lives—especially innocent people—Litigatti exits the portal, as does Lazoo, Le Mac, and Afamasaga when the mother and her daughter begin to climb the stairs of Rozelle’s chateau….
PART 3
Jon Pierre gets that look from soldiers during war time as he waits for the the manager of the Hotel to finish going over his passport.
His English-sounding accent with the American passport gets further attention from the soldiers beside him at the bar. Their looks, Jon Pierre imagines, question why an able-bodied person like him is not in uniform. From his suit, they probably assume wealth is how he bought his way out of being drafted. Or he is not who he says he is—an idea Jon Pierre seldom allows to cross his mind, but he does now to remind himself to keep it real and not to do anything drastic as the bar owner basically shakes him down, something that doesn’t surprise him, being a colored man in France.
“He’s with me!” Jon Pierre hears the woman, who calls herself Imogen, say behind him.
“Forgive us, mademoiselle; we were only following requests from the authorities,” says the man behind the bar as he closes Jon Pierre’s passport and hands it back to him. Jon Pierre then orders a bottle of French champagne, which the woman insists she will pay for.
On reaching the table, Jon Pierre is not sure whether any of the soldiers have noticed his luggage—an armed forces issue roll bag Jon Pierre pushes under the table with his foot. Jon Pierre then pays the kid whom he has asked to hang around as a deterrent for any play Imogen had in mind.
CHAPTER 50
(October 27th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny watches Bella eat as he allows her to stay in the mood she’s been in because, in her mind, he didn’t do enough in the scene with Beatrice; and on top of that, he didn’t read the book she recommended.
Bella manages a half-smile for Milly behind the milk bar, as if to say that she’s okay—it’s him, Johnny, whom she’s angry at.
Johnny tries his best to keep everyone happy for the time being as he tries to find a way to deliver for Bella, Beatrice, and the citizens of the SFD as a whole, and not just the “Others” who now do their best to make their presence felt, which is the real reason why Bella is down in the dumps.
Johnny tries to balance his act of keeping the retarded and moronic “Others” happy while he figures out how he will deal with Harold Clarenta, the effects of whose influence Johnny has begun to feel recently.
Such has been Johnny’s balancing act that the audience basically left him and Bella alone in the offsite scene in the milk bar, where Bella grew up, and so Johnny has brought Bella to the familiar surroundings for supper.
The Tourists finds it hard to be in the company of those she either isn’t in awe of, or doesn’t have to influence, deceive, mislead, win over, or make think she’s the best thing since broadband.
Sophie, an attractive and smart teenager who is past the painful rebellious stage, is quite cool. The Tourist can’t help but notice how the girl’s eye movement is close to the REM-sleep stage as she now tests Meigon.
“I’m reading Frost Maiden at the moment. That copy belongs to Rozelle Zofen,” Sharon says about the book in the middle of the table. She is at the beginning of her induction into the role-enactment scenario where the subject who is to be induced into a state of supple will and lissom mind must approach the dreamlike and painless place on her own with self-suggestion that should be arriving “Any moment now,” The Tourist says to herself.
“I’m friends with her on Facebook,” Sophie says.
“Who is that, Sophie?” Meigon asks her daughter while keeping an eye on The Tourist, who fascinates Meigon with her blatant behavior, which Polina had warned Meigon about. “The Tourist will pull your pants down in front of you if you’re not careful….”
“The author of Frost Maiden,” says Sophie, confirming who she’s friends with on Facebook.
PART 3
Jon Pierre smells Imogen’s perfume before he hears the door to the phone booth open, and then he feels her touch him again.
“Yes, it went well.” Jon Pierre thinks of something to say into the receiver he holds, and then he looks over his shoulder to let the woman know that he is aware of her there.
There is no reply from the number he tried calling for the third time in as many hours, which, as far as Imogen is concerned, is that of his editor, who works for a paper.
He had purposely left his diaries open on the table to see whether she might have heard of him before as the—Poet Soldier?
CHAPTER 51
(October 28th 2011)
PART 1
Milly, who has just about seen it all, makes even Johnny feel nervous about what the shell he is in might have done before the entity he has settled for the shell and entity—body and soul—to come together.
“Harry Clarenta,” Johnny says. The look on Milly’s face says that the name alone makes Milly’s shell crawl.
“News says ‘Soon to be Harry DeLani.’” Milly’s voice has some trepidation in it. Johnny pretends he was ready for the news that has many ramifications for him, the REPRO, and the citizens of the SFD, whom he quite frankly doesn’t know why he even cares about.
Bella hears the news and keeps on eating. The shell she’s in shrugs off the idea as another disappointment that the entity inside wants her to feel, and her Ultra-Ego presents past encounters as guides for her to use to get her through another setback in her getting what she wants for Christmas.
Johnny had blamed technical difficulties in the previous scene for why Bella refused to confirm for the audience which one of their answers would be Bella’s wish this Christmas, in a story designed for those behind the second horizon—something Bella is fast becoming sick of.
Johnny knows what Bella wants for Christmas, as Milly would vouch for since she knows Johnny well. Milly knows everyone on the face of the forgotten planet, along with their stories, their pasts, and also what each one will most likely do to get out of the dreamscape and back behind the sky that those on the other side look up at….
PART 2
“You’re my guinea pigs,” says The Tourist dressed as Rozelle, while showing Meigon and her daughter around the house and property. Sophie feels like she’s on the inside already as she follows The Tourist down the stairs to the pool.
“I’m having a bit of a party to meet the locals and also the launch of my little venture,” The Tourist says as she places a hand on the giant orange statue of a gargoyle, one of twelve detailed sculptures that surround the art deco pool that will be one of the features of the guided tour of the Valley of Vineyards and Rozelle Zofen’s chateau.
PART 3
Jon Pierre opens the door to the room. He uses the hand with the bottle of champagne in it to show Imogen the way into the hotel room where he’s decided to stay after declining several invitations from Imogen to stay the night at her villa. The number one reason for his declining is Imogen’s relationship with Rozelle as Ms. Zofen’s landlord and friend.
Jon Pierre, a name he was given as a child by his two mothers—one a French teacher and the other a math teacher—throws his roll bag on the ground, and then he places his green bag on the table.
He takes out his diaries and opens the one for poems as Imogen seats herself in the middle of the bed. Then she holds up a foot, pointing out her toes, as a sign she wants him to take one of her heels off.
He sees the novel in the bag, and then he sees the proposition from the woman lying on the bed. Jon Pierre has seldom felt the peace he felt during the time he spent with the author of the book inside the bag he decides to close.
During the last call he made to her, she had picked up the phone. But then, Imogen had again decided to show up in the booth, which meant Jon Pierre had to hang up on the one woman able to take his mind away from the troubles of his work.
CHAPTER 52
(October 29th 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice pushes him back as she keeps her lips and mouth against his.
Johnny feels the way her tongue plays hide-and-seek with his every time he thinks about letting go of her.
Beatrice manages to stop the escalating kisses that happened when, for whatever reason, she came to tell Johnny that she and Harold are about to get serious about their dream.
His lips look heart-shaped right now, and so does everything about him as she bends to his wish.
“Come here!” he says in a whisper as she finds herself falling while standing on her feet; she sees different phases in her entity’s experience in an array of warm color from looking into his amazing eyes. Beatrice senses that special moment just before the lips actually touch, which Johnny prolongs just long enough so Beatrice can sigh and feel herself let go in his arms, as they encage her. His scent takes her breath away before his lips bring her back to respond to the way her mouth waters at the prospect of how much more this man can make Ms. DeLani feel.
As Beatrice feels him pulling away again, she is now certain of what she wants: for him to stay this way with her.
She feels his body moving away, but his lips are still with hers.
Johnny knows that this might be his only opportunity as he reaches for the controls to the program.
“Going to broadcast this…” Johnny says as he presses GO on the console.
Beatrice opens her eyes to check that Johnny really just said what she heard, and that it wasn’t Harold saying something typical of what her new dream lover would say.
Beatrice sees that Johnny is still in that place where she was a moment ago. Johnny’s lips, still glued to hers, confirm that it was him who said the muffled words she sees proof of as he still has a finger on the console.
“WHAT?” Beatrice hears the initial warning signs in her shell’s voice as her entity feels like it will sink to new depths if Johnny doesn’t come up with a decent enough explanation for what he proposes to do….
PART 2
The Tourist watches as onscreen the Novice posts on Facebook, looking for a place to live in Wellington. It is one month before his eye surgery, and the writer who can no longer recognize people on sight, has to find a roof to put over his head—as if the task of delivering the GUIOPERA wasn’t enough.
John Reyer still seems in good spirits; he chooses to view the challenge as “A New Adventure” for him, which will include a recovery period, post-surgery, that if it doesn’t go well, could spell disaster like what happened to his mother—in the end, it cost her her life.
The poems—which LMLA-ink promised The Tourist would help her with her operation, as did Jon Pierre’s poetry as the Poet Soldier—are also on the Novice’s list of things to do. On welfare without a cent to his name, the new Poet Soldier basically finds himself in a do or die situation.
Sharon waves out to Sophie down at the villa as she sees Meigon online, talking to the Novice or John Reyer. The Tourist wonders whether people know that the members of LMLA-ink are willing to die for the cause, as she sees the Novice make a joke about his situation online.
Sharon swallows the lump in her throat as she focuses on the fact that she has a chance to work with LMLA-ink on what could be their last operation together as a team.
PART 3
Arrant Err
—for knowing what is right
My plight
What insight
I might, or might not….
Jon Pierre writes the lines as he sees Imogen’s patience has worn thin. Now she removes the garter belt herself, and then with what’s pent up inside, she rips her stockings from the insides of her milky thighs.
He places the pen down on the page he has yet to fill. Imogen has finally set the entity, inside the weary shell he drags from bed to bed, on fire. Only moments before his muse, the only matter for Jon Pierre, and now a woman in her hungriest of states, makes the mere man wish for nothing else.
The outline of his arousal is where Imogen’s mouth settles, as Jon Pierre forgets he’s the Poet Soldier so he can indulge his animal desires. Imogen quickly disseminates her hunger as she undoes his suit trousers to get at him before he changes his mind.
“Come here!” Jon Pierre doesn’t shout his order; it is more like he coerces the already feasting woman when he lifts her head by her hair, and then he frees himself properly for her, before he places her hungry mouth back down where she now uses her hands as well….
CHAPTER 53
(October 30th 2011)
“Bella’s Christmas Wish”
PART 1
Bella watches the REPRO back on in the sky and on ecery wall in town as everyone waits for Johnny to answer Beatrice’s demand for Shawshank to explain “WHAT?” on earth was he thinking….
With no idea of what the context was, Bella crosses her fingers, and then she hears a million or more others, anticipating what Johnny’s answer will be, do the same.
Bella looks around her at the fans, mostly made up of girls like her; the only difference is most of them have two people who love each other standing behind them.
It’s enough to make the little superstar want to do her thing, she whispers to herself as she intersects the scene in the sky.
“A *BeautifulDistraction* for Johnny!”
The sentiment—which the orphan shares with the faithful who still believe Johnny Shawshank can deliver a tear-jerking story to warm hearts, even if it is a selfish request for a mom and dad for her—is an unashamed one for Bella, who conjures music to deliver her wish of wishes to the dimension.
Bella’s lips begin to tremble as she hears the song she summoned to have sung in this scene now sung by none other than Mr. Michael Bublé.
Bella has a finger in the air. It’s as if she puts her hand up in the air to be counted, even though she lives behind the curtain to that other dimension where shells and their entities remain as one throughout their story.
In the sky, Johnny seems meek, even though his larger than life image covers space as Bella closes her eyes to shield imminent tears to seal her only wish, and then Bella sends her request one more time, just before the words to the song arrive that will hopefully help make Bella’s dream come true….
“Don’t want a lot for Christmas….”
PART 2
Sophie holds the tray as the sheik takes a glass of orange juice from it. And then the fat tycoon lifts himself a beer from the tray as does the greasy car salesman looking dude, but not before each of them takes an unwanted gulp of the cleavage that Sophie was very proud of up until now.
Down the road, Metofeaz trudges alongside the road toward the Chateau. His decision to crash the party has more to do with his concern about The Tourist’s ruthlessness if the truth be known than the fact that he wants to see her again.
“Excuse me!” Metofeaz hears the voice. It makes sense that a mother would be on the lookout for any help on hand as news that The Tourist has already engaged Sophie, Meigon’s daughter, in what could be the recruitment of a minor—the reason why Litigatti has made the trek back to the valley.
Lazoo, the head of US resources for operations, reneged once he heard that the opposing side of the Network where The Tourist is from was interested in an open-ended operation with no clear objectives. Their mission, with its comical goal of identifying the West’s next “Enemy,” set off alarm bells within LMLA-ink’s members, who have accepted an offer to work on a number of operations which, no doubt, will have them crossing paths again with the side of the Network from which Hannibal Ammer came.
Metofeaz stops walking before he turns and looks to where the voice is coming from—from behind the fence of the villa.
Meigon, a single mother from New York, looks lost in the French countryside as Metofeaz looks up at the chateau where he can see Meigon’s daughter with tray in hand and dressed in one of Rozelle’s gowns.
Metofeaz hears Meigon’s phone go off for the LATEST UPLOAD as he feels his vibrate in his leather-jacket pocket.
Meigon, who hasn’t heard from the Novice apart from the odd “Like” on a few of her posts on Facebook, can’t help but check her phone.
“If you can hear this, then you love him,” Metofeaz says as he watches the woman check her phone, as do people on the balcony of Rozelle’s chateau. Among them is The Tourist and Sophie, who wave out to them as Litigatti uses the F3quenZor to let the woman, without whom this would all be impossible, know that she is his friend—the man who calls himself the Novice’s muse.
Meigon hears what Metofeaz promises her, and then he adds, “I’ll bring your daughter back for you if you are only here for a vacation. If you’re here for any other reason, then I’m afraid I am powerless….”
Litigatti finishes what he felt was long overdue as he considers what Polina might have overlooked when she thought it would be a way of getting JRA to stop writing the cloaking device for Network operatives for the simple life. From the looks of things, Polina’s plan was to shower John Reyer’s latest love interest with her friendship and now gifts; the holiday was disguised as a project for Meigon so John Reyer’s muse’s interest would wane, offering little or no inspiration for John to write the cloaking devices.
Meigon keeps staring at her phone as she connects the dots, which may lead her to the Valley of Vineyards, where her daughter may already be involved in a twisted game that Meigon thought was nothing more than a ghost hunt. Meigon’s account of the vacation would then be used as research for Marketing at fashion house Charley Stevonsen, which Meigon thought early on was a test by LMLA-ink for the leader’s new flame. But deep down, Meigon believed that Polina was interested in finding out the truth about what the Novice had in store as leader, by dragging the story in a different direction to see whether there were any noticeable changes in the code from the inclusion of an innocent bystander in the form of Meigon and her daughter; Polina was certain John Reyer would cover them in the story about the story being told. Ms. Rada had made sure of this when she made contact with Meigon, posing as her marketing mentor for Meigon’s degree.
Metofeaz smiles as he sees the smile on the Tourist’s face from a distance, accentuated by her body language.
“What’s that sound?” Litigatti glances over at Meigon, who asks the question as she touches her ear.
“Humming?” Litigatti questions whether the sound that Meigon can hear is, “like a warm fuzz you can feel all over?” Metofeaz describes the physiological sensations of the F3quenZor as it warms up to receive or transmit information that JRA’s Semi-Systems share with one another.
Meigon reads the upload of the chapter she is in as the song with the link to YouTube begins without her having done a thing.
The piano playing seems to come from Litigatti, who loops his hand in the air, The action seems to stir the atmos as it sends tingles up Meigon’s spine as she encounters the experience millions read about, and now she gets to feel what it’s like….
PART 3
…in sometimes
Not so Redeeming
Scenes and scenarios
That I Feed Reeds…
Jon Pierre sees a woman with her back to him as she sleeps soundly. He’s left her in the bed so he may think and find some clarity about what it is that makes him fall from grace each time the fairer kind pays him the slightest bit of attention.
His Arrant Err was in telling Imogen that he was JRA, the entity he also cloaked himself with, to mislead the author who dedicated a story to him as the Entity with Entitlement after Jon Pierre told the romance writer of the legacy that he had been handed as holder of the name of the one who will intersect dreams in the name of “Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect.”
Jon Pierre looks out the window of the hotel room on an Indian summer’s night. The humming he hears sounds as if those nodes had spread across the planet, from hopes he is the Entity with Entitlement, so they have come together in their dreams to give the Poet Soldier the strength he needs to fulfil theirs.
He hears music. A use of the F3quenZor he’s never admitted to anyone is that he conjures music for pure delight—sending it over the telepathic relay—which, he is certain, she is one of the nodes on the entity, whom he shares the same wish for this Christmas….
“All I want for Christmas is you….”
CHAPTER 54
(October 31st 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice freezes as she hears the tiny voice and then the music to go with it.
Johnny considers his options as a RE-ERR—the equivalent of déjà-vu for the shell he’s in—senses something that it’s experienced before. The recall by the shell is probably from the intensity it must’ve felt when it happened previously. The nonplus reaction is how the entity, which may have conflicting interests with the shell, causes difficulty for Johnny, who tries to sort out what is happening, brought on by the music that holds the SFD in waiting, as if the scene he suspects Bella has hijacked has suddenly peaked in the number of viewers watching.
Beatrice looks around the room, not sure what to make of the music she swears she’s heard before. Her anger at what Johnny just did teeters between her wish to slap him—it is something she remembers having done before, but when?—and going back to where they were before he pushed the button, regardless of who is watching them.
Johnny sees Bella’s face imposed on him on the monitor. The wish she just sent to the dimension, which each character only has one of in each REPRO, and which Johnny’s kind uses as a “get out of jail” card, may ruin his plans that include nabbing Harold Clarenta.
***
Bella feels faint as she watches Johnny’s reaction to the music. The last thing the little character—and everyone on the strip, and for the most part, of the SFD—remembers is when Johnny kisses Beatrice up in the sky for real this time….
PART 2
Metofeaz makes himself scarce at the party since his appearance has caused some concern from some of the guests who didn’t expect someone of Litigatti’s notoriety to be involved with Ms. Zofen, who seeks backers in a venture to develop the Valley of Vineyards into a tourist attraction.
The sheik and a number of others make it clear that the appearance of Metofeaz, a heavy character in their minds, is the reason for their hasty departure as they leave instructions with The Tourist to contact them at a later time.
Meigon, whom Metofeaz coaxed into coming with The Tourist after he impressed her with what John Reyer had shared with him about her, feels a bit silly about being a little overprotective of her daughter, who seems to be having the time of her life.
Metofeaz makes Meigon relax when he makes a joke about the men who suddenly get up to leave. “Happy hour must be over.” Litigatti does his best not to arouse Meigon’s suspicion about what is going on as he ignores one of the Sheik’s bodyguards. “Whimsical” knows the bodyguard from a previous life. The guard offers what seems like a sneer as Litigatti places his hand to his head in the form of a one finger salute without Meigon noticing; so the bodyguard will know where Litigatti is at with things.
“WOW!” Meigon looks to where she hears her daughter scream, and then Meigon hears her mobile phone alert her, like it does to everyone else’s phone to announce the LATEST UPLOAD.
Meigon looks at the date beneath the chapter and then the date on the Facebook post by her...boyfriend. She can now confidently call him that after what his best friend, Metofeaz (a Marine whom Meigon can count on for his seal of approval) had told her about how the Novice feels about her. And the chapter she reads about where she’s at, compared to where she was in the last chapter—next door on the same day, only a matter of minutes ago—makes Meigon wonder, not that she shows her concern of how her mind might be playing tricks on her.
PART 3
Jon Pierre watches the sun come up on the day of Rozelle’s party.
Imogen reaches around for someone who is not there, and then she turns over slowly and wakes to see Jon Pierre seated at the table where he writes.
“Ordaining reams
They will read
and from it….”
In the last lines he’s written, Jon Pierre offers the woman his condolences for not being there when she wakes. It brings a smile to Imogen’s face as she imagines what story she’ll tell Rozelle, having spent the night with the Poet Soldier, who must’ve woken early to write one of his famous sonnets after their night of passion.
Jon Pierre looks forward to the day that lies ahead. The Poet Soldier now has his guarantee that he will not be making any blunders in his behavior from having bedded Rozelle’s friend, leaving the possibility of the same thing happening with Ms. Zofen out of the question.
CHAPTER 55
(November 1st 2011)
PART 1
Johnny walks down the dusty road. The ground beneath the site where the war was won is said to be rich with energy that could light up a city with a fire-like brilliance to make the forgotten planet glow like a newfound star for other dimensions to envy, and therefore, dream of.
The wooden houses, which seem more like sheds, barely stand upright in the hot westerly that howls as it sweeps tumbleweeds, which in turn tip skulls and ribcages, which were once shells that now litter the barren landscape.
Johnny looks down at his attire—a black suit that seems obscure to the few citizens who look at him as if they want to cry for help as they hold vessels up to their faces and dust falls from their canisters instead of drink.
PART 2
“Party’s over, folks!” Litigatti calls out. Meigon looks around at the guests who look at the host, who just bows her head as she sees that her man has made up his mind.
Litigatti starts taking drinks first from the likely suspects to let them know they are not welcome anymore.
Meigon finds the sudden turn in proceedings to be quite fascinating as The Tourist herself doesn’t seem concerned; if anything, it looks like she expected what is happening as Metofeaz’s behavior begins to get aggressive; he starts kicking furniture out of his way, continuing to make the affable guests uncomfortable.
“You heard! The place is a movie set, and if you want to be the agency’s latest, stay right where you are!” Litigatti says as he places glasses on the tray that Sophie, who is close behind him, holds.
Litigatti’s next move convinces everyone that this is not part of the entertainment when he flips a glass table with his foot and it lands, smashing its glass. Metofeaz rips a camera from the table’s frame. He holds it up for everyone to see, and then he looks into the device and tells it, “Party’s over, and there’ll be no more folks!”
PART 3
Jon Pierre bids Imogen farewell for now with a promise that they’ll catch up at Rozelle’s party in a few hours’ time.
The door shuts. Jon Pierre takes a look in the mirror where his complexion is a darker tone from the five o’clock shadow he’ll keep for the day.
He finds his roll bag under the bed and opens it. He takes out the soldier’s uniform, which he lays out on the bed; next to it, he places his hip flask, and then he gets the diaries, the POEMBOOK and STORYBOOK of the poems, and places them neatly on the other side of the uniform from which he derived his name—Poet Soldier.
CHAPTER 56
(November 2nd 2011)
PART 1
Johnny paves the way for the plans of the citizens, who roll up their sleeves as news reaches the edges of the dimension of the new energy that has been found.
Johnny, a drifter since deserting after choosing to speak out against the war that raged for near on what seemed like forever, has put his many talents to good use, such as when he decided to stay awhile in the place that now is starting to show signs of life with prospectors arriving in droves by the hour.
Music that makes people smile and storytime at the end of the day seem to be a formula that works to keep the citizens focused as they build houses and businesses that fulfill their every need as a community.
Almost everyone in the fledgling township shares a common goal. Harold C., a money man as he calls himself, feels he should have a say in the future of the town, an idea Johnny is not too keen on since Harold is a recent arrival who has yet to make an imprint on the developing town.
“Interesting last name you have there, Harold….Forgive me if one day my pronunciation is slightly off color and I address you as Mr. Harold ‘C’ Word….” Johnny waits for the stirrer’s reply to his opening line to their meeting that Harold has requested.
“Or is it Harold ‘Come Lately’? That’s what the C stands for, and you’re not really the personification of the ‘C’ as in the proverbial, are you, Harold?” Johnny lets Harold know that his opening line was not a slip of the tongue.
Needless to say, Johnny had just selected the opposition he needs for those who require something a little less sugary than his sweeter-than-sweet approach.
“Udders, as in teats! Yeah! Call yourselves ‘Cow’s Udders’!” Johnny calls out as an unimpressed Harold with a C as his last name storms out without having said a word….
PART 2
Sharon Smith watches as Feeaz Litigatti sleeps. The sun rising over the valley brings the promise of a new day for The Tourist and Metofeaz, who first met back in ’91 at the restaurant in the village.
The month-long operation, which Metofeaz shut down last night, could be the beginning of their new life together.
The txt msg from Rocol, which Sharon reads on Metofeaz’s phone, is laughable. The Tourist responds to it with:
“’GAME OVER!’ *Grin*NOT! Sharon”
And then she puts down the phone so she can hopefully forget about that woman.
The Tourist reads over the chapters in which the Novice did a pretty convincing job of making it feel like it did for Sharon back in the ’90s.
The scenes with Rocol and Metofeaz don’t affect Sharon at all—it’s what Rocol will be thinking that annoys The Tourist when she hears the txt—Rocol’s response, which Metofeaz reaches for still with his eyes closed.
“She tried to have you killed!” is the only thing Sharon can come up with as she sees Metofeaz read the message.
Metofeaz thinks back to what Sharon references—the time Rocol ordered a hit on Litigatti, which Tone Horroh was meant to carry out. Instead Lazoo, Litigatti, and Le Mac faked Litigatti’s death, which sent Metofeaz into hiding for over a decade.
Rocol, Metofeaz’s then partner, had found out about Litigatti and The Tourist during the operation back in the day; the recent operation Metofeaz had just ended was a re-enactment.
“Where does the Network find these bitches?” Sharon fumes in response, the cute smile on Metofeaz’s face says it all.
Sharon refers to the players who fill the roles, such as in Rocol’s case, there’s the one who played Metofeaz’s love interest through the late ’80s and early ’90s, and then the one who posed as an investor, who is the current Rocol. The names of the operatives change, but the role or the template of the shell remains the same for new entities to fill.
“I’m the one and only, and so are you!” Sharon reminds Metofeaz, who rolls onto his back for her to lay her head on his chest….
PART 3
The village takes on the appearance of Mardi Gras as the citizens of the secret location never to be found on any map get ready for the party at the chateau at the top of the Valley of Vineyards.
Jon Pierre, in his uniform, mingles in with the crowd as truckloads of people arrive. Their painted faces in orange and the flowers that boys hold for those special girls they might meet on this finest of days brings a smile to Jon Pierre’s face.
From the smiles on the faces of the people, it looks like the gloom that has settled upon Europe—the result of the Nazis’ relentless drive for supremacy of the Aryan race, bombarding anything that stands in its way—subsides for the time being as the procession toward the Valley of Vineyards begins.
An enlightened fever grips the village, and then it gradually becomes a blissful hum of many minds as the people who show their true faces for the moment remember that there is a war on. To Jon Pierre, it is what he imagines the Entity with Entitlement or JRA would create for those who fight the attempt at “Genocidal Massacre,” a crime taking place in camps that is already common knowledge. The resistance’s fight back is fortified by stories of those in the camps as much as it is to defend themselves, their freedom, and their land!
The Poet Soldier touches his green bag, which hangs at his hip; his diaries remind him of his small gift for the guests at Rozelle’s party. He ponders whether he will recite his “Arrant Err,” a poem he wrote as an apology to the romance writer in Kansas for blatantly misleading her that he was JRA and then for publishing in the newspaper a letter he had written to her about how he felt about her, all in the name of the cause….
Arrant Err
—for knowing what is right
And what not to write!
My plight
What insight
I might, or might not
in sometimes
Not so Redeeming
Scenes and scenarios
That I Feed Rea ds
Ordaining rea ms
They will read
an d from it
—Steal you an d have you
Like only I may share
The delight
what it was Like!
To Err Arrantly
CHAPTER 57
(November 3rd 2011)
PART 1
Johnny walks from campfire to campfire, shaking hands with the faithful townspeople. “Pioneers!” Johnny reminds the people who line the shoreline in the later stages of a day on the SFD.
On the horizon is a light—not too bright—but bright enough to give Johnny hope that his vision still has merit since the orange glow is brighter than it was yesterday. The energy Johnny is positive he can harness will give the dimension a source of power. Johnny finds himself on the planet he calls the SFD, or the SenFenide Dimension, where the cross dimensional mercenary was sent when as an entity he was banished from the AmalgaMension Dimension or the AMD.
His decision to stay in the SFD and not to enter into the MMD, or MindMorph Dimension, behind the second horizon has more to do with fear than choice.
The endless options of characters in stories that range from the Bible to fairy tales were all considered by Johnny, who is in what is termed a “Temporary” shell granted by the “Warmth,” the guiding figure over all three dimensions. And in the end, Johnny has opted to go it alone as a shell without an entity in the SFD. Johnny’s soul or entity is in holding at the Dimension forks until such time as Johnny chooses to find out what it is he needs to do to regain access to the AmalgaMension Dimension behind the first horizon.
PART 2
Sharon looks forward to news that Polina will be arriving sometime today for a few days of R & R from her busy schedule. Sharon has organized a dinner for Polina’s visit and invited Meigon and Sophie. The get-together will also be a farewell dinner for the mother and daughter before they fly back to New York in a few days.
Sharon sees that Metofeaz is in his normal, distant-looking mode during the writing of the GUIOPERA from September to December as he strips down at the edge of the pool she looks out over.
Still toned enough to suggest that he works out, Litigatti stretches, and then his arms and chest muscles flex, reminding Sharon of last night, the first time in weeks that she felt his body next to hers.
“One hundred, please!” Sharon calls out, and then she waits for him to hear her; he is almost like a child who is busy daydreaming as he focuses on somewhere down in the pool area. Feeaz, everyone’s pet name for Litigatti, is no doubt listening for relays on the F3quenZor, which is no different from hearing voices, an oversimplified way of describing the process that LMLA-ink uses for communicating without being bugged.
Metofeaz hears the confirmation that what he did, by gate-crashing the party and then running the guests out of the valley, was the correct thing to do.
He is still uncomfortable about commenting on Sharon’s actions without knowing the full story and her reasons; Litigatti decides to let it go for now, at least as far as what Meigon’s daughter Sophie was doing waitressing for people with links to arms, human and drug trafficking.
Metofeaz hears Sharon call out for him to entertain her by doing push-ups for her. Feeaz smiles for the woman, whom he is certain has a decent enough explanation for what happened, as he falls forward onto his hands to begin doing what she asks for….
PART 3
Jon Pierre waits till the last of the several hundred people have passed him before he takes up the rear of the procession, which will make its way from the village up the hill and down into the Valley of Vineyards, which he’s only seen in pictures and from film footage, courtesy of the Network.
The Poet Soldier smiles as he sees several civilians in soldiers’ uniforms carrying green shoulder bags they cling to for dear life in the procession—a sign that the news that he’s on the scene has been intersected. A number of men dressed in suits with cameras—something he as a reporter doesn’t have, not that it matters, as he’s chosen to go as the Poet—makes him want to shout out for joy as he does when a plan comes together.
Of the dozen or so party-goers who have shown up as one of Jon Pierre’s disguises, only one in a reporter’s garb could pass for Hannibal Ammer, Jon Pierre’s arch rival, who has made the promise he will bring JRA out of the dark and into his side of the Network. Jon Pierre’s other opponent—but also an acquaintance, which is more than he can say for Ammer—is Mr. Businessman, who is not as sociable as Ammer, and so the likelihood of Mr. Businessman showing his face is minimal.
CHAPTER 58
(November 4th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny smiles as he sees the trick has worked. Music that makes the people dance in the street is now freely available, streaming like a current of notes from the horizon that the people respond to by filling the street—the strip of land now lined with buildings that house businesses that begin to thrive under the freewill of consensus from an open market.
But one thing still makes the unlikely leader stand out, and it’s nothing to do with his fairness or wisdom, which is how he runs the utopia-like community in a place that begins to resemble a dream.
For every eligible man in town, there is a beautiful lady who compliments the man’s charm. Or, for every beautiful woman, there is a man ready to sweep her off her feet.
Johnny has watched many a man take the hand of one of the fair maidens who arrives in town within moments of the women arriving. It’s a ritual that happens in the eve of a day in the SFD, where the bachelors line up at the city gates for the recent arrivals to take their pick.
News of a woman who became a citizen today has aroused Johnny’s curiosity.
As the happy couples exchange courtesies and then make their way to the dance floor, Johnny keeps an eye out for her, the one who arrived earlier in the day, and who has already set up business down a lane off the strip.
Johnny’s smile loses its warmth when he sees the children who lost their guardians in the war. They, the forgotten ones, also line up at the gates.
Johnny hears the words of the song,
“You can dance every dance
with the guy who gives you the eye....”
The song coincides, or more accurately, it collides with his first glimpse of her—the woman he came to check out. She makes her appearance, bringing eager postures to the fore from the hopefuls lined up to make her acquaintance.
He believes the music he danced to with someone behind the second horizon on a moonlit beach is a sign when she looks his way….
PART 2
Polina feels goose-bumps she wants to share with Meigon and Sophie as Metofeaz and The Tourist treat their dinner guests with a dance down at the pool’s edge like they tangoed when they first met in the cloaking device based on the story of Rozelle Zofen and the Poet Soldier.
“Only a fairytale, Mom,” says Sophie, grabbing her mom’s hand to let Meigon know that she has not been swept away by the Novice’s friends or their bohemian-like existence that may be a cover for a more sinister life.
Meigon allows the music to carry her away; she imagines Metofeaz’s moves, as he catches the woman whom he obviously loves, to be how John Reyer would dance with her.
The chateau, lit up on a perfect evening and with music by Mr. Buble, makes the whole thing feel like it does in the story, creating an almost irresistible effect that the Novice has made clear to Meigon is his aim for the work. Meigon is starting to accept it is not just a flight of fantasy by a novice writer.
Meigon now understands Polina Rada to be like a Redeemer for the group of artists whose masterpieces include history’s greatest heist, and the tearing down of the Iron Curtain, to name a couple of their works. That is the impression one gets if you go with what is written in the eBooks, the GUIOPERA, the unsubstantiated claims about JRA and his crew, which Meigon has received a crash course in from her teenage daughter over the course of their holiday.
Meigon sees another side to the Princess of the New Global Realm, a title that means Polina is the successor to JRA as the leader of the Semi-System of the Network that the SystemSpectacular relies on to deliver outcomes that affect the everyday lives of people all over the planet.
The orphan whom John Page adopted—now a successful litigator for one of LMLA-ink’s many ventures—can be forgiven for misleading her. When Meigon sees the look on Polina’s face, it allows her, as a mother, to forgive Polina for her “Arrant Err.”
PART 3
Jon Pierre hears the music as the procession reaches the chateau.
Rozelle Zofen, the illustrious figure of the woman whose story has reached the world, catches the Poet Soldier’s eye.
A final summer’s breeze caresses the nook, a crevasse made by mountain ranges the Poet Soldier looks around at as he walks down into the Valley of Vineyards for the first time. The music glides along the hillside as it guides the party-goers, who are now spreading out on the chateau’s property as if it were the Promised Land, compared to the darkness of the war that overshadows every waking moment of their lives as if they were the hunted in a haunting never-ending nightmare.
Jon Pierre sees the host on the balcony as a few of the guests have already started to show their appreciation for Rozelle’s hospitality when the band of musicians dressed as waiters materializes to serenade Rozelle, much to everyone in the valley’s delight.
Jon Pierre feels a jolt in his senses as he recognizes the villa belonging to Imogen at the bottom of the decline on his left.
The music in the air—and the sight of Ms. Zofen, more beautiful in person in the distance, as she waves to the guests—alleviates the sudden thought of what he will have to contend with sooner or later….
CHAPTER 59
(November 5th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny watches what’s going on further down the wall where someone’s attention is not so much sought after; rather, the younger shells—which entities inhabit more frequently and then abandon, leaving the newest of shells lost and vulnerable—present themselves in the best possible way to likely guardians or whoever will take them in.
Johnny gets to see firsthand what he’s heard about; Harold C’s cronies offer children enticements that light up a child’s face, and while the child is captivated by the sounds, effects, smells—the agents of glee—one of Harold’s men takes the child’s hand and leads him away.
The enticement Johnny came to see is truly a shell to behold—not too alluring that she beguiles the eye, and not too sheepish that one would suspect something is amiss with one so pleasing to the eye. Johnny had come down to the wall to see her for himself, purely out of curiosity, and as a result of another story doing the rounds—the one about Johnny is only here for a short time. The stories are something Johnny doesn’t cave into anyway.
Johnny is caught between the young shells being led away—to some place he can only imagine from the way the bait is laid to get the young ones there—and the appearance of someone who makes Johnny wish he had an entity; Johnny suddenly finds himself caught in two minds about what he should do.
“YOU’RE EVIL! LEAVE ME BE,” a child’s shouts, turning Johnny’s head one way as he sees the woman walk down the wall—the sight of her now makes him understand what all the fuss was about. But his sight of her is also impeded by the many bachelors who crowd the woman as they offer her their wears and their wits, to which she just smiles as she keeps on walking.
In the other direction, a child, distressed and helpless….
PART 2
Meigon helps to clean up in the kitchen after dinner. It gives her time to talk to Metofeaz, who surprisingly through all of this, has ended up as the person Meigon feels most comfortable talking to about the situation she is in.
Meigon is neither brave enough nor is she silly enough to make a call on whether this is a fantastical figment of her imagination, or it is some nonsensical candid camera epic, and at any moment now, some jackass is going to jump out at her and reveal that it was all in the name of a practical joke.
The adventure, as it were, started with the trip to Vegas, and then one to LA, and now she finds herself in the French countryside with her daughter, who might have already been recruited by LMLA-ink.
“Don’t believe it, but be aware that there is more than a slight possibility that what you imagine is actually happening….” Metofeaz’s comment does little to ease the more than nagging feeling Meigon has, but then she decides to play it cool for now. Metofeaz’s statement was also designed somewhat to baffle Meigon into some silence as he continues cleaning up, seemingly uninterested in making conversation.
Metofeaz wipes the bench top down; he has a look about him that suggests there’s more to what he said, but then in the context of all that’s happened and the type of player Litigatti has been, it could mean anything.
PART 3
Jon Pierre finds the tree at the edge of the villa’s property. From there, he can see the chateau; its wooden rustic gate is only a few steps away.
The nauseating feeling of having to assemble himself in some orderly fashion for a freewheeling type like Jon Pierre is nerve-racking; it brings with it a cold sweat as he forgets about her beauty and considers what could happen if he discovers something about Rozelle and her parties to be non-kosher.
Scenes of joy and sounds of happiness fill out the background. Beneath the tree at the edge of the properties where live two women, whom Jon Pierre realizes already will shape his work, the Poet Soldier reaches for his POEMBOOK. In times like these—to help him relax—Jon Pierre scribes aimlessly for no other reason but to exhume what’s inside his maligned soul and tortured mind. This episode, the Poet Soldier feels, will be about a TRUFUNK Soldier’s battle within and the conjoining aphorisms that represent animal instinct for survival as well as noble notions for society, as he puts pen to paper out of sight so he may then proceed to do what it is he came to do….
Irascible Trepidation
Opportunity knocks
Rattling a rascal
In his cage for now….
CHAPTER 60
(November 6th 2011)
PART 1
Luckily, Harold’s cronies accepted Johnny’s promise that he would help them out somehow in the future.
The young shell seated at the wall with its head between its knees looks like it’s gone back to the state it was in before the advances from the cronies, who now do the same to the other young shells, much to Johnny’s disgust, which he does his best to hide.
The woman he came to see comes to mind, but Johnny, in fear he might see someone else with her, decides that he might as well finish what he’s started when he stepped in to stop the young shell from being taken away by Harold C’s men.
“Do you have a name?” Johnny asks, and then he waits for the shell to respond.
“Okay, then, what’s the last thing you remember…?” Johnny softens his tone as he tries to find out who, what, and why the young shell is here at the wall….
PART 2
Back at the table on the balcony, Metofeaz has his smile back, the one reserved for this sort of occasion, as it seems to Meigon.
Sharon has her iPad out and is showing Polina and Sophie her wish list of books. One of the books is written by one of the Novice’s friends on Facebook. Sharon sits forward; the effects of a couple of glasses of wine show as she reads out loud the synopsis for Winter’s Heat by Tami Vinson:
Eric Jameson has built his life on following the rules no matter what. And that meant not mixing business with pleasure. But that will all change when he's faced with a year of sweet temptation in the form of the one woman he knows he shouldn't have: his housekeeper and quiet obsession, Winter Jones….
Metofeaz grins from feeling uncomfortable with the talk going on around him.
Rozelle’s copy of Frost Maiden sits in the middle of the table; next to that is the hand-bound leather diary, the POEMBOOK.
“Definitely was a costly err…” Metofeaz says as he takes the POEMBOOK.
“And and an Arrant one at that…” says Sharon, who came close to the edge in the operation where she went undercover. The Tourist hears Litigatti and places her iPad down to comment.
“Johnny Reyer likened the process to being possessed by a spirit,” says Litigatti, confirming one of the strategies used by LMLA-ink to tune the mind and body for the arduous and vigorous work by an operative in an operation, which in some cases, lasted for more than a decade.
Before Johnny and his methods, the Network had no training for the likes of Johnny, who came in from the dark, throwing the mostly gifted or criminal masterminds into the deep end, which no one had a problem with.
JRA had an uncanny ability quickly to develop untrained agents and instill ethics and loyalty in some of the hardest characters imaginable. He even had ways to deal with the insane gifted ones who had serious shortcomings that affected their moral judgment.
“‘Arrant Err,’ was how Jon Pierre romanticized deception, which in the end was a lie to himself….” says Metofeaz, sharing an insight about the man who raised Metofeaz and ran their side of the Network till the discovery of JRA.
PART 3
Jon Pierre sees the path the sun makes outside of the shade of the tree he waits under. The sun’s path runs from the gate and up onto the lawn, and it seems to end where Rozelle is standing on the balcony.
The Poet Soldier imagines that she waits for someone, but not for a moment does he think it’s him; maybe it will be more guests she can entertain to put a smile on their faces, but not someone like him, which he then continues to transcribe for those who take up the mantle after him to know what it is like to feel “Irascible Trepidation.”
….callous, confused
at normality
Craving mayhem
And a shallow grave….
CHAPTER 61
(November 7th 2011)
“The New Global Realm”
PART 1
Johnny concedes that his chances of meeting the woman he came down to the wall to meet may be slim to none.
The child, to whom Johnny holds out a hand to help to its feet, seems as grateful for the time Johnny has taken to intervene as a four-legged dog in a three-legged cat’s backward walking contest, but Johnny still holds his hand out for the child to take nonetheless.
Finally, the child is on its feet, something Johnny realizes happened when he took a step back away from the child who now doesn’t show any further signs of distress; instead, the child takes a look around the place, as if sensing what’s around it. After awhile, Johnny decides that if he walks, maybe the child will follow; he swore he heard it speak, or shout is more like it, early on in the piece. One of the problems with being a Temporary Shell without a real entity on board is on-call memory. The shell you’re in determines how quickly a request is processed. Johnny decides to let it go as he remembers that he now has a chance to see where the Imager has gone.
The townspeople return to what they were doing as Johnny walks back into the city; following behind him is the ambivalent shell just regaining percipience, still vulnerable to another inhabitation, something Johnny is well aware of.
He sees the Imager in the distance as she turns down the alley on her own. He maintains his controlled manner, careful not to scare the child in tow, hiding a smile from seeing that the woman is still on her own….
Music in the air beards the likely nature of Johnny’s thoughts as he holds onto the look the woman gave him at the wall. Johnny knocks to the background the unlikely outcome of romance, as experienced in previous encounters in other dimensions, as the words to the song stream from the sky…..
Take me down but take it easy
Make me think but don't deceive me
Torture me by taking your time
PART 2
Lazoo hears the alert for the LATEST UPLOAD. Times Square vibrates with ringtones whose sounds say the Novice has decided to entertain fans worldwide.
Rhianna and TRUFUNK Soldiers Maroon 5 join the hit parade of superstars whom John Reyer has invited to join LMLA-ink on the *TrillionCool* World Tour of Planet Earth; their hit song “If I Never See Your Face Again” plays.
The truest performer on the planet, the Novice, is a thief for how he takes whatever he wants and uses it to his advantage—like how he hosts his show on the walls of the New Global Realm, which he calls his stage, compliments of one Mark Zuckerberg. The whiz kid’s Facebook is where the Novice continues to distribute his stuff when he scribes the story that more people read than any other story in the world.
John James Lazoo wonders about his anonymity as those around him click on their mobile phones to check out the latest chapter in the GUIOPERA. John Reyer’s promise that he’s on his way to New York next year poses serious concerns for the character—LAZOO—whose story started all of this.
In France, Meigon, whom the Novice befriended on Facebook, and then Polina, who decided to pay close attention to when the friendship became too close for her own liking, is also a concern for the crew, now that Meigon and Sophie have been let into the fold by Sharon and Metofeaz, as it would seem from the story thus far.
Lazoo sees the “MAPP—it” concept being posted and shared on the walls of the New Global Realm also; the idea is being pushed by the Novice as a revenue stream to sustain the story so it remains free for everyone to enjoy. Lazoo relaxes for a moment and has a think about what products as a character he might lend his name to in the exciting new marketing approach the Novice calls “Narrative Marketing,” for which the GUIOPERA is a medium. His cell phone could do with an upgrade, Lazoo laughs, and then he thinks of Genisis, who said she’d love a holiday sometime soon. Both his cell phone and cruise could be termed what is known as MAPP-CPE or Character Personal Effect: in the new online advertising medium created by John Reyer—MAPP-it—which stands for MobileAdApplication Product Placement.
The Metafiction type story Lazoo finds himself in—in which he watches as the author who calls himself a novice as he writes the next line Lazoo will find himself following even if at first he resists—he has come to accept as his life. This is the life the Entity with Entitlement called LAZOO has made for himself here in the MMD or the MindMorph Dimension, the dimension where minds morph when a signal is sent to stimulate, communicate, and administrate an instruction for a call to action.
Lazoo sees the woman who made his stay in the MMD in the shell born in Wisconsin—James Elton, Janine’s boy—possible. Genisis Jones waves to him from across the street as she points to her phone, excited that she is in a scene with her man in the greatest story on earth.
Onscreen, Rhianna, who admits that LMLA-ink makes her day, takes the audience’s attention away as Lazoo looks to see whether anyone notices Genisis waving to him, which they must be reading about right about now, Lazoo figures. The cool and calm Lazoo joins the sea of heads that turn looking for the two people who epitomize “Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect,” their feet firmly on the ground in the middle of the Big Apple….
“If I never see your face….”
PART 3
“Now as the summer fades, I let you slip away
You say I'm not your type but I can make you sway
It makes you burn to learn that you're not the only one…”
Jon Pierre hears an interlude in the air, as if the nodes combine again to wish their unworthy leader on to his destiny in a role that will surely define him—if it does not forever tarnish his reputation.
Up at the chateau, it appears that the feast is underway as acrobats entertain in the air while magicians on the ground pull prizes out of hats for everyone.
Still on the balcony, the hostess stands watching the fun, and every so often, she looks across the valley in search of something.
Not one for making an entrance, Jon Pierre, a shy person, realizes that the longer he leaves it, the harder it will be. Dutch courage, in the side pocket of his uniform, will do the trick and bring him out of the shade to make his way up to the chateau….
CHAPTER 62
(November 8th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny has plans for the hall as he opens its door. He walks in and stands to the side, waiting to see whether the shell has followed him up the strip.
It had been a slow walk to cover a short distance since the young shell, obviously with a nose for predators and free-flying entities, was hounded by entities. A roaming entity’s form is like a haze of black blue vapor that acts like a bat in the night, looking to rest in unsuspecting shells to expend unwanted oddities before it finds a home in a shell of its choice.
The young shell would duck for cover when an entity would swoop down to enter the shell; however, the child’s action was unnecessary since Johnny had already made his one wish to the dimension—that the young shell would be kept safe from roaming entities until such time as the shell was able to discern what was good for it.
Johnny smiles as he sees in the doorway the shadow of what the shell can appear to be; he is unaware that he has given away his one and only wish, which he might need later on in his own journey.
PART 2
“It’s the GIG Syndrome that we suffer from, depending on how you view yourself in the perceived reality,” Metofeaz, a few drinks on, talks openly about the recent chapter in which they read about Lazoo in New York, surrounded by people reading an upload and trying to identify people who fit Lazoo and Genisis’ descriptions in Times Square.
Sophie holds onto every word he has to say while Meigon clicks about the “The Guy in the GAME” Syndrome that Litigatti talks about. The Novice has already shared with her his experience, the same one Tone Horroh used as a cloaking device when Lazoo stepped forward to sort out the fall-out of Horroh’s maniac killings in New York.
The Novice, or John Reyer Afamasaga as The Guy, had designed a cloaking device or story back in the late ’80s to get him through an ordeal with the Network when they decided he was a liability rather than an asset. The rough outline of the end-to-end plot—for reasons to do with effects the perceived puppeteer has on the plot—is that The Guy is being manipulated without him knowing, when in fact, The Guy set up the Game, choosing the puppeteer himself to do exactly what The Guy expects him to do after The Guy had done his research on his target or his mark for the role as perceived controller of the GAME. The Guy has played this game more than once in his life with great success.
“Only this time, Lazoo, the puppeteer, the Novice, and us, we’re all in cahoots….” Litigatti smarts.
“Everyone else is guessing; look around us…” Sharon, whom Meigon knows to be from the other side of the Network, lets everyone know whose side she’s on….
PART 3
Irascible Trepidation
Opportunity knocks
Rattling a rascal
In his cage for now
callous, confused
at normality
Craving mayhem
And a shallow grave
I submit to whims
That have me see
You in my arms
Sanity I cradle
The irascible soul
Shall rest
For Trepidation’s
Expedient torrents
To arrest the solemn
Yet restless mind
Jon Pierre looks at the line in the dirt, marking the boundary between the shade of the tree and the light of day he must step out into.
Irascible Trepidation best describes the way the Pacifican spy feels as he readies himself for the mission: to get close enough to Rozelle Zofen to find out what the beautiful singer is up to.
Jon Pierre, not a crim as such, was recruited by the Network for his charm and tactical know how wrapped up in the guile of his famous smile. He needs to access that darker side of his mind. It is from that other side that the Poet Soldier propagates paths for plans to follow; it is what makes the easygoing lad from Down Under the most unlikely candidate to pull off the risky and sometimes dangerous job. The fact that his work has far-reaching effects, which in the end help to maintain the equilibrium in what is commonly referred to as the SystemSpectacular, makes the untrained operative even more of a scarce commodity for the Network.
CHAPTER 63
(November 9th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny nonchalantly walks down the alley with his hands behind his back, glancing in shop windows to see whether his new shadow is still following him.
It is the third time today that Johnny has found reason to take a stroll all the way down the lane, taking him past the shop belonging to the Imager.
Behind Johnny, the child from the wall no longer bows its head, but the child has still to make eye contact, looking away every time Johnny looks to see whether it is still about.
Johnny conveniently finds himself in front of the Imaging shop where he decides to check whether the child is okay.
Through the velvet drapes and behind the venetian blinds, he can make out the figure of a woman. She stands looking at a mannequin.
The woman doesn’t seem to notice him so he keeps on watching her.
“She’s good to go!” Johnny gets a fright when he hears the voice. He looks around him but sees no one who could’ve said the words in what sounded like the voice of a fairy, only gruff.
“Down here!” Johnny looks down to see the shell looking up at him. He collects his thoughts, surprised by how the child looks up at him as it speaks to him for the first time.
He looks back in the window at where the Imager still works on what looks like the gown on the mannequin.
“She’s good to go, ah?” Johnny asks the child as he sees that the woman has disappeared from sight inside the shop…..
PART 2
The evening slips on by as the dinner party continues on into the wee hours. The conversation flourishes from free-flowing thoughts mostly about the person who brought the group together, the guy onscreen on the iPad for which Polina holds out her hand.
“It’s mine!” Polina, more than jovial, now jokes about the iPad she gave Sharon when she bought iPad 2.
Meigon more than gets Polina’s possessive stance toward her in regards to the Novice onscreen whom Ms. Rada smiles about; then she goes on to share.
“He used to come to Russia on my birthday. The only one he missed was my seventh birthday, but he more than made up for it when on my eighth he sent my daddy, Page Boy….” Polina finds it hard to hold her smile in place as she goes silent.
Metofeaz has a serious look on his face to mask the way he feels for Polina.
Sophie, now at home among the crew, cradles her idol’s head. Polina, who turns twenty-two this year, is in a quiet state with a glazed over look on her face; she leans on Sophie, resting her head on the young girl’s shoulder.
Meigon lets the music in the background carry her thoughts away for now. Polina’s story, which she already knows part of from the file on John Page—the man whom Polina knows as “Daddy”—that someone dropped outside her hotel room in Las Vegas.
The Novice—or The Guy in the GAME back when Polina was still in the orphanage, a rearing ground for agents in Russia—has taken his game to another whole new level.
JRA had designed the original GAME to keep his place in the Network back in the late ’80s, following the fall of the Berlin Wall when he had heard from Litigatti that he was surplus to requirements.
JRA started the GAME by spreading the word that he was about to defect. The result was nearly a hundred bodies, not all operatives; some came from the same place John came from and were sent his way over a two year period to try and discourage the operative from defecting by using tactics that ranged from friendly to forceful.
In the end, John Reyer—with the help of Metofeaz Litigatti, John Page, Jon Le Mac, Zoop the Zurich Teller, and associates—turned the tables, resulting in a clean out of the closet in high up places in the Network.
The result was Exoneration, earning JRA the biggest assignment of his career back then: a trip to Desert Storm in the final days of the war to secure certain information for an agency that paid him well for the successful mission.
Over the years, the GAME had been fine-tuned by LMLA-ink’s using it whenever any of the operatives found themselves in strife due to a cloaking device having lost its way. The operative in the field stranded, or marooned in a mission gone sour, would assume the role of The Guy in the GAME, treating everyone as a suspect and only focusing on the Prize at stake.
“The playing field now is in a fishbowl….” Metofeaz’s comment comes as if he read Meigon’s mind.
So as not to alert anyone to her uneasiness about her company right now, Meigon calmly reaches out for the book in the middle of the table, Frost Maiden, which she knows well….
PART 3
“It’s called the SystemSpectacular for a reason....Takes all kinds, even your kind….” Hannibal Ammer’s snarl is recognizable under any disguise. Even though the voice is coming from behind Jon Pierre, he visualizes the crooked smile used to deliver the condescending lines Hannibal is famous for, especially when it’s toward those of color—or the “unpure,” as Ammer refers to them.
Jon Pierre, who was out in the sunshine just about to take a step toward the gate to the chateau hears the real McCoy that he had imagined he’d seen in a disguise, making his way to the party. Somewhere behind the Poet Soldier is Hannibal Ammer offering him a friendly reminder that evil is never too far away.
Jon Pierre smiles as he hears his archrival step out from the shade and next to him. Rozelle, on the balcony with her back faced to them, seems more like a prize than ever now that Ammer’s appearance has got Jon’s back up—not that one could tell from the smile he has on his face.
CHAPTER 64
(November 10th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny turns and walks back up the alley, more than happy with what has happened; the little shell by his side has a smile as big as her savior’s heart
The woman in the shop, whom he’d walked down the alley to catch a glimpse of again, was on her own.
The ditty that starts is for a dutiful lad, Johnny imagines. “Bella!” Johnny says as he looks down at the child who closes her eyes and scrunches her face, and then she nods her head at the name Johnny suggests.
Johnny feels obliged to show his appreciation, but the shy person in his own time away from his civil duties cannot think of a way to express his gratitude for what is happening, which he notices includes the townspeople who look at him knowingly.
The people’s looks range from curiosity to see what Johnny will do next to eyes that dart the other way when Johnny sees them as if they know something Johnny doesn’t know.
The feeling he gets is mixed—puzzled yet also excited about what is happening to the SFD; he feels a sense of unity from the focus on him, but he must also live up to the people’s expectation of him now.
Johnny’s entity in holding is a warlock—in another story in the cross dimension he holds the name of Konsole Ace-A-Leez in battles that started around the time of the Crucifixion in the MMD. He uses a signal he used on the battlefields at the dimension forks to show his appreciation for how things are shaping up in the SenFenide Dimension.
He lassoes the air with his hand, believing his action is an innocent one, making the music in the atmosphere louder for the people to enjoy….
PART 2
Mid-morning after the dinner party, Meigon opens the villa’s windows. She finds the sound of Sophie showering to be comforting.
Polina had promised to make up for sulky behavior during the evening by cooking everyone lunch today; she wishes to commemorate the Poet Soldier’s arrival at Rozelle’s party in PART 3 of the story, of which Meigon and her daughter are now a part….
Meigon smiles as the alert for the LATEST UPLOAD sounds.
Sophie opens the gate to the chateau where, on the balcony, Metofeaz clowns around when he holds up his Nokia in the air.
Sophie stops and places a hand on her hip. “What are you doing?” Meigon asks for the sake of asking as she walks past her daughter and up the same dirt track Jon Pierre walked seventy odd years ago.
“Lassoing the atmos, Mom!” Sophie shouts. Meigon understands why Meigon is so loud when she hears the hum of the F3quenZor.
Meigon lets her daughter go as Sophie follows Metofeaz on the balcony in lassoing the atmos, as it is known.
Now that Meigon is a part of the story, Litigatti’s comment about the Novice’s fishbowl existence last night takes on a whole new meaning for Meigon, who watched the Novice online via hidden camera in the Novice’s monitor—something John Reyer has never admitted to knowing about—for nearly five years before she met him on Facebook this year.
The fishbowl analogy, in which people watch the Novice write, and the Novice’s preferred explanation for his magic trick, the conquering of the Fourth Wall—the imaginary wall that separates an audience from the actors on stage—both mean the same thing to the ruthless creative who lives and breathes his art.
The story about how LMLA-ink was involved in the commercialization of the Internet, another classic by JRA for the conspiracy theorists, can be believed in the context of what is happening.
Story has it that The Guy, back in ’91, leaked to British intelligence details of the wide area network. What followed is history, and today, the fish in the fishbowl use the Web to let those who watch them know that it’s okay. And the Novice and his cast connect with their audience on a stage where he welcomes them before performing a trick they planned more than two decades ago: “The Perfect Scarce Loop!”
PART 3
“I’m here for the people,” Jon Pierre says, looking at the shadow Hannibal casts on the ground.
“That’s grand and all, but wouldn’t you rather be here for the fun?” asks Ammer, who graduated somewhere near the top of his class, and his family’s contacts meant that the officer never got to see the front line of war and was immediately assigned top secret missions from the word “Go.”
Jon Pierre, on the other hand, had reached the top as a jack of all trades, used by the Network in industrial espionage, as a courier, and even as an enforcer in a number of situations, something the placid person found difficult, but he did it nonetheless to earn his stripes.
“You’re bad for business, making it all about one guy.” Hannibal’s parting comment as he walks off up the path has some truth to it, Jon Pierre agrees. Jon feels like responding with why he does what he does, but the Poet Soldier decides to let his work do the talking. The Poet Soldier waits for Ammer, dressed as a reporter complete with a camera Jon sees, making Jon laugh to himself when he thinks of Ammer’s complaint about it all being about him; the irony is that Ammer came disguised as one of Jon Pierre’s characters in the Poet Soldier’s cloak for the mission Jon Pierre leaked….
PART 1
Johnny, now with knowledge of how the SenFenide Dimension responds to its people’s requirements, wants to see whether the SFD would be so kind as to assist him in matters of the heart, an experience for which he still remembers the feelings associated with it from his time behind the second horizon.
With Bella by his side, Johnny has timed his approach for when the woman in the shop down the lane will take her afternoon stroll down the strip.
The music he thinks of is befitting the sentiments of his Temporary Shell, one of a handful of molds from which all shells are made….
“Besame, Besame Mucho
Besame, Besame Mucho….”
PART 2
Beneath the canopy sheltering from the sun the Novice’s image in the centre of the Sony flat screen TV, Meigon cannot help but send the Novice a message as he gets ready to write one of the famous scenes from etfiction.
“xxx mmmm you go baby!”
Around the screen with the Novice are other screens showing John Lazoo and Genisis in New York and Jon Le Mac with Missy, Polina’s twin, and Arley Lévon in Rio.
The crew have come together at Metofeaz’s request for Polina’s sake to celebrate the occasion of Rozelle’s party.
Sophie has a smile on her face as she sees the Novice answer an email from someone. Meigon keeps a straight face as Polina brings food to the table she has been preparing all morning.
The lunchtime scene in France, for the online guests from New York and Rio, has a forced nature about it; it is done out of sympathy by Lazoo, Le Mac, and their partners, who include Polina’s birth mother, Arley, and Polina’s biological sister, Missy. They fear that Polina is sliding backwards; neglect of how Polina must be feeling might aid an attack of her condition. The scene soon changes its mood when the guests hear the music to which Jon Pierre walked so long ago.
Besame, Besame Mucho….”
Lazoo has to look off camera, while Genisis Jones smiles for Polina, “Hi, Lina,” Genisis says. Meanwhile, Arley waves to the person she gave birth to….
PART 3
Jon Pierre forgets that he is a shy person when he sees that Rozelle has been handed the microphone up on the balcony.
Her head turns, as if someone whispers something for her to look at, while the Poet Soldier places a hand on the wooden gate.
The band out of the Poet Soldier’s sight begins what will be noted as one of the Poet Soldier’s masterstrokes in the way his story is read by so many people carrying the message to those it is meant for. The ensuing scene is one of those that holds the faithful true from how he makes them feel when he steps out into the light for their entertainment and for the cause’s sake.
The orchestration that gathers momentum is like the oars the Poet Soldier uses. Rozelle’s arm, that the singer leans on with her back to the balcony as she continues to look over her shoulder down at where the Poet Soldier closes the gate and begins the final climb toward the chateau, which, like the tail of a note, is as slender and sweet as the one he hears when she begins to sing.
“Besame, Besame Mucho….”
The Poet Soldier, who never seems to miss a beat, feels the moment and is taken aback by the emotion that thickens the atmos, which even he couldn’t imagine. It feels like every eye on the property is set on him as he walks up to where he can see the multitude of faces, some smiling, others questioning who the soldier is; others are just caught up in the undeniable chemistry between the host and one of the partygoers she has singled out to receive attention.
A people’s person by no means, Jon Pierre reminds himself of the freedom he enjoys to muster courage so he can make a gentlemanly gesture to Rozelle when he bows his head, and then he steps to the side, bringing applause from the crowd for the handsome stranger who has just made his entrance….
“…Como si fuera esta noche la última vez…”
CHAPTER 66
(November 12th 2011)
PART 1
The request for arms of charms to carry one so fair to within reach of his own powers, which Johnny flounders to find in the presence of Imogen the Imager, was answered.
The place once referred to as a town has taken on new life, and with every passing moment of their fresh acquaintance, the growing settlement in the desert seems to sprout a new leg.
Signs, which once upon a time were flat, are now replaced by refracted energy in tubular fashion without the need of a nearby source, but for the energy coming from the horizon.
Bella is one of many children of many pigmentations who play in the colored lights that come on to replace the fading sun as it is summoned to do work behind the second horizon….
“I’m here on a sabbatical; my entity was miffed, and I’m not sure that I need a soul right now.” Imogen impresses upon Johnny that she is not here to be swept off her feet. Her use of the earth term “soul” for an entity lets Johnny know that she’s a cross-dimensional traveller.
“Been to the AMD yet?” Johnny asks, fully knowing that his answer will impress the woman, if she returns the question.
“No! Have you?” Imogen asks as she looks away to see Bella give her reason quickly to change the subject, taking Johnny’s chance to impress her away from him.
“Why did you choose to save Bella at the wall that evening?” Imogen asks, waiting to see whether the mercenary is aware of the change he is undergoing….
PART 2
“Genuinely and perfectly flawed for his role was our Poet Soldier,” The Tourist says, traces of Rozelle in her admission.
“Page was the same, but with less swagger.” Litigatti makes no apologies for the people he knew as his family members: Jon Pierre and John Page.
John Reyer has no formal education to speak of—was a high school drop-out a move in the right direction? Meigon wonders.
But with Tone Horroh, now sitting on death row, as the last player in the game to pose as JRA, the bar hasn’t been raised too high by the Novice’s predecessors.
Like all of LMLA-ink, the Novice is an ideas guy. The work from the Network gives the dropout the opportunity to pit himself against some of the best minds in the world….
PART 3
Jon Pierre looks like he may be in a bind, depending on how he handles the introduction by Rozelle of the woman who told the Poet Soldier last night that her name was Imogen.
That Rozelle had referred to her neighbor by another name, and also used the name “Imogen” in a private joke between the friends, suggests that there was something weird, but also tantalizing about the situation.
Careful not to lie, literally, Jon Pierre shakes the woman’s hand and bows his head, hoping for someone to say something.
“Rozelle, I’d like you to meet Mr. Ammer from the press.” The woman who called herself Imogen reaches around to place a hand on Hannibal’s back, bringing him forward to Ms. Zofen.
Rozelle shakes hands with Ammer and tells him that he sounds different in person from on the phone. It gives Rozelle’s neighbor a chance to show Jon Pierre that she sees herself as his when she brushes up close enough to Jon Pierre that Rozelle notices; Jon Pierre has an equally bemused look from the woman’s actions.
“Pleasure to meet you,” says Rozelle, passing on as she’s led away by Hannibal. It’s as if by chance that no one thought to introduce the two agents to each other. Ammer leads Rozelle away for what Jon Pierre imagines to be the interview.
Ammer, already implicated in possible trade between Germany and industrialists from the Allies, is a worry in case he leaks details about Rozelle’s parties to the Nazis. But Jon Pierre knows that Ammer would not be so stupid since he has to make up for rumors that say he is the middle man in delivering the contracts for Ally companies building aircrafts and weapons for the Germans.
Nevertheless, Jon Pierre is content with how Ammer has taken the bait by showing up as the reporter with whom Jon Pierre arranged the meeting with Rozelle some time ago. Getting Ammer here was a way of keeping that side of the Network in check, and without their presence at the party, it may have ruined the party for everyone….
CHAPTER 67
(November 13th 2011)
“Lose Yourself”
PART 1
Johnny’s Ultra Ego is already taking shape on his current journey due to the successes and losses ultimately shaped by what one pursues for reasons only the shell in this case knows since its entity is absent. He answers Imogen’s question regarding why he chose to save Bella according to what he believes the woman whom he aims to please would want to hear.
“I thought….” Johnny begins for Imogen to interrupt him. “If you think in matters to do with the heart, you’ll muddle it with ideas by the mind….”
Johnny hears Imogen’s advice with its overtones of someone who longs for life behind the second horizon, talking of the heart and the mind; it makes Johnny think about “reality” as the existence in the MMD. Further thought brings to mind the gravity and then the burden of consequence and weight of circumstance.
The reminder of how things are in that other dimension he has visited a few times, each a disaster for the entity with entitlement to settle in the MMD, makes Johnny wary of carrying on the conversation with Imogen….
PART 2
The crew worldwide logs on to watch the Novice as he writes one of the pivotal uploads of the GUIOPERA season, featuring TRUFUNK Soldier Marshall Mathers AKA Eminem.
The signal that it is time to ramp up the intensity is the recurring message on the F3quenZor regarding whether the Novice is a legitimate player, with enough talent to make the transition from an ideas guy to the next big thing in Mobile phone design hardware and software, and in Social Media combining the two industries in an idea based on his MobileAdApp brand? Or is he just talking about what he writes in the GUIOPERA?
Litigatti senses that LMLA-ink’s leader has made his decision already to go with the highest bidder, the business world a much safer bet than the creative industries for the cut-throat creative to unleash his Next Level Ideas gifted to him by the Universe.
A hired gun all his life, everyone understands the choice by JRA to find a new home in the security of the tech world, away from the uncertainty of the entertainment business. The plan though is to introduce new entertainment products never before imagined that will revolutionize how we satisfy the need for escapism whilst we live our lives, integrating fulfilment and lifestyle applications seamlessly, utilizing learnt behaviours introduced by Social Media in that phenomenon….
Litigatti watches as onscreen the Novice squints, and now he has to shield light by placing fingers across his one working eye. The mission started back in ’01 in which John Reyer’s only weapon was “WORD” by Microsoft. More recently, it is Facebook where he now distributes the “Stuff” of which dreams are made. The impetus for the mission was a song he heard playing when he was offered five million dollars to clean up someone’s mess, following the most evil act in recent times….
PART 3
The Poet Soldier, a simple character but one with an altruistic mindset that in his line of work makes him more than a handful for the opposition and even those on his side, believes that it is ungentlemanly to lead a woman on. But his fear of hurting the woman who called herself Imogen ends up creating more trouble than it’s worth for the person who in other situations can be ruthless.
The possibility that the woman is working with Ammer is out of the question. Months of research on Rozelle and her neighbour have revealed nothing that would suggest that the other woman was wise to what is going on.
The probability that Hannibal followed the woman home after she left the hotel this morning and then propositioned her to play in his game is very likely. With that in mind, the Poet Soldier feels a lot less guilt about what he has to do next as he sees Ammer return from upstairs in what appears to have been a very brief interview.
Rozelle appears not long after Ammer disappears into the party. The look on her face confirms how things may have happened.
Jon Pierre turns to the woman as he sees Rozelle’s eyes find him where she and Ammer left Jon Pierre and the woman.
“Meet me after the party at your place,” he tells her. “Ammer has a plan for you that we need to go over.” Jon Pierre has that look in his eyes that promises it will be to the woman’s liking from his experience of her last night.
CHAPTER 68
(November 14th 2011)
“Blind and penniless”
PART 1
The rising sun on the horizon brings with it the dawning of a new age.
The metropolis that now thrives on dreams is no longer the place that it was.
Neon City, a haven for some and a playground for others who are from behind the second horizon and looking for adventure, is where dreams are unravelled for those whose unconscious minds drag them to and from places. The experiences in reality seem like a rollercoaster ride that sometimes pierces clouds in a blue sky, and then in the next minute, the ride takes a dive below the sub-terrain of the human mind where demons from the darkest side strangle the life out of the sleepwalker in the MindMorph dimension or earth.
Johnny looks at his reflection in the pond in the courtyard of the palace. He sees scars on his face and on his hands that remind him of someone’s hurt.
HC, the would-be ruler of the SenFenide dimension, has summoned Johnny from the Dimension forks where Konsole Ace-A-Leez, Johnny’s entity, is being held whilst the commission or the powers that be assess the entity’s application to reenter into the AmalgaMension Dimension.
Johnny also sees the reflection of two other people in the pond where he looks.
The first reflection is Imogen’s. She is a trophy of sorts for HC, a warlock whom Johnny has come across before in his journey. The beautiful maiden looks sad from her lonely existence in the tower where she awaits the promise by HC that he will make her his wife, and in doing so, HC will earn himself access to most of the land in the SFD that belongs to Imogen, who was gifted the land some moons ago.
In the opposite tower is Bella, a child said to hold the key to existence in the SFD.
Johnny hears music, and then he sees the crowds that gather outside the palace gates; they have come to check out the arrival of the shell, whom, rumor has it, is here to be fed to HC in a one-sided battle in HC’s game, in what resembles a game of cat and mouse, from which the mouse never escapes.
PART 2
“Kia ora Bro!” and “Good Morning!” people say as he passes by.
John Reyer takes a walk up Riddord Street on a Saturday morning. The locals welcome the new kid in town, who spent the first two years of his life, now some forty years ago, on the very street he now walks up in search of coffee.
The melting pot of color, culture, the buzz from Aotearoa—that the world cannot get enough—is a breath of fresh air for the restless writer.
The cornucopia of dreams, which the unpublished writer who is a Novice has to intersect in his writing, have never been so vivid, he thinks, as he sees a taxi cab that reminds him of his father who used to drive the streets of Welly for a living.
The hum of the F3quenZor is in accord with the warmth from the many faces that appear on the sidewalk, creating one of those scenes that you’d normally only read about in the work that’s been crafted as you read. Johnny hears a request from the crew on the telepathic relay for the Eagles’ “New Kid In Town”—the soundtrack for the scenario.
The Novice, who is already showing signs that he’s back in the land of the living, this time for good, obliges when he conjures for them in his mind what he will link to in his writing.
Newtown, an inner city suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is a quick walk from Berhampore—6002—where the Novice has moved so he can write the final weeks of this year’s GUIOPERA *BeautifulDistraction.*
“There’s talk on the street
It sounds so familiar
Great expectations
Everybody’s watching you….”
The same song was playing when the cheerful and helpful Huia from the Wairarapa at WINZ approved the Novice’s application for emergency accommodation, and on the F3quenZor when Adrienne and Bev accepted the homeless man into the boarding house where John Reyer will attempt to continue to write the final stanza to this year’s GUIOPERA, blind, and penniless.
He calls his sister, Shalleen, who was emotional when she dropped him off at the boarding house in Berhampore yesterday to let her know that everything is fine and for her not to worry about him.
“It’s an amazing buzz….” he says with a brave smile to sell her on the idea that he will be okay….
PART 3
The afternoon breezes by. Every action of Rozelle’s is recorded and stored by Jon Pierre, something that does not go unnoticed by Ms. Zofen, much to her unseen approval, which she makes known with gestures that the Poet Soldier acknowledges from afar.
The other woman doesn’t miss the interaction, but is at ease with what’s going on with her own reassurances from the Poet Soldier who has already assigned Ammer the task of keeping the woman occupied. Jon Pierre had passed on to the newly married man, Ammer, that the woman from next door would be interested in working for him. The initiating of a woman by the likes of Hannibal is along the same lines as what happens on a casting couch….
CHAPTER 69
(November 15th 2011)
“Step by Step”
PART 1
Johnny, who was working as a disposal man in a mind-fill at the Dimension Forks before he applied for the role in the SFD as a player in HC’s game, takes his time in figuring out his next move.
The faces of those who pity him right now fill every gap in the palace gates that open slowly for the people to see for themselves the player, who is not so much condemned as someone who has been given another chance, which is how Johnny’s entry into the game has been marketed.
The “Game,” as it is known, has no rules. Johnny had thought about the game once or twice as a way of getting back behind the second horizon. But he never gave it a serious thought until a few winks ago.
He can remember when he first heard about the Game. It was not long after he had returned to the Forks after another mission on which he was commissioned.
Johnny’s Temporary Shell had been renamed by erasing his on-board memory, a messy affair where the living daylights are beat out of you until you submit every last detail of the mission. To have someone know every last thought and secret you have is enough to render one a “nobody.” That’s how the debriefing process for reusable bodies works.
Not long after Johnny gained consciousness, one of the first things he heard was stories of the new place in the desert named Neon City, the place where he now finds himself, not on a mission but more like a corpse making its way somewhere that will require a resolution in some story.
Johnny decides to test what the shell he is in is capable of. Johnny has watched many shells before him who have come to Neon City with talk of how they’ll make it to a showdown with HC himself, only to come undone when the shell shows his hand early on in the piece. So Johnny chooses to see whether he is capable of swaying the crowd before he goes any further. The test is essentially a test of whether the shell he’s in is capable of harnessing energy from the citizens, a concept Johnny is not quite sure how he came to know about, but it is what he believes.
Johnny bows his head to Imogen in the tower on the left and then to Bella in the tower on the right.
He can hear murmurs from the crowd, who push to get a better look at Johnny who, for some, represents hope in the form of someone who can displace the ruler of Neon City—HC, a heartless criminal in a lawless plane….
PART 2
The Novice knows the formula: tears and heartache lead to triumph over adversity. Many of those who log on around the planet to read the story just because he, a loser, writes it, suffer problems that make his present predicament seem miniscule by comparison.
The track he selects “Step by Step,” by an African-American woman who has had her fair share of trouble, is a message for the fans that he’s here to let the world know that, like the words to Whitney Houston’s song, he will deliver for them a story that they will be proud to tell their grandchildren they witnessed the writing of….
“I won’t let my spirit fail me
I won’t let my spirit go….”
***
Back home in New York, Meigon, a name which has stuck with the single mother, watches the Novice onscreen in his new room, the location from which the person who she is no closer to knowing continues to write.
Without a desk, he uses a bedside cabinet, with a chair next to it for his mouse. No Internet connection as yet means she won’t be talking to JRA for a while—something he promised her would not be a problem. “We live off this!” was his comment before he had to go some days ago in regards to whether there was no broadband connection to his room.
Meigon holds onto his promise to her that they would meet in New York next year. The Novice’s life and his friends aren’t exactly what a woman with a daughter to consider, would find ideal.
The line of eligible men without a history is there. The endless emails in her inbox that Meigon deletes without reading are countless. Meigon, who has gone through her own ordeal, closes her eyes as she hopes her faith in the man with so many stories about him is not an act of foolishness on her part.
PART 3
Jon Pierre finds himself a seat in the sun on the lawn, where the entertainment has moved.
Poets, and then singers, take center stage when they stand up at the end of a performance and begin their offering, which the universe has blessed them with to share with a captive audience in the continuous rhythm of verse and song like a pantomime, but only unrehearsed, the common theme threading in and out of their stories being the troubles that they endure.
For Jon Pierre, being a Poet has been an act he has worked on—one that served as a way to air his thoughts as he climbed the ranks of the Network. The poems were a means of speaking his mind in code without causing too much of a ruckus among those weary of the highflyer and his flamboyancy, which contradicts his introverted manner. His work had been passed off as nothing more than a gimmick for his cover.
As the sun sets on a summer’s afternoon, most present do not look at Jon Pierre as anyone of importance; all the famous faces who had revealed their identities were now seated, enjoying the novices as the part-timers or farmers and workers display their hidden talents.
No one notices when Jon Pierre quietly pulls from his green bag his hand-bound leather book, the one called the POEMBOOK….
CHAPTER 70
(November 16th 2011)
“Loyal”
PART 1
From inside the comforts of the palace, HC watches as the one who is responsible for booming business and the line of visitors waiting to come to the SFD, not that Johnny, a soldier, knows it.
Johnny, the latest player to be drafted from the wastelands on the outskirts of the forgotten planet, begins his campaign for the right to face the self-imposed ruler of the SFD in a battle of wits and control.
Harold Clarenta holds onto his entity, something he’s managed to do when the two-faced shell—which he also has managed to hold onto—lies, deceives, and in doing so, stays on the right side of the powers that be.
Johnny, on the other hand, is true to what he holds onto since his version of events is a much hairier prospect for those in control.
Down in the courtyard, Johnny seems lethargic to Harold as Johnny acknowledges the two female entities in the towers.
The two entities in the towers are insurance policies for Harold with two faces ensuring that no harm comes to him. Imogen, who holds the title to land, and Bella, the symbol of life, are kept in the towers like they’re held up by HC on a pedestal for the people to see, which earns him praise for his respect for both entities.
PART 2
“Can’t beat Wellington on a good day….” A saying the locals have for the windy city cannot be beat on this day.
The Novice makes his way up Riddiford Street on a Sunday morning to the place he’s found. The “Greasy Spoon” is a café in what seems like what was a vacant lot. Behind the wrought iron fence is a scattering of a mismatch of décor in open air. A red old truck with a carriage lines the left side of the courtyard, and a discarded replica of Thomas the Tank Engine against a board for the logo creates the café on the side of the street. It reminds one of a dream that ended in midstream in between here and the SFD; only the beginnings of it, a framework, made it beyond the walls of the MMD.
There the Novice has his coffee in the morning sun, with Kiwi Music in the air. The classic by former Dudes front man Dave Dobyn, “Loyal” adds flavor to the already perfect brew JRA enjoys.
The ’50s style sign’s script, in which the café logo is designed, will be captured, as the whole place will be when he returns with his cheap ass Nikon camera to take shots of his new haunt and the city later today.
But first, he must remember this ambience, which he’s already wrapping up in his memory—surreal—for when he gets back to his room….
PART 3
Jon Pierre succumbs to the Poet Soldier’s will to fulfil his destiny. Greatness was never something the simple man had considered, let alone could fathom, but on a patch of grass in the French countryside in war time, Jon Pierre begins to scribe what will go down in the End-to-End Saga as the poem that confirmed Jon Pierre Solomon as the Poet Soldier for the twentieth century within the Network.
A charm—like a spell that fell suddenly upon the gathering on the summit of all their dreams that lay atop one another—is the essence of all the dreams, a spirit that circumnavigates those seated and then the performers. The result is a feeling of a bright light that shines from within each person present.
The Poet Soldier feels the overwhelming feeling as his hand moves to the end of the first line. As he starts the next line, the glow on the chateau’s lawn becomes noticeable to him, but he does not let on to those around him who probably believe it’s just the late afternoon sun on a perfect late summer’s day….
“Sun seeker with finest features
Promiscuous dirt and illustrious dust….”
CHAPTER 71
(November 17th 2011)
PART 1
The Ultra-Ego captures all that a shell is from past lives and previous attempts at life. Johnny, cynical, casts a distant look about him, which leads no one to suspect he is capable of anything more than putting up a decent fight for HC’s thugs. He treads carefully so as not to alert Harold that he is here for one thing only, and that is to take HC out.
Harold had chosen Johnny as his next victim in his game, after gaining inside information that the once-feared mercenary was a former shell of himself, and that the countless missions had taken the life out of Johnny, evident from his neglect to regain his much vaunted entity, Konsole-Ace-A-Leez, which remains in a vault where it’s held till Johnny appears before the “Warmth” to plead his case.
Getting Johnny, who was once a talented ideas guy, to appear in his game is a marketing coup for Harold Clarenta, who calls himself a Law Maker in the lawless dimension. In action though, the citizens feed on each other, and so only the fittest survive and the most vicious thrive in the SFD, making life easy for Clarenta, something the citizens are none the wiser about.
Imogen sees a courageous person down in the courtyard, clad in sleeveless armor made from leather that shows off a muscular build for someone not too big, but still able to show someone threatening him that he’s not timid. Without a weapon, Johnny seems more exciting to watch than Clarenta’s men, who are armed and circle the combatant. She has known the combatant from different iterations of the dream that continues with him being known as the cut-throat-creative for his innovative ability, or as a smooth talking evangelical type, all of which amounts to anything but the loser he is now depicted as in the latest episode of Harold Clarenta’s game.
Bella—a child whom Harold arrested and threw into a cell, where she’s been ever since—waits for Johnny’s first move in the game.
Johnny sees that Clarenta is pleased with the turnout by citizens who line the length of Neon Strip from the city gates right up to gates of Harold’s palace.
In the sky, the inner sanctum of HC’s lavish home is broadcast for everyone to see a rare occurrence by the person who calls himself King.
Johnny sees a handful of guards behind and in front of him; their hands are on their swords at the ready.
He manages a smile for the audience as he plucks enough courage to attempt what he is about to do.
There is music, hypnotic with a techno feel about it, for the scene he’s about to play. After a quick orchestration in his head, he uses the idea to bring one of the guards closer to him; the guard draws his weapon, holding it upright instead of downward.
The bass begins to take effect on the proceedings, creating a thirst for action as the guard moves in cautiously, only for Johnny to push the guard’s hands down and then the guard’s throat onto the tip of his own blade…..
PART 2
In New York, under the arched logo of SIL HOUSE Café in Tribeca, Lazoo reads the work onscreen, the only place where the Novice’s story can be found as JRA remains offline, waiting to get connected to the World Wide Web so he can get back onto the walls of the New Global Realm to post the LATEST UPLOAD.
The song that plays brings back memories for LAZOO of times when he played “The Guy in the GAME.”
The hypnotic bass makes John James Lazoo, born James Elton, dizzy when he considers what he went through at the hands of one Hariss Clariss, a financier, for an arms-trading enterprise in North Africa.
Rumor has it that the death of his twin brother, John Page, was in retaliation to Clariss’s death in the late ’90s, or was it the other way around? Lazoo can’t quite remember; nor does he want to. The thought of Clarenta is nauseating for Lazoo.
The fact that he was present when Tone Horroh carved up Harry Clarenta’s body so only dental records could be used to identify Clariss, who posed as a wealthy New York restaurateur and property owner, is a fact that doesn’t bother Lazoo. If anything, the killing went some way to appease Janine’s youngest boy for what he and his family had suffered at the hands of the Network.
Lazoo notices when Meigon steps into the café.
Meigon takes a seat at the next table where she orders coffee and then waits to see whether Lazoo will make conversation with her.
“How does it feel to have characters in a story come at you?” Lazoo’s question is well-timed since the woman, who hasn’t heard from the Novice in a few days, has begun to question whether JRA really exists.
“A bit like hearing voices, only it’s in writing I guess,” Meigon replies, surprising herself with her answer; she waits to see whether it was the right one for Lazoo, who is known for his no-nonsense behavior even in the most absurd circumstances.
Lazoo hears the anxiety behind the woman’s response; not of her own doing, she already finds herself trapped, a state Lazoo is careful not to worsen for Meigon.
“He’s the real deal,” says Lazoo, giving Meigon hope because he remembers what Genisis went through when he went deep into the story himself to save the plot. “He’s like no other author, in that he can do what he expects his characters to do. And that’s why we do what we do without question,” adds Lazoo, offering Meigon an insight to the commitment both JRA and his beloved characters share for the sake of those who read them in the story about the story being written….
PART 3
“…How is it you know?
Where to grow
So you can be
The ground beneath…”
As the Poet Soldier scribes what he sees in front of him, Jon Pierre listens for a voice from somewhere telling him that she’s still there for him, regardless of what he has to do in his thankless role.
“Love for the Loveless”—a term the romance writer had taunted him with when she wanted him out of her life, making their brief affair seem like a charitable event on her behalf when she announced that she no longer needed him around—that’s how it now sounds to Jon Pierre.
The Poet Soldier prevails in his next lines in what will go down as one of his greatest moments, as a poet and as a player, who rises to each occasion regardless of circumstance….
“…The one to be
The only one that I adore….”
CHAPTER 72
(November 18th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny’s whimsical and capricious style pleases those who follow him and those who pray for his demise alike.
“No one likes a one-sided match. Do we now, people?” Two-faced Harold’s mean and stupid head, the one that those who hate Johnny listen to, rears its ugly self when Johnny swiftly disposes of another three of Harold’s men—not that the body count means much to HC.
“I can think of a lot better ways to use such skill, wouldn’t you say?” It’s the artful manner in which the cut-throat-creative kills that Clarenta’s evil and spiteful side of his face loves to loathe.
Johnny takes a second to assess the scene….
The killing scene that Johnny calmly builds is pretty standard for someone of his background, that of a soldier of fortune. However, he sees in the sky that Harold is rather pleased with his first appearance, offering commentary or rather his thoughts—rash, belligerent, and conceited for no reason at all—for whatever it’s worth to his followers.
Harold was never anyone of great importance or status to speak of. His shell has been said to have been raped by two entities, which accounts for HC’s unfortunate appearance. One side of him looks unkempt, his long hair frayed and frazzled. The other is obese from his excesses, bald with little beady eyes, nasty and vindictive from his inability to express himself.
Harold’s degenerate value system—along with his low-brow sentiments about life in the SFD, which includes the denigration of females, minorities, and children for the enjoyment of the masses—is what made him so popular so fast.
Bella remembers the last time she saw the most creative fighter she has ever seen as Johnny, down in the courtyard, takes down another of Harold’s cronies when he uses one of HC’s fallen thugs’cutter to amputate the other’s head. Johnny tosses the head to another crony as if he were playing catch with a ball. The look on the face of one of HC’s men is one of disbelief as he drops his sword to catch the severed head. Johnny uses his foot to catch the falling sword, flipping it in the air so he can catch it, and in a single motion, he uses the sword in a backhanded swing to slice the crony’s head clean off his shoulders so now the shocked figure holding a head in his hands drops the other head to catch his own….
The last time Bella saw Johnny was around the time when Harold first arrived in the SFD.
A trusting individual back then, Johnny now shows no mercy as he lives up to his billing as a lethal weapon.
Bella looks to her right where Imogen, whom Bella can forgive for her part in how Johnny is right, now hides her thoughts about Johnny’s murderous actions. Both Bella and Imogen are well aware of how it might seem, especially when Johnny shows signs that he’s enjoying the killing scene, with a smile that appears as he decommissions the last of the men sent by Clarenta. And then Johnny bows to the audience who shows its appreciation with cheering and shouts, demanding more from Johnny….
PART 2
The Novice wakes early to Skype with his muse in the U.S., after four days offline waiting for a Broadband connection that Vince, a Tongan Samoan kid from Auckland living in Welly and working for “Chorus,” went out of his way to make happen.
JRA is grateful for the kid’s work after being told there were no more connections available for “Vodafone’s” Naked Broadband into the boarding house where the Novice has set up office. In the end, Vince, a resourceful technician, found a way to make the connection via “Telecom’s” network.
The Novice realizes the momentum he had built up till now, and how the four day downtime might have taken the wind out of his sails. But the four day break from posting has also been valuable in assessing where he’s at with his plans both personally and professionally.
Plans to launch MAPP—it, LMLA-ink’s Product Placement Platform using “Narrative Marketing,” is now the Novice’s number one priority along with delivering the GUIOPERA.
Diminishing eyesight is becoming more of an issue with every passing second as he has to strain his working eye to see. But new acquaintances that John Reyer has met in the Berhampore boarding house—who have stories of their own related to the recent earthquake in Christchurch, forcing them to move north to the capital of New Zealand, and stories about incurable illness, break ups, and loss of loved ones—help the Novice keep things in perspective.
A model for a GUIOPERA style story about Wellington, which LMLA-ink will scribe online early in the new year, has been designed. It will tell of a stripper from the south who comes to Welly after the earthquake where she meets an Ad Man, and it will include a Maori lad from up north who drifts into the windy city where he joins a funk metal band and meets a tourist from Europe. Plus, the Novice himself, trying to get his act off the ground, will form the storyline in which local and national businesses will be offered a bed for their brands to make a global appearance.
Tyler Tichelaar, the Novice’s U.S. based editor, is his usual supportive self, turning the work around in no time at all, which gives the Novice confidence that he’ll make the deadline he’s set for himself so the saga can continue to enthrall and inspire those who read about him on the first leg of the *TrillionCool.*
The woman he calls his muse remains the Novice’s only confidant.
Talking to someone he feels is empathetic to his journey and the path he’s chosen to travel does wonders for the Novice, who is usually a loner who forges ahead in what some see as a dream, while others prefer to view it as nothing more than a publicity stunt by a former player looking for his break in the mainstream.
***
In France, The Tourist watches the look on Metofeaz’s face from the news that the Novice had managed to upload the LATEST UPLOAD on the day it was planned to be broadcast for operatives the world over.
The upload is a minor miracle for the player down under who chooses to stay on the straight and narrow as he sends the Network notice that, even though he masquerades as a homeless person in his hometown, JRA still possesses the precision expected of him as the Poet Soldier, using little or no resources.
The code is light and the instruction hidden in the story is clear as daylight for those who need to know.
The killings in PART 1 of the current chapter outlines the timeline for when certain interdependent tasks are to be executed, most of which have little or nothing to do with any acts of violence or force.
The stop-start nature of the story in PART 1 results from the operatives moving from cover to cover, playing different roles in a number of missions. The Novice has already identified his key players in Europe who will multitask as opposed to bringing in new players for new missions that sprout up much like new modules in a program as requirements call for code to be written to execute commands.
The Tourist smiles as the Novice finally makes contact with his muse. As a woman, and as someone who knows what it’s like to be involved with a member of LMLA-ink, which is not an easy position for a woman to be in, it makes the moment all the more special as the Novice for several reasons makes it clear that his cavalier days are over.
The other consideration Sharon has for the Novice’s muse is the uncertainty of life of someone in JRA’s situation, something The Tourist dealt with in her relationship with Metofeaz, whose life has become more bearable for the couple since JRA has assumed the role of leader in LMLA-ink. The long times spent apart when Litigatti was on a mission were harder for Sharon than for Litigatti, who considers himself a method man like the rest of LMLA-ink and is fully immersed in his cover sometimes to the point where they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak for up to six months at a time.
Metofeaz’s thankful nod of approval for the Novice’s work is met with a mixed look from Sharon who dreads what Litigatti has to say next because of the look now in his eyes, the one he gets before he announces that he’s required to leave her again “for the cause” he says….
PART 3
“…Seedling inkling
Blinking thinking
Pushed be there
Germinating making
Omens them crumbling….”
Jon Pierre Solomon scribes as if he were the one to intersect the dreams of peace and prosperity for the planet earth in the south of France.
The band begins another number as the sun settles above the hills in the Valley of Vineyards. The spread of goodwill from a wish so simple yet fraught by greed for power is evident as proceedings at the chateau continue on in a progressive manner for those present, who have come to find refuge for their tired minds burdened from having to hide their identities.
The Poet Soldier feeds off the enlightened experience and puts finishing touches to the poem which will be the title of a story one day….
“…Pushed up there
Fall free from hand
Then evenings and mornings
Has reached up there
Illicit blade of grass
Promiscuous dirt
Illustrious dust
How is it you know?”
CHAPTER 73
(November 19th 2011)
“’S wonderful!
PART 1
Imogen gathers the front of her gown as she hurries down the stairs of the tower. Her time outside in the courtyard for the day is limited. Down there is Johnny, who has just entertained the citizens in the opening of his campaign for this season of the game.
Johnny is in an agreeable mood, it seems, as he takes time to endorse sponsor products in the way only he knows how.
Still suffering a few scratches from his first combat, the cool-headed character, without so much as a smile, takes a red canister of refreshment and uses it to soothe his skin where cuts remain open. In the SFD, the flesh wounds with the absence of blood look more ghastly. But soon the curling skin meets up to cover the flesh, and then Johnny cracks open the vessel and lifts it toward the audience to toast them and their involvement in his first scene.
Up in the tower on the right, Bella stands her ground; she is wiser than before, having learned that less haste is required when it comes to her wishes.
Inside the safety of his opulent surroundings, Harold signals that fireworks are in order for the occasion, as he sees Imogen appear downstairs in the courtyard where Johnny lives up to Clarenta’s expectation of him by signing autographs the way they do in the SenFenide Dimension.
Johnny smiles as he sees Clarenta’s approval in the sky. HC’s confidence that Johnny will play the game according to Harold’s wishes is bemusing for Johnny as he points to a fan in the crowd and then raises his hand for the woman’s face to appear in the sky, signing off the memory for the shell to remember.
Johnny hears music that lets him know that so far, things are working. The thought that he’s indirectly working with Clarenta, fitting in with Harold’s master plan, makes him anxious, but he does away with the feeling quickly when he reminds himself of his own plan to get HC to a place where he can affect the necessary changes he’s here to make.
Johnny decides that one more endorsement for the scene should be enough to let HC know that he’s onboard. Careful not to let the notion he puts forward for the product take anything from his shell, Johnny casually nods his head to one of the many hawkers selling their products for them to offer him a sample….
Bella watches the way Johnny schmoozes nonchalantly down in the courtyard. Imogen’s appearance doesn’t bother Bella as much as it makes Bella nervous at how Imogen, who can be a selfish shell at times, may prolong Johnny’s ordeal from not completely knowing her end goal. However, Bella holds firm to her belief that Johnny will be able to intersect paths this time on what could be the warrior’s final chance at a life as it were.
Imogen checks her reflection in the pond as she makes her way around to the other side of the courtyard where Johnny is surrounded by followers who already subscribe to the quiet man of action’s ways.
Imogen sees in the pond the reflection of Bella up in the tower; it stalls Imogen for a moment, but then she brushes aside doubt from what she imagines Bella might be thinking of her as Imogen tries to get next to Johnny.
Johnny signs off on another memento for a smiling citizen, and then he feels a presence before something touches him on the shoulder.
Johnny’s first reaction, like it was a premonition that she would be there, is evident when he looks up at the tower where Imogen was, as if whoever has come so close to him would have her to deal with first.
When he sees that the tower is empty, then he considers the possibility that it could be her behind him.
Imogen bites her lip as she sees his first reaction to someone touch him. The music in the air that he’s conjured couldn’t have said it any better as Imogen indulges herself in the cut-throat-creative’s amorous charms once again:
“’S wonderful! ’S marvellous
(That) You should care for me!”
PART 2
Meigon’s research has opened the guarded person’s eyes to a whole new world, one which the realist normally reserves for the sake of entertainment. The tableland that she has entered into when she met the Novice on Facebook is a wonderland that she has to remind herself is not real.
The task becomes harder when the door to SIL HOUSE café opens and Genisis Jones walks in. The same Ms. Jones, the Network’s girl next door, in the file Meigon was given.
SIL HOUSE is like an attraction at a theme park, one of the locations made famous by LAZOO’s story, in which John James Lazoo and Genisis Jones’ love story is the heart of what was a tragedy.
The staff spring into action at the sight of Ms. Jones, giving the patrons and purveyors of LMLA-ink’s work their cup of coffee’s worth.
As Diana Krall begins to sing “’S Wonderful,” Lazoo’s masculinity softens; he reaches out to take the hand Genisis holds out to him as she takes a seat facing the Maestro.
On the wall, the Novice onscreen taps out the sleekness of the scene to gleam over the hardships the couple has had to face. The rhythm of JRA’s syntax now that he’s set sail on the sea of pages he must populate with the purpose of keeping the dream alive is in time with the song Meigon can’t help but personalize for herself. Meigon watches the couple at the window table, with the arched logo’s shadow cast over them like a blemish on their perfect appearance. Meigon then glances at the flat screen TV broadcasting the Novice as he creates for Meigon a café scene because she has made known to him that she rather likes the scenes from SIL HOUSE Café in NYC….
PART 3
Rozelle does wonders for the number written by George and Ira Gershwin—for this very day it seems.
Without anyone noticing, Jon Pierre swallows his shyness; inhibition may prohibit him from contributing to the ambience with help in his hipflask, and then he lays back to enjoy the serenity on the tip of her voice.
His hands behind his head, gazing into the sky, all eyes are on the Poet Soldier. Rozelle has made it clear that she is taken by the laid back character’s aloof charm seen in his eyes when he smiles now and then.
Jon Pierre listens for the ending of the song. It cannot come quick enough; nor can he delay the inevitable beyond the end of the song….
“’S awful nice! ’S paradise
’S what I love to see….”
“You’ve made my life so glamorous
You can’t blame me for feeling amorous.
’S wonderful….”
CHAPTER 74
(November 20th 2011)
“Occupy Them With “DataCommodity””
PART 1
Imogen waits for the citizens to leave the courtyard, as new guards sent by Clarenta move carefully around Johnny, ushering the followers out of the palace gates.
Johnny had turned to see Imogen. Now he’s in a pensive state, contemplating what to do, or so it seems to Imogen, who waits patiently as Johnny’s back remains turned to her.
In his natural state, Johnny says little, something Imogen considers as she watches him show signs of fatigue from the battle; he reaches down for the pond’s edge and then feels along it some way like a blind man, until he finds a place to seat himself.
Johnny sees shadows that lurk around him. Careful not to arouse any unwanted attention from the moving figures that he can hear dragging the bodies away from the first scene, Johnny reverts back to the senses of the Temporary Shell he is in.
Imogen, whom he remembers in different shells throughout many missions, is back again. Her beauty is undying. While in a finely tuned state—from when he calls on all that the shell he’s in has to offer, draining every bit of the shell’s Ultra-Ego, its energy and capability—Johnny caught a glimpse of her eyes and the promise he made to her sometime ago.
Johnny conjures music to do his talking for him as he sees the incandescent scopes sprinkled like radiant specs through the limited vision of his one working eye.
Imogen feels there’s still some hope for them as she hears a peace offering in the air from the person whose journey she has waited for on a thread of the story unfolding.
Melodic and harmonic tones, presented in Pacifican styles, emphasize the early evening balminess of Neon City right now. A ukulele strummed with cool intentions counters Imogen’s racing heart as she takes a seat next to Johnny, who has that faraway look in his eyes….
PART 2
Metofeaz feels the energy of New York City flow throw him as he starts the engine to the yellow cab that remains in storage only to be used in scenes as the one he’s been called back to NYC to do.…
Litigatti drives by the new location for “Occupy Wall Street.” The scenes are of a peaceful protest right now, but how long before things flare up again? Metofeaz questions the message for the occupations worldwide, for the protesters now have a global platform, but the world has yet to see a unified approach that presents a solution or alternative to the way the money mill seems only to benefit those involved in running the exchanges outside of the companies and the shareholders for whom the market devices/mechanisms were set up.
“DataCommodity,” an idea presented by JRA as The Guy for LMLA-ink in last year’s GUIOPERA, must be considered. “dcomo” is when data is commoditized, like oil giving every nation ample reserves of wealth to kick-start a new global economy based on what is now a natural resource—DATA! The idea is flawless and is within the Pillars of Sustainability, making it Clean, Green, and Sustainable and in line to solve the planet’s next headache—data storage….
Metofeaz lets the thought go for now as he waits in traffic on his way to pick up Lazoo and then Le Mac for a session with the Novice, online with its U.S. members inside a yellow cab….
“Occupy Wellys less than three, equals heart, ah?“ Lazoo reads on his mobile the Novice’s description of the latest photo JRA uploaded on to the walls of the New Global Realm from his location in Wellington, New Zealand, as the Maestro boards the yellow cab in Tribeca, and then it’s on to Harlem to pick up Le Mac.
Music from Aotearoa by Polynesian Funk Project Ardijah—pound for pound the best feeling music in the world—pumps it on the bassbins in the trunk as Whimsical steers the vehicle through the Big Apple late afternoon.
With Jon Le Mac the Lieutenant onboard the taxi, with the Novice onscreen, LMLA-ink is ready for one of its classic scenes.
The title Lieutenant was given to the African American member of LMLA-ink by John Reyer based on the character’s loyalty and supportive qualities long before Jon Le Mac had to cut ties with Tone Horroh so Le Mac could then endorse the new Poet Soldier. It is also a tribute to JRA’s kid brother Viko or Victor Tino Afamasaga, who faces his own fair share of problems from his older brother’s involvement in the GAME. But a pact Johnny and Viko made a long time ago ensures there’s someone on the outside of the fishbowl or offstage who has got the Novice’s back….
PART 3
The Poet Soldier ambles up to where Rozelle holds the microphone out for him to take center stage.
A quiet moment between the two, as Jon Pierre accepts the microphone Ms. Zofen still has a firm clasp on, adds to the budding affair in the eyes of those who romanticize the notion the Poet Soldier has without trying, created with an elegance from a noble—yet what might end up to be one of his many frivolous—tales in the end.
Once Rozelle relinquishes the mic, Jon Pierre politely bows his head to acknowledge Ms. Zofen who then bows her head with her eyes set on his. As her head lowers, so does her gaze, taking in his body before she quickly raises her head, and then she turns to the audience and puts her hands together for the crowd to follow her in welcoming the Poet Soldier she has waited with bated breath to show off at one of her parties.
Jon Pierre clears his throat, and then he uses the POEMBOOK in his left hand to shield his eyes, which turn a brownish hazel green in the heavenly hue of the sun that is about to rest behind the hills.
Rozelle finds a place down on the lawn next to where Jon Pierre left his bag. A couple of photographers, who circulate amongst the audience, spread out over the lawn to snap Ms. Zofen, who lies on her stomach, next to the bag and the Poet Soldier’s other diary, the STORYBOOK. On the edges of the gathering place, a group of painters depict the Poet Soldier at the top of the lawn in their rendering of the glorious scene.
Jon Pierre uses silence as if it were the sentiment of his appearance—Peace. He sees that even the staff have downed tools to be a part of his offering, which he begins with a bit of speech that comes to him from feeling overwhelmed by what he sees.
“Peace is what we fight for! That is what they’ll have you believe! War is the opposite of Peace, I’d like to remind you. However! When the war is against humanity and a race, I would like for you to endeavour….”
Rozelle hears the earnestness in the man’s words before his tone changes into the one he’s used with a passion to spread his message as the Poet Soldier.
“Here’s a little something I came up with before; I hope you like it….”
People smile at each other; you can almost imagine the whispers about who the poem might be about as Jon Pierre opens the POEMBOOK, and then he begins to recite his latest “Illicit Blade of Grass….”
Illicit Blade of Grass
by John Reyer Afamasaga
Sun seeker
Fine features
Promiscuous dirt
Illustrious dust
How is it you know
Where to grow
So you can be
The ground beneath
The one to be
That I adore?
Seedling inkling
Blinking thinking
Pushed be there
Germinating making
Omens them crumbling
Pushed up there
Fall free from hand
Then evenings and mornings
Has reached up there
Illicit blade of grass
Promiscuous dirt
Illustrious dust
How is it you know?
CHAPTER 75
(November 21st 2011)
PART 1
Bella’s Ultra-Ego’s sensibilities afford restraint to the childlike shell as she watches Imogen down in the courtyard.
Bella’s diarized recall of her wishes all include the Temporary Shell down in the courtyard to whom Imogen talks. It irks Bella that Imogen’s self-imposed exile in the SFD should have anything to do with Bella’s path to congruency, which Bella is positive Johnny is a part of.
Bella counts the time in open air that she has saved up since she heard the rumor that Johnny was on his way to Neon City to compete in the game.
Wily beyond her innocent appearance, Bella decides to give Johnny a quick reminder of his past, and his purpose in life, to serve others in the pursuit of “Prosperity” through “Positivity” from “Patience,” a virtue at which Bella now excels.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You!” Bella whispers a wish she still remembers, hoping that the wish is still alive in the ether, existing in the subterrain of someone’s mind behind the second horizon.
Bella sees Johnny’s head turn when she feels the tingling from the chimes that shower the scene with what she remembers from a time not so long ago, yet it seems so far from here….
PART 2
Metofeaz turns into the street, which is rumoured to be the location for LMLA-ink’s live session, the beginning of which will be documented in the seventy-fifth chapter of this year’s GUIOPERA, marking the three-quarter mark for the global event that reaches its climax on Christmas Day.
LMLA-ink’s members—who look more like characters from a Hollywood blockbuster with their leading men good looks that belie the many talents the hardened bad boys of the Network possess—wind down the windows of the yellow cab as the followers begin to converge on the intersection.
“For the fans,” Le Mac reminds the Novice onscreen about those who without LMLA-ink would still be making hits to stay alive, or hacking systems to stay relevant. The message has changed somewhat from Jon Pierre Solomon’s quest for peaceful solutions for the Network in maintaining the equilibrium, to one in search of a heart for Capitalism.
“SociaCapita” is the LMLA-ink concept that JRA introduced last year as an idea to give Capitalism a heart it lacks, evident from the outcry by protesters in the “Occupy Wall Street” protests around the planet.
Those who know JRA know he’s capable of presenting a fiscally feasible argument against the present system, which has landed financial markets in the state they’re in, which is the reason for the misguided outcry from citizens—who are not to be condemned—disillusioned by inequalities of a top heavy fraction with a negative denominator that excludes the dreams of the many who pay the price under the antiquated system.
But also, LMLA-ink have the nouse to table a solution in which Social and Political Reform go hand-in-hand, whilst catering for existing infrastructure, and it also considers the 80/20 rule while spreading the wealth more evenly without fracturing existing political, or financial systems, and in the end, creating an economy upon which the new world can thrive for the next five hundred years—much like the present system was introduced nearly four hundred year ago.
A self-proclaimed Marxist smeared by Freudian slips and a self-confessed Socialist/Greenie with Mad Marketing skills, LMLA-ink’s anchor has the Midas touch and can turn a Trillion before a child can say the word Billion—John Reyer can turn his hand to anything and turn it into Bullion.
Lazoo smiles, the thought of how he once watched the world from behind bars, now a distant memory. The killing days of the Tone Horroh regime are behind him. A mother and her baby in a stroller pass by, glance, and smile at Lazoo, who leans out the passenger door. The mother lets Janine Elton’s boy know she and her baby appreciate the cut-throat creative showing them that he still cares.
Litigatti swallows a lump in his throat when he thinks of how far they’ve come already in the short time that the Novice has taken over the reins. With major accomplishments under their belts, they have shown the intelligence community and the mercenary arm of the Network that they can count on LMLA-ink to motivate groundswell for the work that needs to be carried out in the name of humanity.
Metofeaz remembers the reason for the session, a two-fold brief; one, to create a buzz all over the place, and two, to wipe the past away and keep the people smiling as LMLA-ink begins to wrap a Christmas gift for everyone, even those on no one else’s Christmas shopping list.
More people begin to show, young and old. Pretty and bold looking faces contain smiles when out of the corner of their eyes they see a scarred arm hanging out the door of a yellow cab, from where a Christmas song begins to play for their sakes.
“Here they are,” Le Mac leans forward from the backseat to point out Polina, Arley, Missy, Genisis, Santina San Fé, and Polina’s baby brother as they join the people now lining the streets.
“One hundred and twenty, one hundred and nineteen….” Le Mac begins to countdown as Litigatti lets a passing car go before moving the taxi forward and then backing it out of the parking space and into poll position at the lights, which should turn orange half a minute from now.
Meigon and Sophie arrive at the intersection now filled with people on all four corners, lining the path some twenty yards in every direction.
Sophie spots Polina and waves to her without giving any notice to her mother, who has a smile on her face as she lets her daughter go and join the girls from LMLA-ink.
The Christmas carol filling the intersection with good cheer further illustrates for Meigon just how non-typical are the Novice and his friends as they play a Robin Hood and his merry men type ensemble in the scene that Sophie told her about less than an hour ago.
Chimes to the Mariah Carey Christmas standard “All I Want for Christmas Is You!” echo around the wall made by those who believe in the four men whose imagery continues to fascinate people all over the planet. Maybe the fascination is due to how their leader with many names, but only one face, lends hope to those who read his work as he charters uncharted territory using the Internet? Or, is it just a rehash of proven formulas that have an undeniable appeal to them when the Novice makes hearts flutter with a gift no one ever knew he had?
PART 3
Rozelle’s smile is bashful as she looks out over the Valley. The vines droop with fruit from an Indian Summer while a sea of swallows overhead move the sky above her on their migratory path south.
The Poet Soldier leans on the balcony as he twirls red wine in his glass. His smile feels ripe and mature for the woman who’s still finding her way in life.
Jon Pierre sees the light in the window of the villa come on, and then he can make out Rozelle’s neighbor’s head turn to look at them from where she lights the lantern. He cannot make out her expression from the distance, and he doesn’t have time to when he sees his old friend Hannibal move in behind the woman and wrap her up in his arms.
Rozelle sees her neighbor in the window; she waves to her. Then Ms. Zofen is startled by what she sees when Ammer appears from behind her neighbor.
“Each to their own devices, I guess.” Jon Pierre makes light of the situation when he sees the woman looking back as she’s lead away by Ammer for her audition (so to speak).
“He’s a very unpleasant fellow.” Rozelle’s remark about Ammer sums it up. For a moment, Jon Pierre wants to inquire about the interview, which is most likely how Rozelle formed her opinion of Hannibal. But then he decides against it as Rozelle turns around and leans her back against the railing, blocking out what she just saw next door….
CHAPTER 76
(November 22nd 2011)
PART 1
Johnny listens to the song that plays as he tries to remain focused on Imogen; she chats away about her trip thus far and how she would like to remain in the SFD.
The silhouette of the shell he can see moves him still, even though the words he’s heard before have been his undoing previously, but they still mean something to the weary traveller.
Johnny spares a thought for Bella, who must hang in there as he glances up at her in the tower, when he senses that Imogen looks away.
Johnny reaches out for Imogen’s hand as he hears Clarenta announce his prize for winning the game’s first scene.
Needless to say, Johnny is not the luckiest of shells. When one thing seemingly goes his way, it’s guaranteed that the next thing will swing in the opposite direction.
Johnny is left clasping at the air as he hears what he suspects is Imogen leaving the scene in a hurry. Having watched the show a few times, he understands that Imogen must make herself relevant by creating a demand for herself….
PART 2
Inside the cab, Lazoo raises his hands twice as the Christmas carol begins. The Maestro’s actions seem to lift the already heightened mood at the intersection or another level as cars begin to queue to the north, south, east, and west.
People in the crowd are so swept up in the chapter that they can’t help but keep glancing at their mobile phones so they can read about themselves on a street corner in Manhattan—the Novice in Wellys continues to write into his script the faithful on the streets and on the New Global Realm’s walls.
He does the deed for no other reason than that he can, and in doing so, he feeds off the loop created when his audience reads about itself in the story his readers appreciate so much for how LMLA-ink in the yellow cab at the intersection makes them feel.
Lazoo begins to get emotional about the Novice as he sees a confirmation of his whereabouts in Wellington. The Novice is at a place where he used to volunteer—Downtown Community Mission in Compassion House on Lukes Lane—to collect free bread made available there to the homeless so John Reyer can feed himself.
The photo of the place in the WELLY album eases Lazoo’s concern, showing that JRA doesn’t see his situation on the Leg#1 of the *TrillionCool* as anything but what a writer would encounter on a world trip on a limited budget….
PART 3
The conversation continues, covering everything the two people deeply appreciate, from music and photography to memories that Rozelle’s mother passed on to her, and some memories that Rozelle remembers herself from her childhood in Vienna.
One of her memories is of seeing the great Sigmund Freud during her and her mother’s walks on tracks in the hills that surround the city of Vienna.
Rozelle’s mother would ignore him, but Rozelle remembers the smell of the man’s pipe when he stopped in once or twice with his lady, but mostly on his own, when her mother was at home while Sigmund studied in Vienna.
Rozelle remembered the smell of the pipe from the living area of their house, where Sigmund admitted to enjoying the piano, according to Rozelle’s mother, but contrary to popular belief. Maybe he only enjoyed it when Rozelle’s mother played?
Jon Pierre agrees with Rozelle’s suggestion that another bottle of red is required as the evening continues on its way to somewhere Jon Pierre chooses not to think about just yet, as Rozelle’s company exceeds his expectation…..
CHAPTER 77
PART 1
(November 23rd 2011)
Johnny, the exciting entrant into the game, shrugs off the hands that guide him as guards bring him into HC’s chambers.
Johnny looks around on the walls of the den, which also serve as a stage for Clarenta inside the auditorium.
The walls are lined with footage playing of Johnny from previous missions and pictures that pitch the soldier as a rock star; the walls seem to be in the Johnny’s honor.
“Obsessed much?” Johnny muses under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Harold, a pompous character when both sides of his ugliness can cohere to agree, can’t help but sound impoverished at not knowing every last detail about the shell standing in front of him.
“I said, are you obsessed, or what?” Johnny calls out.
Johnny’s quip brings mutterings and whispers from the gallery, peopled with those who look down on Clarenta, waiting for his retort to what some may deem out of line, or even austere on Johnny’s behalf, especially after HC announced the prize for the first scene, which Johnny is here to receive.
Clarenta, who built his name on the back of others’ hard work, has no particular talent to speak of. HC’s appeal is based on the lowest common denominator within the citizens. He peddles ideas and thoughts that perpetuate hate, lust, greed, and dishonesty, passed off as part of the game, so the retarded morons who get sucked in to play the lesser roles as nothing more than extras can feel good about what they do in hopes of one day becoming someone like Johnny.
Harold’s beady eyes, that cannot convey his thoughts right now, are dark with pent up frustrations over why the shell in front of him won’t bend. The stupid side of HC’s face with long hair begins to contort, as the skin on the bald side of his head begins to wrinkle, as if thousands of centipedes are crawling beneath Harold’s skin from seeing Johnny’s behavior toward him in Clarenta’s own house and in front of his minions….
Finally, the silent standoff between the so called master and servant—another angle by which HC has pitched the game—comes to an end when Johnny turns his back and walks away to his prize—a laboratory right in the middle of Neon Strip.
Johnny stops for the guards who will escort him to the new lab, as he nears the doors; once he is outside them everything he does will be broadcast.
Johnny turns to look over his shoulder at Clarenta, who looks like he is seated on a throne. The gesture on Johnny’s behalf brings a nod of approval from HC; Johnny remembers the look on the uncouth and unkempt shell’s two-sided face as the guards catch up to Johnny and then the doors from the private chambers open.
***
Johnny stands on the balcony of the new lab and looks out over Neon Strip. Harold C’s audacity has no limits when he puts Johnny into the new place where Johnny suspects that Harold expects Johnny to create one of his masterpieces, which is essentially a storyline of what is taking place so Harold will be immortalized in Johnny’s story.
The first of the female shells—whom HC has sent to try and tempt Johnny into some state of arousal, ultimately leading to a relaxed state where Johnny will talk openly about his plans—is sweet enough.
“Save your dignity. If you would like something to eat, then let’s do that, ah?” Johnny lets the shell know that she won’t be required to do anything that she would not want to do with someone she’s just agreed to meet for the first time, whether that person was Johnny or not.
“Thanks. That’s very sweet of you,” the woman says.
Johnny has yet to ask the woman her name since it will give credence to Clarenta’s plan for the woman to mislead Johnny; Johnny knows Harold is watching them at this very moment. Every little inch of ground, every ounce of possession counts in the game.
That Johnny didn’t ask the woman her name when she entered the room has earned Johnny the upper hand already, as so called behavioural experts would point out. Johnny can be quite the ladies man and immediately turn on the charm once he lays eyes on a woman, and this woman is meant to remind Johnny of someone from his past.
“My name is….” the woman begins to say, only for Johnny to talk over her. “Names aren’t that important right now, just as long as you get paid well, then that’s all that matters, right?” Johnny reminds the woman of what she should be focused on, but the look in the woman’s eyes says she might have come into the game as a lure for different reasons.
After the uncomfortable silence, Johnny asks the woman, “Did you nail down what you wanted? A holiday? Or was it something that you can use more than once?”
Johnny carries on, all the while turning what was meant to be a steamy scene into more of an interrogation, over which Clarenta will be seething as he watches it back at the palace. Johnny eventually talks the woman out the door, and then he closes the door on the woman’s face as she is about to speak. Johnny’s actions ensure that, at least in this segment, Harold will definitely not be getting what he wants, unlike in the opening scene.
When Johnny hears a knock, he is about to ignore it, believing it was the lure coming back for more punishment, when he hears, “It’s me!” Bella’s voice makes Johnny smile.
Johnny opens the door; then he pokes his head out the door and looks left and then right, and then after awhile, he says to no one in particular, “I guess there’s no one here, right?” The joke brings him the reaction that he wishes for from Bella, who elbows him in the thigh as the little entity burrows her way in the room, play fighting with Johnny. This is the first time the pair has seen each other since the last time someone made a wish without thinking of the consequences….
PART 2
(November 24th 2011)
Metofeaz waits for Le Mac’s instruction in the rearview mirror.
The intersection is now “chock-a-block” with people just happy to be a part of the scene, a prelude of things to come when John Reyer Afamasaga comes to New York in 2012, and an excuse for LMLA-ink to do one of its warm feeling scenes close to Christmas.
Lazoo turns to look at Jon Le Mac who was born in Rio. It’s hard to believe that LMLA-ink has come together as predicted in a short story in Jon Pierre Solomon’s STORYBOOK written in the ’50s by the Poet Soldier.
Jon Le Mac, if anyone, is the one who has carried the heaviest load for the longest time with matters to do with LMLA-ink or JRA reaching his potential.
Le Mac met Tone Horroh, whom most people who had heard about LMLA-ink thought was John Reyer, when Le Mac was about seven years old—the same age as Tone on the streets of South LA.
Le Mac, a quiet and steady type with a steely resolve about him which in a child didn’t amount to much on the surface, stuck by Horroh, who was more the aggressor with the “hit ’em up hard first and ask if they’re okay later” approach.
As you do, when you’re involved in a prophecy of sorts, you tend to get passionate about the story foretold.
Le Mac, one of four boys born on the same day midway through the 1960s, was raised by his grandmother whose mother knew the man they called the PACIFICAN, whom some say was also Jon Pierre Solomon’s father.
Metofeaz, whose mother was a granddaughter of the PACIFICAN or AFAMASAGA, the Samoan operative from the 1800s and 1900s, feels less of a burden as he’s worked with JRA before and has already shed sweat, blood, and tears alongside the Novice, as if Litigatti’s parents’ death in a bomb blast in Rome, when Metofeaz was less than eight weeks old, wasn’t enough of an initiation for Metofeaz Litigatti.
Lazoo’s grandmother, also named Janine, knew Jon Pierre Solomon well and was said to be the Poet Soldier’s one true love.
LMLA-ink, the band of cut-throat thieves, thought of more as artists rather than crims for their panache and skill, for which the Network happily employs them, are a family, the only family the Novice onscreen has. And for that matter, he’s the only connection the three figures in the vehicle have with the world outside the bowl in which the characters exist.
All three take a moment to share the humor of it all as the Novice down in New Zealand shares the “DataCommodity” concept with someone in the land of the living, referring to LMLA-ink and the idea as something in a parallel dimension so he doesn’t sound so crazy.
“For the fans,” Le Mac says to Metofeaz as Litigatti gets ready to cascade the traffic lights at the intersection now brimming with anxious people, those in the front finding it hard to stay off the intersection where people are already getting out of their cars to witness LMLA-ink in action.
The cascading of the traffic lights is an act of defiance and a way young operatives, like John Page, back in the day impressed the people they needed to with how connected they were, the example at hand stating they could play with the lights, a symbol of order in society, using people who worked for the city.
Nowadays, access into the systems that control and the lives so many rely on is is easier than back then because of online management tools and the Internet in general.
But also, with the platform now available to LMLA-ink and the Novice, the story about the story being told, there is no further need to tamper with matters that shouldn’t be tampered with for the sake of sending a message, or impressing on someone the kind of reach the Network has.
Le Mac gives the nod for Metofeaz to do what he does, which always reminds Litigatti of Page.
The fans, who now step down onto the intersection from the push of the crowd that reaches at least one block in every direction, are still calm as they see Litigatti hop from the vehicle and make his way to the front of the taxi.
Metofeaz doesn’t dare look in Polina Rada’s direction since the occasion is already emotional enough for Litigatti as he imagines what “Lina” would be going through right now.
Meigon can’t help but feel the emotion of it all as she recalls what Sophie had told her about the live session taking place on the intersection, which is now at a standstill as Metofeaz seats himself on the hood of the vehicle, further heightening the air of expectation.
The Christmas carol that carries the festive cheer reaches its climactic ending, but those present could’ve sworn they could hear a pin drop when Litigatti stood up and pointed at the traffic lights when he heard Jon Le Mac count, “In three, and in two, and in....”
All that the people filling the square and in the middle of the intersection will remember is the eclipse like darkness on the outskirts of the intersection as the lights from the cascading traffic lights create a stage for those in the quadrant made of three colored lights:
“Orange… Green… Red…”
“Green, Green, Green….”
PART 3
(November 25th 2011)
An otherworldly clarity settles upon the two people on the balcony of the chateau as the sounds from the last of the party subside in the still of the night.
“Au Revoir…. Merci….” call out the last few to Rozelle as they finally leave. Their shadows grow longer in the moonlight as they vanish down the dirt path that Jon Pierre aversely made his way up during daylight.
The tour of the house that Rozelle has been threatening for some hours seems to be the only thing left to do, as Jon Pierre sees the light in the window of the villa is still flickering, maybe from activity beyond the villa’s walls.
The Poet Soldier and Ms. Zofen’s conversation has not brought anything unusual to the fore concerning what Rozelle was up to. Her upbringing—the daughter of one of Freud’s first “subjects,” a description of her mother’s relationship with the practitioner that Rozelle has insisted upon rather than as a “patient” of Sigmund’s—goes some way to explain her empathy for members of the resistance.
She had changed her name after her mother’s death to “Zofen,” following what Rozelle described as a “Celestial” encounter, during which the name came to her.
Jon Pierre had made it clear that he would rather return to the hotel room for the evening. However, as time wore on it became obvious that Rozelle had other plans that the Poet Soldier could ill afford not to be a part of now that the talented woman with an undeniable charm had successfully illustrated her passion for fighting in the name of justice. Rozelle’s leadership qualities are evident from the turnout and the wonderful time she has facilitated for those in need of an escape from their nightmarish existence.
That she holds the Poet Soldier in such high regard makes it almost impossible for Jon Pierre to turn down her offer for him to stay the night in one of the chateau’s guest rooms.
“Let me guide you through the house….” Rozelle’s words announce that she is ready to take him on the tour of the chateau, but they sound ominous for Jon Pierre as he remembers his bag, and what’s inside it….
CHAPTER 78
(November 26th 2011)
PART 1
Johnny excludes himself and his wishes, a myriad of hope and dreams he once had behind the second horizon, as he studies Bella, who has shown up unannounced at his new dwellings in the SFD.
The continuum of options and opportunities at the cut-throat-creative’s disposal are countless because the environment Harold Clarenta facilitates, in hopes that Johnny will perform, is pretty near perfect for Johnny to do his thing.
The fulltime job of being broadcast live—everything Johnny says and does—is now part of the private person’s life so he no longer sees it as an invasion of his privacy.
“Some of us wear it well, and others become overexposed in less than their fifteen minutes,” says Bella. Her maturity shows in her assertion, which Johnny can choose to take as goading by someone sent by Clarenta, or he can take it with a grain of salt or “grano salis,” from a like-minded shell, working covertly with the same goal in mind. Either way, one of the few—Bella—whom Johnny considers to be friendly—is here because HC sent her.
Johnny walks over to the balcony as he hears music heralding the arrival of new entrants into the game.
Bella senses apprehension from the shell, who in previous encounters would not hesitate to act on a whim. Johnny has little to say—no advice on what to do for the child he’s saved so many times before.
“Clarenta’s patience is wearing thin already, ah?” Bella decides to play devil’s advocate for the moment when she taunts Johnny about the new arrivals who could take from Johnny the chance to face Clarenta in the final.
Bella takes her stance as she tries to see whether Johnny has learned from his previous experiences, or does he like to think he’s in control even when he’s self-fulfilling a prophecy for someone he despises? Is he still the stubborn headstrong character who keeps coming up against the same obstacles in the reoccurring scenario?
“It was great to see you again,” says Johnny, ending the meeting with Bella before it began as he decides for the time being that in order for him to save anyone else, he must first save himself….
PART 2
Meigon walks away from the intersection with Sophie in tow. The teenager still shows signs of being affected by the indescribable scene at the intersection where a mix of elation and deep and meaningful heartfelt aspirations from the Novice down under were shared by believers on the streets of New York.
The once cult-like following built on the back of a love story has exploded into a worldwide movement that accepts anyone who seeks justice from injustices for which there is no explicit culprit to point one’s finger at.
The inequalities—by which so many are marginalized and that once could be categorized by race, sex, belief, or status—now transcend the former barriers. And in a time when more people have their say via the Internet than ever before, there seem to be more people than ever who starve to be heard and acknowledged. Without a voice of their own to appease the internal cries for help from a world that’s becoming seemingly unjust by the moment, they find LMLA-ink to be their amplifier.
Meigon feels the buzz of her phone vibrate as an alert from Facebook says the Novice has uploaded another photo in his album “WELLY,” a photo diary with a difference of the first Leg#1 of the *TrillionCool* in his hometown Wellington.
The Novice has uploaded a photo of someone from the boarding house where he writes. It’s a photograph of the person whom JRA has included in his side project for the *TrillionCool* “Home Is Where The Heart Is.”
The project looks at the idea of being displaced, whether you are a refugee like Adam Awad from Somalia, whom the Novice has already interviewed in Wellington and is waiting till after his eye surgery to resume work with, or you are homeless for whatever reason.
Meigon smiles as the John she’s talked to on Skype shows his hand. He and his obscure view of the world are not so abstract anymore now that the essence of a consciousness in him and his work are about to begin shedding their layers for the followers of this newfound truth.
“I feel so great, Mom.” Sophie’s smile says it all for Meigon as she sees other people whose smiles say they feel the same way as they part ways with the faithful.
PART 3
Jon Pierre follows the wading figure of Rozelle before him as she waves for him to follow her.
He looks over his shoulder at the villa where the landlord of the house’s light continues to burn in the window. Jon Pierre’s research has revealed that the house has been abandoned for nearly a century. The picture of the last occupant, also a beautiful woman, bears down on them as Jon follows Rozelle into the entry way.
“Never mind her,” says Rozelle, acknowledging the former tenant’s glaring presence on them, something Jon Pierre hadn’t noticed until now. The building’s emptiness causes an eerie feeling to flood the halls and rooms he looks up at.
Jon Pierre stalls for a moment as Rozelle reaches halfway up the grand staircase that fish-tales at the top beneath the mirror. Above the mirror, the portrait stares at him as if daring him to follow the femme fatale, an obvious incarnation of the woman in the picture; the Poet Soldier’s research has uncovered a sinister story in which the woman invited men to the chateau who reminded the scorned woman of a lost love.
“It’s—how would you say?” Rozelle asks. Jon Pierre, who fears nothing, goes quiet as he waits to hear what the woman, who only an hour or so ago was the guiding light for the cause in the Poet Soldier’s eyes, has to say.
“It’s a fabrication….Not even worthy of a fable….” Rozelle answers as if she has read his mind about why she insisted that he stay; he finds her response intriguing when considering how she has suffered abuse from a young age at the hands of many a man, including the men who came and went from her mother’s bed.
“But it could be a fable to teach someone a lesson?” Jon Pierre’s honest response delivered with a smile is taken as meant by Ms. Zofen, who now smiles as if to say her demeanour within the last few moments was part of an act.
“I plan to hold tours of the chateau once the war is over,” Rozelle’s plan is enough to put Jon Pierre at ease about what is happening….
CHAPTER 79
(November 27th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen, whose earthly charm sets her aside from other female shells in the dream dimension, makes her way to HC’s not so private chambers since Johnny’s arrival. There, like an ornament, she entertains Harold’s fanciful fallacy that he enjoys the beauty of a female shell and not males. The daily chore is part of her role as designed by Clarenta in an effort to cash in on Johnny’s show.
Imogen enters the den of decadence where a smattering of female shells is among the cast of mostly men dressed in next to nothing.
Imogen ignores the looks from the other female shells as she seats herself on one of the circular stages where she’ll perch like a flower until Harold has had enough of her and waves for her to leave.
They watch the sky as Johnny prepares to do battle with one of the new entrants, who has impressed HC with the opening scene to their campaign.
***
Johnny makes his way down the alley. The flailing light from his blurred vision wreaks havoc. Meanwhile, he maintains an outward show of confidence as he searches for the new entrant who has moved into one of the buildings in the lane.
Taking the fight to an opponent is not Johnny’s usual style—he would normally wait for the game to come to him.
But Imogen’s appearance has triggered something in Johnny that he didn’t think possible. Imogen hadn’t mentioned the pending marriage to HC, showing that it was something she didn’t want to deal with. Instead, she reminisced about times before; some of them Johnny can now remember, which makes him feel a sense of possessiveness about the female shell.
PART 2
Metofeaz Litigatti places the mobile phone down on the window table beneath the arched logo of SIL HOUSE Café.
Meigon, who is now a regular of LMLA-ink’s famous haunt, watches Litigatti, who has just finished talking with The Tourist in France.
Beginning to take shape is the story being told in PART 3 of the GUIOPERA divulging some home truths about Jon Pierre and Rozelle Zofen’s story, which Metofeaz and Sharon’s story dreadfully resembles—the original story as it was once thought—that of the Rozelle and the Poet Soldier—is a relapse of a tale before theirs.
To make matters worse, Rocol Récene, with whom Litigatti has a sordid past, passes by the window on her way into the café.
Meigon braces herself for what will happen next as Rocol enters the room.
PART 3
Jon Pierre lies in bed, looking at the ceiling. Next to him, face down to mark the page he read up to, is Frost Maiden, the book he’s already read several times.
He listens for signs of life in the chateau the morning after the party.
He hears a door close and then footsteps that stop outside his door, followed by a knock, and then Rozelle’s voice.
“Are you in there?” comes the call. Jon Pierre waits for a moment before he answers, “No, I’m not in there; I’m in here….”
Before the Poet Soldier realizes what he had just opened himself up for, the door opens for him to see Rozelle standing in the doorway. The sunlight behind her highlights the woman’s design; her form and the shape of her figure show through the sheerest material a man could wish for.
The front of the thin petticoat barely covers an area only hidden by the way she’s crossed her legs so her bare thighs hide all that remains unseen of Rozelle.
“Would you like breakfast in your bed or on my balcony?” Rozelle’s smile is no longer pleasant as it is appetizingly devilish for Jon Pierre, who is not sure of what to do. As a defensive reaction to Rozelle standing in the doorway, he places the novel on his chest. Ms. Zofen giggles for whatever reason.
“I’ll be down on the balcony in a moment,” Jon Pierre advises Rozelle who remains steadfast in her agonizingly seductive pose; the Poet Soldier now has to sit up in bed to escape the bounds of the woman’s allure….
CHAPTER 80
(November 28th 2011)
PART 1
The younger version of Johnny, whom Clarenta drafted from the MMD, is quicker than Johnny had expected as the new entrant swings at Johnny.
Johnny allows himself to be tagged by the fresh fighter and then Johnny sweeps the fighter’s front leg, sending the younger shell onto his side, which it deals with easily when the shell breaks its fall by holding itself suspended off the ground with its hands allowing the smart fighter to use his legs like a side-winding cutter to send Johnny flying into the air in a cartwheel.
Johnny lands on his feet and wonders whether the shell behind him will choose to come in close to nullify Johnny’s speed or stay clear and use kicks to hit him from a safe distance?
The former is the shell’s choice as Johnny feels the contact aimed at the small of his back by the charging entity, which has hit Johnny harder than he can remember.
The narrow entrance to another lane where the two shells battle to eliminate each other, something Johnny initiated, is ideal for the close contact duel. Johnny rolls forward in time to send the entity on his back, flying overhead and into the wall.
In two minds whether to end the fight quickly or to give the citizens that now crowd the alley something to talk about, Johnny is reminded there is no time to think as the younger shell, who ended up upside down with its back slammed against the wall, uses its hands to push itself off the ground, and then in a Latin style, moves using his legs to push Johnny back.
This time when Johnny decides to sweep, he uses the heel of his foot in a back kick to follow up the sweep to break the shell’s less than sturdy support of his arms.
To ensure the fans have something to discuss and that HC remains excited and on the edge of his seat, Johnny walks over to the shell; as it cradles its broken arms, its eyes say it still wants to take things further so Johnny puts the shell out of its misery with two twists to the shell’s head so it faces backwards.
“Sorry,” Johnny apologizes for the cracking sound of the shell’s neck after it is broken. “I know it looks wonderful, but I myself hate that sound.”
PART 2
“I’m Meigon.” Meigon reaches across to where Rocol, who sits opposite Metofeaz at the next table, holds her hand out.
Metofeaz has a doubtful look on his face, which comes from having to deal with Rocol, Meigon suspects.
Meigon looks at her own situation with the Novice and his past as she thinks of what it would be like for Sharon in France, knowing that her man still deals with someone from his past. The fact that LMLA-ink’s major client and investor is Rocol goes some way to deter Meigon from anything more than what she feels comfortable with right now as far as a relationship with the Novice is concerned.
“What the hell’s up down there?” Meigon finds something to smile about when she hears Rocol complain to Metofeaz about the Novice’s involvement with the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in New Zealand. The post about a meeting for a music CD to support the protest annoys Rocol.
PART 3
Jon Pierre feels the growth on his face as next to him Rozelle places a plate of fresh fruit dripping in yogurt down on the table in the center of the balcony. She is close enough for him to taste the thoughts that run through his head.
The slight breeze blows her petticoat and on her skin protrude goose bumps; their appearance is purely an accident of nature as Jon Pierre looks up her legs, where the tiny bumps seem magnified, to where the tiny strap of her petticoat that has slipped from her arm has exposed her perfect breast.
Rozelle studies her pert breast with a look that reserves the unspoken sensuality of what’s happening.
Jon Pierre follows the line of the curve that ends at the tip of her hardened nipple. The goose bumps become redder the closer they get to the areola…
“Ahoy! Land ashore….” The words from over the balcony catch the two people in an uncertain grip. Jon Pierre ignores Ammer’s voice calling out from the villa.
“Tea or coffee?” Rozelle asks as if nothing has happened. And then she lowers herself in an almost awkward manner so she can’t be seen and so her shoulder can catch the strap that fell. Then she turns and walks away to get the “Coffee, please” that Jon Pierre calls out for….
CHAPTER 81
(November 29th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen bows her head when Clarenta waves at her as if discarding her.
Johnny’s verboseness in action, which luckily for Imogen was quick when he deposed a hopeful down in the alley, keeps Imogen smiling on the inside as she walks with her head held high until she is behind the doors of the chamber and then she hurries to her tower where she can be alone with her thoughts.
“He’s not the same Johnny we knew from past intersections.” Bella’s voice comes from behind Imogen as she opens the door to her cell in the same hall as Bella’s causes Imogen to pause, and then she enters her room without saying a word.
***
The victory parade for Johnny’s latest scene down Neon Strip takes place without the victor.
HC endorses the event in the montage of Johnny’s game thus far with the inclusion of Clarenta himself in the footage in the sky, something that Johnny can forget for the moment as he’s bent over in two down the end of the lane where he just ended another hopeful’s journey in this segment of the end-to-end saga.
The vision left in his one working eye can barely differentiate darkness from light now. The Temporary Shell he’s in is running out of time, running near on empty coming to the end of the road. His decision back at the Forks to apply to use the same shell for a temporary permit again may be the wrong decision in hindsight since the battle with the much younger and quicker shell, still lying where it fell, has drained its fair share of life out of the shell Johnny is in.
The promise he made all those moons ago is now back, or is it part of someone’s dream he is not privy to, and he is merely an ends to a means for Clarenta, whom Johnny is beginning to depend upon.
Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. The thought that his shell is now completely in the hands of the person he had high hopes of bringing down to his knees crosses Johnny’s mind as he does the unthinkable.
A show is not a show without a star. A star is dead if it ceases to shine. The brightest stars never fall, and if they do, their tails offer hope to those who watch.
Johnny looks around him at the shell he maimed. Its eyes are wide open in their final state of shock when Johnny ended their use.
He lowers himself onto his hands, almost like an act of humility, and begins to crawl like a wounded animal that’s too proud to die.
On arrival, he crouches over the shell’s body, surveying it for any signs of life; he reaches down with one hand to hold the head, and then with the other, he uses a finger to scoop the shell’s eyeball from its socket.
His finger entering the cranial cavity imagines a much more civil pursuit than the one he pursues right now as it penetrates the sinew of human decency in fetching gratification that will suffice his dwindling fortunes.
The look of disgust on Johnny’s face is hidden by an ulterior motive as he chews on his catch to show that the act was from hunger rather than desperation to top whomever Clarenta may introduce into the game next.
The next eyeball is sweeter, according to the look on Johnny’s face. With two black holes staring back at Johnny for eyes, Johnny reaches back to ready himself to make an incision in the shell’s chest, so Johnny can consume the shell’s heart. Johnny realizes the depths to which he has plummeted in his bid to keep a promise.
PART 2
The mobile on the window table begins to vibrate, and then the ringtone lets Metofeaz know The Tourist is calling.
As if they are closer than they are, Litigatti passes the phone across to Meigon, who can’t help but keep an eye on the conversation, which has to do with a campaign for LMLA-ink’s fashion label CharleyStevonsen, which is a pet project for Rocol.
“Hello….” Meigon says, trying to sound comfortable with the situation she knows is awkward to say the least.
“Is Metofeaz there?” Sharon sounds terse, which can be understood from a woman’s perspective given the situation.
“He’s talking to Rocol right now,” Meigon says as her eyes dart to and from where Metofeaz looks like he’s caught between a rock and a hard place.
Metofeaz, who has to stay “in” with Rocol, whose name is on the stocks and shares on behalf of LMLA-ink, finds the act hard to keep up.
“Bring up the Novice!” Metofeaz calls out to the staff as Rocol gives instructions to Litigatti, a guru in creating ad campaigns, which he credits to being able to see the straightest line to someone’s heart, a motto Litigatti credits to his days as a sniper. Metofeaz, becoming claustrophobic from being in close quarters with Rocol, lassoes the air for the staff to know he needs to see the Novice on the screen up on the wall.
Meigon hears the click as Sharon hangs up. The sight of the Novice onscreen brings mixed feelings for Meigon as she sees Rocol out of the corner of her eye begin to become coy.
Rocol senses a small victory over the woman for whom Metofeaz fell, Sharon or The Tourist who is no longer on the phone, that Meigon holds unsure of whether she should hand it back to Metofeaz The Tourist’s and Whinsical’s affair was the reason why Rocol resorted to extreme measures when she ordered Tone Horroh to get rid of Litigatti.
Metofeaz looks up at the screen where the Novice types out the scene Litigatti’s caught in. Metofeaz’s hope was that Meigon wouldn’t tarnish JRA with the same brush that he is painted by, even though his conversation with Rocol is purely business….
PART 3
Jon Pierre steadies himself as he passes time on the balcony. News that a dinner party for Rozelle’s close friends, which include her landlord and neighbor, weighs heavily on the Poet Soldier’s mind.
The novel in his hand burns embers in parts of him, as other parts of the Poet Soldier have started to accept the obvious pull of a woman like Ms. Zofen who shows up ready for the dinner party in an outfit almost as revealing as her negligee this morning, but for the black stockings that match the black low-cut pinafore that rides high on her magnificent legs in the most exotic looking pair of shoes, with heels almost as tall as a nine inch nail.
Rozelle looks beyond him, drawing his attention to the guests, three of whom Jon Pierre can see as they make their way up the road toward the pathway to the chateau. The neighbor, Hannibal, and “He’s a cook from the restaurant,” Rozelle fills Jon Pierre in on who is the third person coming to dinner….
CHAPTER 82
(November 30th 2011)
PART 1
By the time Johnny makes his way back to what was his lab, images of his cannibalistic scene is in the sky for the citizens, who now spit and jeer at him as he reaches for the walls along the street to find his way.
The refurbishers, sent by HC while Johnny made his way back from the alley, have downgraded his lodgings to bare walls and floor to suit his condition and go with the ugliest of scenes the citizens have ever seen.
“When left to his own devices, we find the real shell and how he is….Nothing more than the animals we pity….”
Johnny cannot see the rerun of the scene, but the commentary by HC more than tells the story of his current state.
***
Imogen lets a tear escape; its form holds as it rolls down her cheek and under her chin. As it continues down her neck, another teardrop on the verge beckons that it’s ready and waiting to take its place.
From the hole in the tower, Imogen watches the scene in the sky as she blocks out the sounds of the crowds everywhere beneath her.
In her peripheral view, Imogen sees Bella in the opposite tower. The child seems void of any emotion as she stares vacantly at the sky, as if her choice to watch Johnny in his state is an act of insubordination against Clarenta—who probably doctored the scene—or so Imogen imagines Bella must be thinking based on what she sees.
PART 2
Meigon closes the door to Sophie’s room as another text message arrives.
It has been a long day, but one made interesting by constant text messages from The Tourist, or Sharon as Meigon now calls the anxious woman in France currently at Rozelle’s chateau.
The Tourist’s fearful behavior is understandable, with Metofeaz being back in New York and having to deal with Rocol, whose claws are never far from the surface.
Litigatti’s brief from Rocol will be another subplot of LMLA-ink’s cloaking device, which only Metofeaz can deliver so the Novice down under can twist the campaign in the GUIOPERA to carry code for the operatives as Christmas nears and those with strong views need to be accounted for.
Meigon stops in the hallway of her Manhattan apartment to respond to Sharon’s text message about Rocol and her talons.
“It’s just her insecurities….”
Meigon looks at the message and considers adding a smiley face to lighten things, but then she sends it as is.
The beep letting her know that the message has been sent ends and the phone rings, giving Meigon a fright, and then she sees that it’s Sharon. Meigon surprises herself by how she’s almost eager to take the call; secretly she has been waiting for when the woman she empathizes with will pick up the phone and call her….
PART 3
Dinner was amicable for the four courses Jon Pierre had to share with Hannibal Ammer, whose presence goes someway toward diluting any chemistry between Jon Pierre and Rozelle that existed before Ammer showed up.
Jon Pierre, who sits at one end of the table in the middle of the ballroom, facing Rozelle at the head of the table, does his best to keep his thoughts about the different topics being discussed to himself, purely out of his dislike for his nemesis, who has made a point of seating himself on the right side of Jon Pierre.
“….Wartime GDP; ain’t nothing like it….” Ammer interjects as Rozelle was midway through sharing with everyone the feeling of gloom on the day France signed an armistice with Germany.
Jon Pierre places his knife and fork down; the way he looks at Ammer makes it clear that the Poet Soldier and Hannibal, whom people may have mistaken for friends, are anything but.
“Excuse my friend his Gross Delinquent Personality, which is the sum of such outbursts,” The Poet Soldier announces, still locking Ammer in his stare. In the end, it was enough to make Ammer get up and storm out of the dinner before the fifth and final course of dessert….
CHAPTER 83
(December 1st 2011)
PART 1
Bella waits outside the doors of HC’s private chambers for Clarenta to see her. Bella’s impromptu request to see Clarenta became a necessity following the scene where Bella watched Johnny degrade himself beyond recognition.
The door opens and the self-indulgent smell of the depraved, whose greedy eyes feast on the innocent child, becomes overbearing for Bella so that she has to close her eyes in prayer before she takes another step into the feigned falsehood of Harold’s world.
The seedy scent from carnal activity, which carries on as Bella makes her way to where she’ll be heard, is pungent. The brave child dares to look to her sides, where the immorality continues, spilling forth what might be the reason for the slipperiness of the polished ground she walks upon; Bella scares herself with the disgusting thought that she has to forget as the throne spins around for her to see HC in all his sleaziness.
PART 2
Meigon walks past the front of SIL HOUSE Café. She looks in and sees that the window table is vacant just like Polina had said it would be.
She enters the café where she’ll meet Polina for coffee in ten minutes time.
Meigon is about to take a seat at the table when she notices a handbag on the seat, which she didn’t see from outside.
Within seconds, the answer to who owns the Louis Vuitton bag is answered.
“Take a seat; this is long overdue.” Meigon hears Rocol’s voice behind her, with what sounds more like a welcome, as if Rocol has been waiting for her to appear.
Meigon feels flustered as she tries to work out on which side to sit; meanwhile, Rocol, who possesses a vixen quality that goes with her commanding presence as the financial controller of LMLA-ink’s business interests on paper, pulls up on Meigon’s right side.
Meigon moves to her left, careful not to look nervous, which she cannot help when she places her bag on top of Rocol’s; then she pulls it back up and apologizes.
Rocol twirls her hand in the air; the action causes Meigon to look at Rocol, and suddenly blurt, “Lassoing the atmos, right?”
Rocol looks at the wall where the Novice appears on screen further, adding to what Meigon has to contend with.
Once seated, Meigon keeps her eyes on Rocol’s; she makes a conscious effort not to look at the Novice onscreen and what he might be writing, lest it creates any further uneasiness for her.
“I knew him when we were young, back in the day down under.” Rocol’s way of winning someone over consists of beating her over the head with a stick.
By the look of things, Rocol now thinks her proclamation of her and JRA’s history is enough to set the record straight as her demeanor suddenly changes when she asks, “Coffee?” and then adds a smile as if she’s just triumphed over Meigon in some contest Meigon did not know of.
PART 3
Jon Pierre feels perpetual motion in the air pulling him further from his aspirations.
He had witnessed what he came to see for himself—that Rozelle was a cog in the wheel of progress as far as her commitment to the wellbeing of those discriminated against.
The after dinner conversation leads the four people still left at the chateau, minus Ammer, to a place where Jon Pierre sees another side of Rozelle that can be attributed to the ID within the realms of Freud’s “Psychic Apparatus.”
The conspiracy deriving from two women whose spirits are strong and free—Rozelle and her landlord—has created an intoxicating mood for the men present—Jon Pierre and the cook from the restaurant, a younger looking version of the Poet Soldier, something that Jon Pierre realizes.
Rozelle, who wheels in a blackboard, has a demure feline-like look on her face as she sets up for a game she promised will be fun for all four of them.
The woman, who called herself Imogen, resumes that identity as Jon Pierre takes a sniff of his wine; the possibility that his intoxication is due to something other than fermented grape crosses his mind from what seems to the Poet Soldier like an altered reality.
“Draw what is on your mind for us to guess....” Imogen, who has said little over dinner, explains the rules as her body language becomes more open, reminding Jon Pierre of two nights ago at the hotel.
Imogen’s behavior goes beyond flirtatious when she lets the strap of her dress slide to show her ample breast.
Jon Pierre refocuses on Rozelle, who stands next to the blackboard, holding out a stick of chalk for someone to take from her.
“Lick it!” Imogen’s order is met by the cook next to her, who bends his neck to do as he’s told while Rozelle, who remains at the blackboard, remains catlike, waiting for Jon Pierre to stand up and come to her for the chalk in her hand.
Jon Pierre places his hands on his knees to get up from the comfy sofa; when he looks down to his right, he sees Imogen with the same look in her eyes from the other night as she slowly rubs the back of the cook’s head, which is lost between her breasts.
Jon Pierre looks to where he’s expected; Rozelle’s pout says that her Ego, according to Freud, may be telling her to think of tomorrow. But then the way Ms. Zofen has been since this morning dispels that theory, meaning she still allows the lower drives of her ID to dictate.
“Kiss me for luck….” Rozelle’s words don’t seem to register, not before Jon Pierre feels her open mouth; its warm moist pink tongue finds the side of his mouth. The Poet Soldier’s insistence not to react to what’s going on allows Ms. Zofen’s lips, mouth and tongue to explore the side of his face, then his strong jaw, before it settles on a place in his neck.
Moaning sounds from behind Jon Pierre do little to help him maintain his stance as Rozelle raises her head and whispers, “Fuck me, like Imogen the other night….”
Rozelle’s request sends alarms bells ringing.
“I am the….How did you say it?” Jon Pierre looks at the woman in front of him and then back around at Imogen on the sofa, with her head down in the lap of the cook.
“I am your Illicit Blade of Grass, am I not?” says Rozelle into his ear; she emphasizes her accent, making her sound more English than French, and jolting Jon Pierre to his senses….
CHAPTER 84
(December 2nd 2011)
PART 1
Johnny wipes his lips, which are hidden beneath the unruly beard that covers his face.
In the sky, a scene of Bella on the central-most rotunda in HC’s court terrorizes what remains of the Temporary Shell’s susceptibility.
Johnny lays on his back, from which he could once see the sky above the balcony; now his habitat is overrun by rodents that fight for the scraps that drop from a trap door in the roof that opens every once in awhile.
Bella remains perched on another one of Clarenta’s pseudo-pedestals to present Harold in a fairer light to citizens while Bella is still a captive. HC’s commentary scoffs at Bella’s would-be savior, and it is excruciatingly painful for Johnny since it is all that the blind shell has to go on.
Johnny hears the click of the latch on the trap door that he lays directly beneath, and then the hinges creak as the doors swing down.
The raw meat lands on his throat, and then the attack from the rats begins. He holds onto the food, using his chin pressed down on his chest, while he collects the rodents, one after the other, as they begin to cover his face and chest. He administers pest control.
One after the other, he bites what should be the head of each rodent; then he spits the remains until the remaining rodents get the message….
PART 2
Polina watches on from across the road as in the window of the café Rocol begins to overstep the mark in her usual domineering way.
Meigon remains her meek and mild self, but she continues to show a resilience that dumbfounds Polina, who was born an operative, when Rocol’s body language shows that—bitch of bitches that she is—she believes she has the upper hand.
Polina reads over PART 1 of the chapter being written on her mobile and decides to hold firm to her belief that John Reyer will not forget about her.
The new woman in JRA’s life has so far proven herself to be a strong and loyal person.
Polina’s experience of love is a muddled one to say the least.
Her only romantic encounter to date was with her pen-pal at the age of seven who is now English bad boy actor Alexvale Rokov III. Needless to say, he broke her heart in an affair with none other than Rocol Récene. Polina, in her subliminal quest for a family of her own, had enlisted Rocol’s help to test Meigon further.
After Page’s death, Polina reverted to her childhood dream from the orphanage, in which JRA and Lavenda Stevenson—a child psychologist whom JRA employed to manage Polina’s development and who would accompany JRA as The Guy on his visits to the orphanage—would one day be her parents.
PART 3
Out on the balcony, Jon Pierre leans on the railing, agonizing over his role as the Poet Soldier. Inside, sounds from Imogen and the cook, as they carry on with what appears to be an orchestrated scene by the two women, does little to sidetrack Jon Pierre’s thinking.
“There’s another side to everyone….” Rozelle’s voice in the dark says what the Network’s most reliable operative knows only too well.
“It isn’t as dark as it seems, right?” Jon Pierre, whose own battle with lower drives that led him to where he was the other night with the woman on the sofa, with someone else, sounds empathetic to his host’s admission.
“Or is it darker?” The Poet Soldier speaks from his personal experience.
“It’s the lighter side of the darkness that is life, an escape. I thought that of all people, you’d enjoy a license to indulge? Isn’t that how it works?” Rozelle’s English becomes fluent with a forthright hint of her native German tongue.
This is not the dance the Poet Soldier imagined he would be having with the promising and potential recruit he came to assess.
“I respect who you are….” Rozelle’s words do little to fix the problem that the Poet Soldier sees in his mind.
CHAPTER 85
(December 3rd 2011)
PART 1
Johnny lies still; he’s become used to the sound of scurrying rats around him. Their behavior seems to take a turn for the worst whenever they hear the voice of HC across the dimension in his moronic commentary. It’s like the voice of their leader, so they race without reason, as if to agitate the body that lies in the middle of the derelict room.
The Temporary Shell, which lies dormant amongst the angst of rats that run across the body, is aware. The Ultra-Ego within the shell houses countless experiences it may call upon, the trade off for the slowly expiring services responsible for combat and making appearances.
Johnny’s observation that HC has an unhealthy fascination with him stands firm, as in the sky images of the spent shell continue to be a focal point of Clarenta’s game.
Johnny, who has been behind the second horizon, understands implicitly the concept of dreams. However, in the SFD, the place where life is created as a result of someone’s dream in the MMD, the idea that its own life source—a dream that could be created within a dream—is unheard of.
The inverted reality would defy the linear nature of conceived parallel dimensions. The mass’s negative image in another dimension would assume the role of master.
There is a window of time not long before a Temporary Shell shuts down, during which the shell undergoes what could be likened to its life flashing in front of its eyes. It’s during this period that a shell is said to have the opportunity to return to one of the places it sees, thus creating the unheard of scenario. And it is also a mindless activity, as the stream of consciousness, as it were, is nothing more than a blur, and of which most shells, especially those with Temporary permits, are not aware.
PART 2
Polina thinks about the title of the Poet Soldier that the Novice now holds, which has had a significant influence on JRA’s behavior.
The new cover he created for himself—the Novice—after killing off The Guy, a low-flying character who flew under the radar for over two decades, starting back in the ’80s after rising quickly from obscurity as “Johnny the kid from Nowhere,” has ended his days as a player.
Across the street, Polina sees Rocol get up from the table and collect her handbag. Her movement is in time with Sophie, Meigon’s daughter, arriving at SIL HOUSE café, where Polina is already ten minutes late for her catch up with Meigon.
***
John Reyer Afamasaga, almost a fictional character even to the Novice himself, senses that the time is nigh for when he must drop the act he’s played ever since he was a child, following a visit from one whom he believes was Jon Pierre himself on Christmas Day in 1970 when JRA was five years old.
JRA, the chosen one within the ranks of the Network, has chosen his covers well. And he has also maintained his integrity in his dealings, whether it’s been with the ordained or those from the underworld, earning himself a reputation as an honest man in whatever setting and circle the cut-throat-creative has operated.
His strength is his ability to play a perfect game, to win no matter whom he comes up against, and immediately to cast his opposition as the bad guy, due to JRA’s ethics regardless of the type of operation he’s involved in.
Like Lazoo, Litigatti and Le Mac, all those closely involved in raising John Reyer—his parents, aunt and uncle, and his grandmother—have all passed on, and apart from his maternal grandmother, JRA’s mum and dad, aunt and uncle all died at relatively young ages.
That the person without a formal education commands the attention he acquired almost singlehandedly, and then he unwittingly holds onto it without any trouble when he was forced to rebuild the Network, broken following 9/11, more than says whom the Novice is. Most other figures lurk longingly in the shadow of the reigning Poet Soldier, where they scavenge off his faux pas, carefully designed for those who cling for dear life to the Poet Soldier’s coattails…..
PART 3
Jon Pierre finds his way around the kitchen in the chateau as he busies himself early in the morning, preparing breakfast for two.
Rozelle arrives in the doorway; this morning she wears a robe, which Jon Pierre catches a glimpse of, and then he goes back to poaching eggs. He doesn’t ignore his host; rather, he waits to see how Ms. Zofen is the morning after he rejected her advances; a reversal of circumstances which Jon Pierre feels comfortable about, whatever consequences may ensue.
“I’d like you to know that I see it as a show of strength rather than outright rejection….” Rozelle broaches the contentious issue for the Poet Soldier, who must admit that he relies on a certain appeal that affords him the breaks that he gets in his cover as the romantic icon—the Poet Soldier.
“Why don’t I just leave, ah?” Jon Pierre asks a rhetorical question, to which Rozelle has her own rhetorical question, letting Jon Pierre know of her frustrations.
“You fuck anything that moves, don’t you?” The heavy sarcasm in Rozelle’s tone causes Jon Pierre to ease off a bit.
“The Poet Soldier rarely fucks up, but I...am human….” Jon Pierre says, while wishing he were somewhere else, but where?
CHAPTER 86
(December 4th 2011)
PART 1
Imogen lies on her side on furs that cushion Clarenta’s pedestal. She brushes her legs all the way up to her hip to cleanse a soul she no longer has.
The act is seen to be provocative by the feasting eyes and minds that surround her in the cauldron. It enacts their response as the male shells pummel the hinds of the female shells on the floor before they grind them hard and slow, pulling their heads back by their hair, or pushing the faces down into the floor as if it were Imogen on the pedestal.
Imogen bides her time, lying idle and staring at the once powerful figure of Johnny in the open sky languishing in purgatory. Such has been the soldier’s battle that his armor is torn by the rodents that wonder whether there’s any life in the body they gnaw at and then run all over as if they are trying to wake it from its state of limbo.
Imogen accentuates the impious pose for those beneath her when she stretches limbs for circulation. A charging moron is struck down by one of the guards whom a superstitious Clarenta has in place in case Imogen’s displeasure summons aid for Johnny in a state that pleases HC to no end.
The slamming of bodies and shuddering sounds of motley cries that Imogen cannot sort as male or female becomes a mist of mangled limbs; their smell reminds her that it’s real as she closes her eyes to assist them in their fuck fest and its quest….
PART 2
Meigon has something to smile about as her teenage daughter shows her face. And then the phone rings as Meigon spots Polina cross the road when Meigon sees the back of Rocol.
“What she like?” Sophie asks about Rocol as Meigon sees on her phone that it’s The Tourist again.
“Did she really take Alexvale off Polina?” Sophie asks her mother, who ignores her daughter as she once again questions her decision about getting involved with the Novice on the wall scripting what makes a soap opera seem squeaky clean.
Sophie sits back, as if doing so retracts her last question about Rocol and Alexvale Rokov III’s affair, when Sophie spots Polina now at the front window peering in on them.
“She so beautiful!” Sophie says as she bends her head to wave at Polina, who does the same girly thing in return.
Meigon answers the call from France; her eye is on the Novice on the wall and his latest photo of a group of women engaging in what’s termed “Craftivism,” where he’s spent the afternoon.
“Is he there?” is the first thing Sharon asks in Meigon’s ear about Metofeaz.
Polina reads where the story is at on the wall as it flies off the Novice’s press. Polina, one of the tortured ones herself, hears the stress in Meigon’s voice and finds empathy for the single mother who won’t look at Polina now as her starry eyed daughter senses the claustrophobic state her mom is in.
The condition for new entrants into the Novice’s world is from LMLA-ink’s embellishment of Metafiction, the genre in which JRA creates his story about the story being written. Polina suspects that the devices and tricks that morph the real and unreal are beginning to take effect on Meigon, which is not at all the Novice’s intention.
Polina decides to give the readers a round up from her character’s perspective of where the story is at. Hopefully, it will also bring Meigon out of the place she’s in.
“Can I call you back?” Meigon asks Sharon on the phone.
“Bella’s dream in PART 1, which ended back in Chapter 54 when Bella fainted after making her wish belongs to moi….” Polina says daintily as she sits down at the table facing the mother and daughter.
Polina surges on with her strategy, clinging onto the idea that she was here before Meigon existed, which was an act of God, in terms of how Meigon has managed to force her way into the story from the land of the living.
“Johnny’s dream begins at Chapter 55 when Johnny comes to the place in the desert, and then he adopts Bella at the wall, and then it ends just after he meets the Imager; that’s JRA’s dream! Count on it!”
“And so, who’s dreaming up what’s happening in PART 1 from Chapter 68 onwards as we speak?” Meigon’s composure with a smile contradicts her anger.
“Remember, you’re still asleep in the villa; the precursor to the pick-up of Rozelle and the Poet Soldier’s story in PART 3 of Chapter 45?” Polina snaps back….
On the wall and on the walls of the New Global Realm, the lethal writer who snubs clowns, and chooses to elevate normal everyday people into a stratosphere that John Reyer Afamasaga fashions for his followers across the planet, laments his position as the writer whom they’ll remember long after he’s gone….
PART 3
Jon Pierre munches on his breakfast as his outburst, which seemed to have put a smile on Rozelle’s face, repeats on him.
Her robe that covered her has fallen aside, letting him see her naked as she eats, smiling back at him.
The Poet Soldier thinks of what he might do today, which includes calling in his findings and sending the London editor something to publish to take his mind off what he sees.
His plans become thwarted in their planning stages as first he hears footsteps and then the neighbor calling out as she comes up the balcony’s stairs.
Her appearance is a reprieve for Jon Pierre, but it is only a brief one that ends, when the landlord stops behind Rozelle and bends down where she begins to kiss her tenant on her open and wanting mouth like feeding a seedling. The woman’s hands begin to rub Rozelle’s shoulders as if to warm up Ms. Zofen after having being exposed to the cold air from her open robe. The mesmerizing hands move as if they know what the recipient needs as they now move down to massage slowly Rozelle’s breasts that painfully present themselves for her neighbor’s hands to tend to until Ms. Zofen has to put down her utensils, at which point she reaches up with arms for the older woman….
Jon Pierre looks down at his food, and then he continues eating as if nothing is happening.
“Tasty?” The neighbor’s question doesn’t need an answer, so Jon Pierre shrugs his shoulders before he decides that it’s time for him to work….
“Do I sense the birth of a new Muse?” The London editor asks on the phone, and Jon Pierre has to take the phone from his ear and look at the receiver.
The Poet Soldier clears his throat and places the receiver back to his ear; he continues to deliver the code for his friend to publish in the next edition of the paper:
“….Promiscuous dirt, new line. Illustrious dust. New line, Capital ‘H,’ how is it you know?”
The Poet Soldier hears the click signalling that someone has tapped into the editor’s phone line and quickly musters a smile so his mood cannot be detected by the Network, the members of which are now listening to his conversation.
“Did you hear that?” the editor asks.
“Hear what pal? Voices?” Jon Pierre pretends he doesn’t know what the editor is talking about as he talks fast to cram in the detail he needs to offload in the voice and the style of someone who could be mistaken as hearing voices....
CHAPTER 87
(December 5th 2011)
PART 1
Bella, who now relies on everything that the shell she’s in has accumulated to help her through this ordeal, lies still on her back. The insides of HC’s private chambers are upsetting for the child as she turns her head now and again to see Johnny’s body in the footage on the walls, which Bella tries to emulate in hopes that somehow somewhere something will assist her. By taking what she believes to be the same stance that Johnny is in, her will and his can combine to bring about the outcome she wished for.
Bella dares not look elsewhere in case her shell takes in the ungodly images around her.
The child hears someone call out Imogen’s name and then another’s, as Bella dreads the thought of hearing her name being called out, forcing the child who lies rigid on a stage to have to tune out.
It is clear to Bella now that Johnny is in his last stages of his permit on the SFD, and that Imogen, who may have come back, unbeknownst to Johnny, is not in the least concerned with Johnny’s plight. Rather, Imogen is satisfied with the attention she’s receiving in HC’s game, in which Johnny’s return is why she has suddenly become relevant again.
It’s all falling into place for Bella now as she lies there with only her thoughts to keep her company since Johnny is as good as dead, a concept she has heard of from those who have been behind the second horizon.
Both she and Imogen were lured into the towers by Clarenta with the promise that they were a princess and a queen, respectively, for whom a prince would one day come to rescue. That was the story for the citizens in the beginning. But then as time wore on and the prince had yet to show, HC spun the story so he was the prince.
In the bigger picture, it was this turn in the story that may have brought Johnny in from the wastelands of the Dimension Forks and into Clarenta’s game where he lies in a condition that may ultimately see his return to the forks where he came from as a corpse.
PART 2
Litigatti laughs to himself as he sees the message the Novice has posted on LMLA-ink’s Facebook page sent via alternative means, and not directly to JRA telepathically on the F3quenZor.
The atmospheric network, on which the water cycle relies for rain, has proven to be a successful carrier of a newly structed data packaging granules of information, using bit-like vapor that is soluble, which is retrievable when condensation for receiving the information is perfect. Receivers found in cuticles translate the data back into a form for which the F3quenZor is used to evaluate and check the content. The groundbreaking experiment by LMLA-ink supersedes testing by agencies of the same concept that is a secret and not yet patented.
The wind in Wellington, where the Novice was sent the message, is gusting. The original message was sent by telepathic relay to Europe, and then onto New Zealand, using the new technology to test the integrity of data was maintained. The strong winds in Welly have put a spin on the message, but still, the essence prevails in the post Metofeaz has to read again to believe his eyes.
Winning for the Novice is secondary to doing a task well so it may stand the test of time, but more immediately, so he can stamp his mark on proceedings in such a way that it becomes a moment to remember.
Litigatti waits in the boardroom of Charley Stevonsen HQ for Rocol to show for their meeting.
In reading the LATEST UPLOAD, Litigatti has just come up with the campaign for LMLA-ink….
PART 3
Jon Pierre gets out of bed early each morning to escape the sleepless nights at the chateau when he wallows in reasons for why he doesn’t leave the place. And each morning at breakfast, he sits across from Rozelle, whose power over him seems to grow by the day.
On the balcony, Jon Pierre reads a letter to the editor from Ms. Zofen in the newspaper that arrived today. Rozelle’s letter to the London paper is in response to last week’s letter from the Poet Soldier—the poem—“Illicit Blade of Grass.” Rozelle’s letter endorses the poem.
Over the last few days, Rozelle’s seductive advances have made way for a much more refined disposition that allows the Poet Soldier to get to know Ms. Zofen.
“You didn’t have to, but I appreciate the letter,” says Jon Pierre, thanking Rozelle for taking the time to write the letter; as Rozelle drinks her tea, she reaches out to take the paper the Poet Soldier hands to her.
As Rozelle reads the newspaper, Jon Pierre finds the opportune time to pose a question he’s been waiting to ask Rozelle.
“You and your landlord?” Jon Pierre asks, and it’s as if Rozelle is ready for his question. Her answer is quick, and designed to let him know that it’s none of his business. “It’s complicated….”
Still reading the newspaper, Rozelle has a question of her own, “JRA—is it one of your pseudonyms?”
John Pierre is startled by the question. He was beginning to accept that the writer who had dedicated a novel to the holder of the title had made it clear that she no longer wanted to hear from him, in no uncertain terms.
CHAPTER 88
(December 6th 2011)
“Mistletoe”
PART 1
The last thing Bella remembers is a wish she cast into the yonder, in hopes that someone behind the second horizon will heed her one and only wish.
Bella sits up and looks around her. Neon Strip is quiet, as if someone knows a secret; the only clue is music in the air:
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year….”
Sleigh bells and song lyrics fill the air as people go about their lives. Bella takes her time as she readjusts her thinking so she can figure where she has landed.
Bella sees the world from where she’s seated. As people walk by, no one says a word, or even as much as looks Bella’s way.
The milk bar across the street looks familiar to Bella. Billboards everywhere announce a wedding that seems to be the talk of the town.
“Johnny Shawshank’s fall from grace!” A newsflash about someone flashes overhead as Bella reads the latest change on the billboards advertising that the banishment ceremony of Johnny Shawshank will take place on the eve of the wedding of Beatrice DeLani and Harold Clarenta.
In the window of the milk bar, Bella sees a lady in her waitress uniform. The place looks warm and inviting for Bella, who blocks out thoughts of abandonment once again when she hums along to the tune in the air.
“I should be playing in the winter snow….”
Milly sees the child across the street looking in the window. The kind-hearted lady pretends she doesn’t notice the shell seated in the gutter as she turns her back and goes into the kitchen.
Bella sees images and their headlines in the sky, “Cut-Throat Creative; Heartless Monster!” Bereft and desolate, Bella goes into her shell as she mourns what she does not know about; the deep down sorrow from loss buries her.
Inside the diner’s kitchen, Milly places the cookies on a plate and then on a tray with a glass of milk. She peers through the gap in the wall to see whether the child is still there. Johnny’s last stand plays on the wall; it makes Milly sad that things have once again gone wrong for the shell who meant well but in the end lost his way.
Milly, who has seen many a traveller come and go, picks up the tray of cookies and milk for the entity that sits on the sidewalk while hoping it will help the child through another loss. Bella, who has suffered at the hands of Clarenta once again by refusing his advances, remains the only hope for those who oppose the self-imposed ruler of the SFD. The SenFenide Dimension is a place
Johnny created with visions of a Shangri-La for those behind the second horizon seeking solace to dream of and find a Utopia-like escape.
Beatrice DeLani exits the alley and makes her way up the strip. Some of the citizens look at her sideways while others choose to think of her as the lovely fiancée of Harold, the soon to be baron. No one says what everyone knows as Ms. DeLani appears; she has just come from visiting the prisoner; it is just days before her wedding, and the execution of the shell she has just visited will be part of the celebration.
Beatrice has chosen to walk in the wrong direction, perhaps because she is flustered or absent-minded (or would be if she had a mind); her confusion springs from the constant barrage of pressure, none more so than images of the barefoot woman in a tattered and torn wedding dress that keep repeating on Ms. DeLani.
She even questions her name now—its origin and meaning—and how she came to be who she is.
Beatrice sees the child seated at the sidewalk’s edge. Its head is buried as they look down into the gutter. It seems to coincide with the unwavering stance of Johnny, against Ms. Delani’s future husband, for which Bella is one of the reasons.
Johnny stands in the middle of the iron cage, onstage at Cameo Court, the place he built and in which he’s now a prisoner. With his arms folded and him looking down at the ground, his body language remains unrepentant.
The audience in the full house today shows signs of forgiveness after the visit from Beatrice DeLani; during that visit, Johnny had wished Ms. DeLani the best of luck for her upcoming wedding.
Johnny Shawshank, a name Johnny chose, looks up to see shots of Bella out on the strip, head down and lost. And then one of Beatrice when she looks the other way because she sees Bella.
The song Johnny’s conjured, which is about the only thing the once revered creative can now do, sounds more poignant for the knockers and followers alike as they look on the one they used to call the cut-throat-creative….
“I’m a be under the Mistletoe….”
PART 2
In the MMD, the same music plays. Metofeaz checks that the set, the street where he stands in New York, along with certain sights where his campaign will be filmed, is “alight!” The crew of associates dressed as workmen confirm that the thousand or so cameras are in place and they already stream audio and video for the footage of fans that LMLA-ink will use in the run to the finish line in this year’s GUIOPERA.
Litigatti crosses the street. Across the street under the arc logo of SIL HOUSE Café, he can see Polina, Meigon, and Sophie.
The alert of the LATEST UPLOAD, with Mr. Justin Bieber singing “Mistletoe,” sounds on Litigatti’s mobile. The echo can be heard in the surrounding areas as others check their mobiles for the Novice’s latest offering.
Metofeaz sees Lazoo and Genisis hand-in-hand as they step to the Christmas sound, making their way down the street to where the crew has decided to gather to heed the call from the fans worldwide for an ending to the GUIOPERA season with a memento to remember.
Litigatti looks around and sees more couples who look like the real thing—John Lazoo & Genisis Jones—happy from how in love they are, highlighted when Mr. Bieber sings, “With you—shawty with you….”
The lyric is in time with Le Mac and the former lingerie model, Arley Lévon, the Cuban beauty; Arley’s daughter Missy spots her sister Polina in the window.
Inside the café, Meigon watches. The Novice onscreen will have to convince her from now on that he has a plan for a future of some sort away from this mess in which Meigon finds herself.
“Things will work themselves out.” Polina’s confidence is a double-edged sword for Meigon as the realities of what she was sent to do and how things have turned out set in. Getting JRA to trust her has been a mission. Sent to deceive the Novice by distracting him has taken its toll on their budding relationship, in which Meigon is expected to humiliate the already tortured person; for the past decade, those who sent Meigon have been trying to do what she has managed to achieve.
Metofeaz looks in the window where he sees Meigon; thoughts of Sharon in France come to cast a shadow from the work they do in the name of love, for which they sacrifice their own chances at finding the thing they preach.
He smiles at the woman caught up in the Novice’s life; JRA doesn’t dare admit that he’s trapped in a mire as he treads water for yet another year, clinging to the hope that someday the test will end and he will be able to resume a life that he cannot remember any longer.
“I’m a be under the Mistletoe….”
Litigatti feels the sentiment of the Christmas carol sweeping the moment LMLA-ink has created as he steps down from the pavement onto the street, where it’s now shoulder-to-shoulder with the young, old, happy, and sad, all of those for whom John Reyer and company do what they do. A path to the window opens up for Metofeaz. Inside the window, Meigon sits facing Polina; out on the street, Lazoo and Genisis reach the window, where they stop in another surreal assertion of the cut-throat creative’s world of denial in which he and his characters live.
Litigatti clears his mind of the perils in his ordeal that could’ve cost him his chance at “Love.” Jon Le Mac, Arley, and Missy arrive in front of the window where Lazoo and Ms. Jones stand facing the fans to create a photo opportunity for the faithful.
Metofeaz knows well the look on Meigon’s face from his experience in the early ’90s with Sharon in France.
Down the road, a limo sounds its horn and the crowd steps aside. Inside the limousine is Rocol. The campaign Metofeaz has been ordered to come up with angers him, as he braces himself for what he knows will hurt the woman he loves….
PART 3
The year is 1970. The place is the seaside village of Petone on the outskirts of Wellington, New Zealand.
The second-hand bookstore on Jackson Street looks like it’s open for business as usual.
Johnny wanders down the main street, proud of himself now that he is five years old. Johnny counts the days until Christmas—exactly eighteen days from today.
And then the humming sound comes again. Johnny is now used to the purring noise, which used to frighten the child. Of late, the humming has been followed by music. The song that fills the space surrounding the child is a Christmas carol…
“Reindeers flying through the sky so high
I should be making a list….”
Johnny hums along to the song as he peers through the window of the second-hand bookstore to see whether he can spot his friend “Betty,” who owns the bookstore. Seated in Betty’s chair is a man who reminds Johnny of someone the child can’t quite place.
Johnny knocks on the window once to see what the person’s reaction will be….
CHAPTER 89
(December 7th 2011)
“my favourite…. <3”
PART 1
Johnny Shawshank stands still, holding onto his closed body stance with his arms folded and looking down at the ground in the middle of his cage. Defiant, he remains unperturbed and seemingly composed in this stance under the only spotlight in the house.
Someone comes to mind—Beatrice DeLani—who came to visit him yesterday. Ms. DeLani’s excuse was laughable this time, in Johnny’s opinion, as was the one before that. Her latest reason was to check that she was truly over him before she could move on with her new life with Harold Clarenta.
The feeling of being displaced becomes overwhelming for the person trapped in his own creation, where his nemesis, whom he created to keep him on his toes, now rules the domain he was sure he could control.
Out on the street, Bella stands up and begins walking somewhere across the street out of his dim view.
His only hope is that some soul behind the second horizon will be kind enough to stumble across his troubled existence in the dreamscape out of his control.
PART 2
my favourite…. <3
I love ur scatter-brain,
I love ur coherent mouth
when it showers me
With thoughts
scattering themselves
everywhere
I try to pick them up
And eat them
Swallow some
savor many
making you
my favorite….
Meigon reads the poem that came about after playing ping pong with the Novice on email. He had crafted it in seconds from an email of hers that complained about how scattered her thoughts must’ve seemed at the time, from all the study and her other work that takes all of her energy right now.
Their affair is still a secret from most of their friends and family online, but if anyone had been paying attention, he or she would’ve noticed the affiliation between the pair. Meigon is not ready for the liaison to be made public, which the Novice seems to push for reasons that Meigon questions, in light of her own preoccupation with the Novice Writer, who has written Meigon into his story about the story being written.
Meigon sees the Novice post the poem on the walls of the New Global Realm, and she is careful not to make her identity known as she comments on the post.
Meigon reads the poem again as she wonders what things would be like if she weren’t on a mission to fool the man for whom she has feelings. Another poem and another piece of her heart is his, whether or not he believes her.
“I love ur scatter-brain, I love ur coherent mouth… pick them up, And eat them…” Meigon says the words already etched into her mind as she again reads the poem from his wall that the rest of the world will also read….
PART 3
Jon Pierre watches the child in the window. He has the same sparkle in his eye as do the other boys who form the quartet of minds that the Network will rely on for the next fifty years to sort out problems in the “SystemSpectacular.”
Having been named “JRA” by his parents is secondary to the boy’s energy, which the Poet Soldier sensed before the inquisitive child knocked on the window. Just to see what would happen, Jon Pierre takes a bet on the reason why Johnny Reyer Afamasaga knocked on the window when he didn’t know who was inside the shop.
Jon Pierre hears voices belonging to other children, who are out of sight; it causes JRA to move from where the Poet Soldier can see him.
Jon Pierre gets up to see where the one he’s come back home to see has gone. From inside the second-hand bookstore, Jon Pierre watches what’s going down.
Four boys older than Johnny crowd him, forcing him into the middle of the footpath in front of the shop next-door.
Jon Pierre watches Johnny closely as the four boys begin to push and shove Johnny, who holds something behind him. One of the boys grabs what Johnny was holding behind his back—an apple—and begins to toss it in the air to himself while the other bullies continue pushing Johnny in the back and from side-to-side.
Johnny didn’t worry about the pushing; all he was concerned about was the apple, which he snatches in mid-air from in front of him, and then he goes back to holding onto the apple as the boys begin to hit Johnny, at which point Jon Pierre steps out of the second-hand bookstore, his appearance causing the bullies to flee….
CHAPTER 90
(December 8th 2011)
PART 1
Bella sees the plate of food in the window across the road. The woman who placed the food there looks in her direction, and Bella looks around her to see whether the caring looks from the welcoming person in the shop window are meant for someone else. Getting up off the ground when she sees no other recipient but her, Bella, a self-respecting shell, coolly dusts herself off as if the invite were a chance in a lifetime.
Bella looks down at the garb she’s in; it is evidence that she has fallen on tough times; it is also a clue for her that the mood of the place has again changed, and for the better, in the opinion of the beat character.
The song that’s come on has changed the atmos, enveloping everyone in a feeling of goodwill and amity toward one another. The Christmas ditty is as infectious as its catchy chant:
“Santa’s gonna come and make you mine!”
“Santa’s gonna come and make you mine!”
The food Bella could do with beckons to her from a plate in the window of the milk bar; she suddenly becomes aware that it is somewhere she may have been before as she takes her first step toward it.
“Santa, if you get this letter, will you help me out….”
PART 2
At the Astoria café on Lambton Quay in Downtown Wellington, the Novice kills time an hour before an eleven o’clock job interview. Next to him is his Lenovo laptop that he brought along in case he might need some information on it for his interview—and on the off chance that today might be the day he will make good on the promise that LMLA-ink will take this show to the street, opening up the fever he distributes on the walls of the New Global Realm from the security of his bedroom for those close enough to tell him, face-to-face, that he’s now a Rock Star, a phenomenon they are part of, only if he’d be so brave and unselfish as to share the limelight with them.
The shy person, who’s decided to come out of his shell to embrace all that can be embraced in an effort to get back on his feet after not being able to work for the past six months due to the loss of eyesight, looks around the place.
There’s a vibe he’s missed from having shut himself off from the world since 2001, when he, like many in his line of work, collapsed in a heap from the sheer terror that traumatized them following 9/11.
Wellingtonians relax in their capital city, and his hometown goes some way to reintroduce the Poet Soldier to the realities of real life, which the Wellingtonians see as ho-hum, but to JRA—those realities are all he can wish for….
***
“ROCK STAR!” screams Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac, and their women, plus the fans who cram the sidewalk out front of the SIL HOUSE Café in Tribeca, New York as the commissioned photographer takes another picture of them.
Litigatti, Lazoo, and Le Mac wait for the crowd to disperse or enter into SIL HOUSE before Metofeaz calls them in.
Metofeaz watches on his Nokia as the Novice finds a seat in Astoria, one of his favorite cafés in Welly. Down under, the Novice looks lean and clean in a suit as he waits for an interview that at best will net the former hit man and bank robber the kind of money per week that he used to tip.
Litigatti thinks back to the old days, a time when Network operatives were nothing more than hired guns, an acquired skill where looks and backgrounds mattered little. The days when he and JRA and the crew, including John Page, and before them, Jon Pierre, pushed and introduced talent who wanted to be Rock ’n Roll stars like Elvis and MJ, by using them and their music, and what they offered, to propagate the propaganda.
The guy sitting in a café in New Zealand is unemployed, down on his luck, and has only recently undergone surgery to regain his eyesight.
Litigatti looks down at the ground like he doesn’t want to deal with what he sees on the screen of his mobile, which he hands to Lazoo. Lazoo looks at the phone, and then he passes it on to Le Mac. Lazoo has the same look as Metofeaz.
Le Mac watches as onscreen the Novice reaches down for the laptop case; he produces the laptop and places the Lenovo machine on the table in the busy café. He powers it up and finds the free wireless network “cbdfree” provided by Citylink. Next he logs on and finds the theme song to the chapter that the
Novice promised everyone on the walls of the New Global Realm would be from Mariah Carey, who came to prominence back in the days when LMLA-ink was still faceless.
Metofeaz can hear the tapping as Lazoo grimaces from the pain the Poet Soldier must be feeling as he goes to work to live on the streets of his hometown….
“It’ll be good for him.” Le Mac tries to sound positive about the move by JRA, as he looks around at all those in NYC, like down in Wellington, who have responded accordingly to the Novice’s decision to make this GUIOPERA memorable.
Fans in hoards arrive in a number of flash mobs organized on Facebook, different from Litigatti’s campaign. The theme song reverberates from device to device. The atmosphere echoes the feeling down in Wellington, New Zealand two weeks out from Christmas and the climax to the story about the story being told.
“Let him go for it….” Lazoo says to Metofeaz, who nods his head as the chant from the carol goes up:
“Santa’s gonna come and make you mine!”
“Santa’s gonna come and make you mine!”
PART 3
“Johnny!” calls out Jon Pierre to the stricken boy, who is shaken by what has just happened. The boy fights to hold back his tears and ignores the voice he doesn’t recognize.
“JRA!” Jon Pierre calls out a second time to the boy who wipes from his eyes the tears he still hides from everyone.
“Sucker!” one of the boys down the street turns around and shouts out. Johnny frets over the possibility that the bullies might return. It’s Johnny’s last act of defiance when the bully turns around and starts to run after he sees Jon Pierre walk up to Johnny, who is still standing in the middle of the pavement, no longer able to hold back the tears….
CHAPTER 91
(December 9th 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice feigns a believable front for a happy looking Harold Clarenta, who sits across the table from her as the couple eat their dinner in silence. In fact, one could go so far as to say the look on HC’s face is a smug one as he looks around the walls of his mansion at images of Johnny on stage and in his cage.
Beatrice eats slower than normal with an eye on Harold’s plate, hoping he’ll soon remark on her ineptness as a cook, at which point he’ll exit to his cave.
In one scene on the wall, Johnny is seated in the corner of the cage, the audience made up of the “Others,” hiss at him as they jeer the fallen leader.
Harold’s story, which is told by the others under HC’s command, is that Johnny faces tests in an iniquitous plot by the moronic and the retarded has led to Johnny’s public incarceration.
“You’re getting better….See, practice makes perfect….” Harold’s remark is in time with the start of a song, and it is music to Ms. DeLani’s ears because it means he will soon leave her in peace to go and immerse himself in the fabricated version of the story in his den.
“Thank you, dear,” is Beatrice’s response, and then she begins to hum a tune to cover up how much she despises the person who gets up and leaves.
***
Johnny sits down in the corner of his cage; the song someone’s requested resonates with his thoughts.
The scene in the sky is of Beatrice and Harold sitting down at the table for dinner together, while out on the street, Bella touches the milk bar’s window, pawing the glass and the food behind it.
He runs over the iterations of the saga he was meant to bind in a fairy-tale way for the citizens of the SFD, who have turned against him. The story runs continuously on the screen above the stage he’s stuck on.
PART 2
Meigon stops in Times Square to read the LATEST UPLOAD, in which the Novice continues to stir the emotions of a world that’ll never tire from watching the man who lives in denial that he’s no one.
His recipe is now perfect; the main ingredients are him and his story about the story being written, in which he successfully lives off the Perfect Scarce Loop. LMLA-ink’s GAME, spearheaded by a novice writer, is a phenomenon that will never happen again, due to its uniqueness and the Novice’s doggedness, which the person who shuns attention somehow manages to manipulate to string along everyone as he distributes the GUIOPERA, the most important ingredients of which are probably his talent and his heart. This concoction of showmanship and brilliance with soul makes the man Meigon has fallen for public property.
The only place left for the enigmatic entertainer to go now is out from under his well-worked cover….
***
Cuba Mall in Wellington is one of those places where one can get lost, yet it is so small—a cobbled stone walkway where two horses and carts would find it difficult to pass each other, and barely one hundred meters in length. Bohemia’s home down under, the place where the Novice has watched many a creative over the years—buskers, painters, poets, mimes, and street performers—is the place where he’d most like to write in the entire world.
The Novice is somewhat buoyed by the call from Emma at Ranstad Recruitment. The news is that he has a job starting immediately, not that you could tell from how distant is the character in this stanza of the end-to-end saga, who plays an out of luck writer struggling to stay alive. He mooches like he has no aim; only the laptop on his back gives away that he’s not entirely out on his feet.
He spots the place—Plum Café—where he visualized eight months ago when he was still in Australia using his cover of The Guy that he’d be sitting and writing the GUIOPERA as the Novice.
There are no signs of flash mobs in his hometown; however, at the “New World” supermarket in Newtown last night, there was a short spell in which people, who had probably just gotten out of work, appeared and then a certain Christmas song began to play. The scene has JRA, an imaginative guy, thinking. The smattering of pre-lunchtime patrons inside the cozy café in Cuba Mall puts the Novice at ease that he ain’t shit, just a novice writer on the bones of his arse.
He orders a cappuccino with money he borrowed from his sister Shalleen and asks the staff whether he can take a picture of the place, and then he finds a table.
He logs on to the New Global Realm where he posts that he’s in Cuba Mall and ready to upload the next chapter in his journey.
Thoughts of Meigon and how he’s going to write the ending to this year’s GUIOPERA flood his mind as he hears the theme song for the festive season.
In the end, he settles on a plug for the place that starts to get busy from people on their lunch break—Kiwis and tourists of all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds, just wanting somewhere to get their caffeine fixes.
“Great atmos… friendly staff… great coffee…”
PART 3
Jon Pierre bows his head to the shopkeeper next-door as he watches Johnny look back over his shoulder at him as the boy disappears up Jackson Street.
“Jon Pierre, a long lost relative….I’m minding matters while Betty’s away….” The Poet Soldier tells the shopkeeper who he is and what he’s doing in the second-hand bookstore on Jackson Street Petone.
The owner of the second-hand shop has been conveniently called away on an urgent matter. The fact that Johnny’s mother knows Betty, the proprietor or landlord, is purely a coincidence, or is it?
The man from the shop next-door shrugs his shoulders and holds out his hand for Jon Pierre to shake, “You have an accent there….” the man says. Jon Pierre grips the man’s hand in a firm handshake to do away with any doubt the man may have about him and his story.
“War does that!” The Poet Soldier gives the man a solemn stare to back up his handshake and word, and then the man disappears back into his shop.
Jon Pierre squints under the bright New Zealand light as he thinks about how close he might be to identifying his predecessor, the one who will intersect dreams through his bloodlines and the dreams of those who toil for the Network, but who are still considered the outsiders by the powers that be.
He looks around him; on the table are his diaries and the novel Frost Maiden. JRA instantly recognized the initials in the dedication by the Romance Writer in the U.S., not that the child had let on. How Jon Pierre knew was when Johnny asked who JRA was, to which the Poet Soldier had merely replied, “Someone!”
The boy’s interpretation of the poems he read with poise was implicit yet explicit, so the story on the surface was succinct while the cipher or code flowed seamlessly throughout and across the handful of poems Jon Pierre had given Johnny, a shy child, but already one adept at public-speaking from his upbringing in the church.
Jon Pierre walks back inside the shop. He picks up the novel he still thumbs through now and then. He looks at the page in his diary, the POEMBOOK, where Johnny had left it open to Illicit Blade of Grass. Rozelle comes to mind.
Jon Pierre shuts out the past for now as he considers the possibility that he may well have found the next Poet Soldier….
CHAPTER 92
(December 10th 2011)
PART 1
Beatrice checks herself in every shop window on Neon Strip as she makes her way down to Cameo Court. Ms. DeLani has successfully traded another favor with Harold, whom she will marry soon so she may earn the right to see Johnny one more time in HC’s game.
Beatrice checks to see whether the tattered white gown has returned. And then she looks at her feet to see whether she still has shoes on—an after-effect of a repeating incubus from whom she runs.
Sadly, in each reiteration of her story in which Johnny appears, she seems to end up in the tattered gown for some reason.
There was the time Johnny picked her up in the convertible on the edge of the highway at the Dimension Forks. And then there was the account of her as an Imager trying to help others find themselves, in which Johnny first saved Bella at the wall, among other stories of despair for Beatrice. On each occasion, Beatrice DeLani—a name she goes by in hopes she can forget her life as Imogen, the unlucky one—has ended up in the tattered wedding gown, and barefoot.
The unprejudiced citizens, the ones who still hold onto the hope that Johnny will once again rise from the ashes, make way for Beatrice as she hurries to catch the matinee session in Cameo Court, in which Johnny in his cage will answer questions from the audience.
The “Others,” who advocate Clarenta’s rage, make it difficult for Beatrice as they block the path, “drive by” at intersections, and make it difficult for the woman who is in a rush. Sending orders to his stupid subjects to make nuisances of themselves is as creative as Harold gets; he calls such orders “action.” He remains infatuated with Johnny and those who can reach the enigma despite the obstacles he places in their way.
PART 2
In the Big Apple, Lazoo reads the post on Facebook that the Novice has posted on LMLA-ink’s page to endorse another bad boy from the past, back when the Network was strong. The irony is that when the West is most secure is when its icons are the most insecure and threatening to those who oppose the western front.
Onscreen is the Novice aka JRA, or Johnny to his friends and family, the Internet’s first real Megastar, someone with the capability to sustain the attack, but who also appeals to opposing ideologies and coincides with LMLA-ink’s drive for capitalism to grow an embryonic heart so it can continue its drive, and be led by the introduction of democracy into lands whose people need to be heard.
Since coming back from the brink to take over the leadership of LMLA-ink, the Novice has shown his unmatched creativity, durability, maturity, and reliability. Agencies now use the story about the story being written as a cloaking device for their operations—and not just the Network. JRA has stitched the Network and its web back up, a task considered impossible ten years ago, on his own; he is even lending his face to rally the followers.
***
The Novice reads the email from Meigon, and then he has to switch off as he reads words from the woman who has managed to make him feel again. A poem beckons to be spread on the walls of the New Global Realm; the urging is like a distraction he can do without, but it awaits him each time he logs on.
Messages telepathically sent on the F3quenZor from all over the world are urging the cut-throat-creative to slice another cut of his magic and join the dots; he does so effortlessly. With guile, he sends a message to the Network and its operatives to continue the story.
The post with the Bobby Brown song could’ve been taken as just one of his posts reminiscing about the past, until he comments on the post with a link to the press on “X-Factor’s” Chris Rene in Jay-Z’s “Occupy Wall Street” T-Shirt.
The clashing elements in the post create a puzzle for many, and LMLA-ink’s female followers will definitely frown at Bobby Brown, the talented but troubled entertainer, being held up as an example. To appease the opposers, he has aligned Mr. Brown with X-Factor hopeful Chris Rene. The last and most important message is the link to the story on Chris Rene in an “Occupy Wall Street” T-Shirt.
The reference to music producer LA Reid as a handler, which links Brown, Rene, and LMLA-ink, is another attempt by the Poet Soldier, the Network’s foremost handler, to blur the lines of reality as he still maintains that he is just a novice, at best a struggling writer….
PART 3
Jon Pierre tells the international operator the number in the U.S. to which he wants to be connected, and then he waits. Aches in his body from years in the field conspire to remind the Poet Soldier that he’s still the same fool who fell into the trouble for which he pays every waking minute.
The operator connects the lines, and then he hears, “Go ahead….”
He hears white noise in the earpiece, causing him to imagine who might be listening in from the Network. Maybe it’s Ammer, the latest incarnation of Jon Pierre’s nemesis, the latest agent to don the cover of “Hannibal Ammer,” following the decommissioning of the last one by an agent Jon Pierre recruited and gave the cover of John Page to in ’65—a man said to be more evil than the one from WWII. Or, maybe it’s Mr. Businessman himself, who has successfully made the transition from Network operative to Intelligence agent.
And then a woman’s voice says, “Hello….” The novel he has in his hand is the only remnant from their romance, an ideal he’s clung to for so long that it’s part of his belief system. The cockeyed understanding of life Jon Pierre has is offset by the Poet Soldier’s single-mindedness when it comes to his role as the Network’s brain.
“….Who is it?” On the phone, Jon Pierre hears a man’s voice in the background as he opens the novel to the dedication by the Romance Writer, whom he’s called. Over the last few years, the calls to the writer have become less frequent. The “Look but don’t touch” interactions, silence that can last for anything up to ten minutes, took Jon Pierre months to foster from the phone being slammed in his ear within seconds to a breath-by-breath account of what each other still feels for the other. Words would ruin with truth.
Jon Pierre can hear a man as he enters the room. The breathing on the end of the line changes. Careful not to interrupt whatever the woman and he have in their non-verbal agreement of nothingness, which to Jon Pierre is the only intimacy he allows himself, he places the receiver down, ever so gently ending the call….
CHAPTER 93
(December 11th 2011)
“Luck is a Pinhole”
PART 1
Johnny sees, on the screen in the stadium, Beatrice DeLani as she makes her way down Neon Strip to see him. Thoughts of what she’s had to do to earn another visit almost makes the man feel sick.
In the sky, words protrude the thin curtain in-between the second horizon of the MMD and the SFD. Someone’s written something on the walls of the New Global Realm that signals a major change in the events unfolding. From the briefness of the message, it appears anecdotal—no doubt from someone’s dream, or is it merely a fantasy? With no foundation, it is lacking in substance. Or is the anecdote an antidote for this regurgitating nightmare?
“Ms. Beatrice DeLani, fiancée of HC!” The public announcement system introduces Beatrice DeLani as the gates to the stadium swing open.
Johnny lifts his head from where it hangs, looking down at the ground. He notices how Beatrice keeps looking down at herself, and then back up at him as she makes the long walk down the aisle past the fans and those who secretly frown on her, all the while cheering on Ms. DeLani as if she doesn’t know what she’s doing to herself.
Who the dreamer is behind the horizon has become apparent. Not the person’s identity, which remains hidden, but the profile of the shell in the MindMorph Dimension. The entity’s aspirations are noticeable in the aberration spelt out on his wall, which defies the notion that this is a war, an understanding Johnny has had of what it is for which he has come back from the wastelands.
Johnny’s holey and perforated armor reminds the mercenary of how close he came to the end in what he now can establish as Harold Clarenta’s hallucination by someone as deviant as HC in the MMD. The flashing sequence of Johnny’s past endeavors in the SFD, before his Temporary Shell expired in HC’s monolithic nightmare, has given Johnny the end-to-end saga in full. Johnny’s escape was by the skin of his teeth, like through a pinhole he had to find in fabric torn and tattered from his ordeal….
PART 2
Luck is a pinhole—you must recognize it from rips and tears in your confidence when you are down and out!
JRA has half a smile as he walks back up the hill to his room in Berhampore. The anecdote that runs through his head comes from his relief over having found work for the first time in six months….
Inside the room, the Novice logs onto the New Global Realm after returning from his meeting with Josh and Ben at his new job at Active Communications, which Emma of Ranstad Recruitment found for him. And then the Novice begins the grind of writing, a weird feeling for the Novice who is used to nothing going his way. He writes the anecdote into the story and asks his editor Tyler which version of his musing is grammatically correct.
Luck is a pinhole—you must recognize it from rips and tears in your confidence when you are down and out!
When you are down and out, luck is a pinhole; you must recognize it from rips and tears in your confidence….
Then he quickly posts the anecdote. And he thanks everyone from fellow writers in the U.S., to family and friends everywhere for their support over the last six months, since he started losing his eyesight, which he has regained following the operation performed by Surgeon Reece one week ago.
Facebook friends and family begin to comment, making the bashful artist want to hide, but he responds quickly to each comment the same way, including a comment from his muse.
In his inbox is an email from Meigon. On his wall, one of the boys, Afele, suggests a catch up with Phil, one of the Novice’s best friends from back in the day. And then another best mate from the past, Chris in Scotland, comes online to comment on his post….
PART 3
Jon Pierre looks through the contraption filled with pinholes so he can read what Johnny has written in the Poet Soldier’s diary, the STORYBOOK. The Poet Soldier takes the plastic apparatus dotted with pinholes, the result of his having cataracts, which Jon Pierre needs so he can read. He takes it so he can see the lad who has returned to the second-hand bookstore; out-front, the site of where the kid was bullied by older boys shows Jon Pierre that the child who was raised to turn the other cheek is not a coward.
“Little Lazoo, Metofeaz Litigatti, and Jon Le Mac are friends of mine. We come from different corners of the world, but we share the same dream….”
The well-mannered child, in-between kindergarten and primary school, whose babysitter is still at the picture theatre, stands quietly with his hands behind his back. His cable knit jumper, which his mother knitted, and his neatly pressed trousers and polished shoes with his perfect smile, contradict what he’s up to—not that the boy, whose imagination is beyond that of an adolescent’s, is aware of his actions. But more so, who it is that he’s dealing with…..
CHAPTER 94
(December 13th 2011)
“Chance”
PART 1
Bella walks slowly along the shopfront. She sees her reflection superimposing the child’s worn-out complexion on the tray of cookies and milk in the window.
She looks further up the window and sees the replication on the glass of the scene in the sky, in which Beatrice enters the cage inside the stadium.
“Milly!” is her name. That’s right, the woman behind the counter trying her best to look like she doesn’t mean any harm is someone Bella remembers other than just Johnny and Beatrice, whose name is not that at all.
Over time, the reiterations of Bella’s journey, most of it threaded in and out of others’ trips, has dimmed her view of what she can accept for trying or taking a gamble.
She reaches the door and places a hand on the handle; then she leans into it to push it open. The door opens easily, and Bella falls into the warm place, filled with the aroma of freshly baked cookies.
PART 2
“Chance” can mean: Accidental, Gamble, Luck, or Opportunity! Which one is it for you?
The Novice, who a few years back used to write to optimize his work at www.etfiction.com for bots to recognize the myriad of names, songs, ideas, thoughts, and wishes for the sake of being found on the World Wide Web, posts a succeeding question from his post yesterday about recognizing what is good luck from the bad luck.
Often thought of as an opportunist or someone who is advantageous from having worn the cloaks of his previous covers without detection, JRA’s true thoughts about what it takes to stay alive in a game he must lose begin to transpire.
The former thief, whom the underworld would agree is the prince, has applied his trade and taken control of something for himself that is...intangible without the name JRA. In the end, he totals up the value of the unpublished author and his work on his own to be worth more money than he has ever stolen.
But sitting here today, it no longer feels like the heist he planned back in ’05 when certain people started getting in the way of his mission that started in ’02 on the streets of Wellington and on the Internet with the “GLOBAL ATTACK” concept, another one of his red herrings. John Reyer designed the “GA” product to grab attention from the Intelligence community.
Broken hearts litter the path from there to here. The excursion of excruciating pain has reached the point where what he’s found far outweighs the losses by many which the cut-throat-creative is well aware of, but that he could not for a minute think about, from fear of letting those, who try their best to manipulate him and his work, believe that they could ever bend him, or his story.
Thoughts of those like him, downtrodden, the homeless, refugees, have kept him going. The joy of those who felt marginalized watching and reading the work by someone like them has fueled JRA’s motivation year after year. And then there were the true fans of his ever-evolving work who recognized and related to the truth in his other endeavor, which was to find true love as a cure for all the pain he endures.
The Novice reads over his comment about finding yourself, and in doing so, you find your destiny, and the whole idea of Chance, Luck, and even Opportunity changes for him as he thinks of regaining his eyesight again and for having so many wonderful people in his life as a reward….
PART 3
Jon Pierre listens to the London editor on the phone, telling him what he already knows, that Rozelle Zofen has died over night. He has no response to the news, leaving a long silence in the conversation.
The click on the line ends the Network’s interest in the conversation, during which the Poet Soldier rings in his latest story, following the one about being deported from the U.S. when he was picked for protesting against the war in Vietnam, and then it was conveniently unearthed, after all his years in the U.S., that his papers were fraudulent. The tragedy, however, was having to leave behind his adopted son Metofeaz Litigatti in the care of an orphanage.
He hangs up the phone after dictating to his friend in London what JRA, the child who walks past the shop window and into the shop, has written about himself and Metofeaz, Jon Le Mac, and Little Lazoo in the STORYBOOK for the newspaper to publish.
The name Little Lazoo is an anomaly as far as reality goes since the other boys exist. The name is something he will have to check up on with Janine Elton in Wisconsin, who has the letters in which Jon Pierre wrote to her mother, who no longer talks to the Poet Soldier, and in which the name Little Lazoo was a code for a phantom operative. The absence of Tone from Johnny’s list also raises questions for the Network after the child’s revelation.
CHAPTER 95
(December 14th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
Featuring K-Ci & JoJo’s “You Bring Me Up”
K-Ci & JoJo in Concert Tonight Wednesday December 14th—St James—Wellington, NZ
PART 1
Hip hop music from the MMD slithers through a pinhole in the second horizon. Its rhythmic beat emphasizes the percussive pattern of a dog·gone dream. The sound is designed to make this scene a paranoid one, using dope expression to create an atmos that causes the citizens of the SenFenide Dimension to nod their heads to the groove in agreeing that the time has come….
The sound of K-Ci & JoJo in the stadium frames the cage in the middle of the stage.
A vamped up Beatrice DeLani who is here to ensnare the man she’s fatale for and because of in some quarters of her mind, sheds clothing that leaves little to the imagination. It sends a clear message that lets everyone know what Ms DeLani is here to achieve.
Johnny remembers the last time he did what he was about to do, as he stands up from the corner of his cage where he’s planted himself waiting for when the time was right. He looks at the audience, taking his time to make long eye contact. His aim is to persuade them; swaying them, in hope that they’ll swing his way.
The crowd instantly notice the change in the cut-throat-creative’s disposition as he continues what feels like his revival. Flexing muscle and raising his arms twice Johnny brings the crowd to its feet using K-Ci & Jojo’s music to reward the audience now on its feet for the way it responds.
The bars of the cage shade Johnny’s face. The look in his brown and sometimes hazel eyes is intense as he opens the door to his cage for Beatrice to step inside….
PART 2
Onscreen the Novice quickly writes the chapter for the MAPP—it Product Placement of K-Ci & JoJo so it hits the street in time for the Hip Hop group’s Wellington concert tonight. He listens to the song from ’97 as he works fast to finish the copy in time. Editing the chapter himself so it can make the deadline he’s promised everyone on the walls of the New Global Realm.
Lazoo remembers the time well—1997. It was when he was caught up in the horror of Tongue Murders, which could’ve seen the guy who had not long finished his parole being sent back to where he had spent all of his life up until the age of twenty-one, which was the best case scenario, the worst being the electric chair.
Meigon who has agreed to see John Lazoo knocks on the door of the old bar in Chinatown; LMLA-ink’s offices.
Lazoo breathes out the angst he still feels from the manipulation of his life story which continues online and in front of his eyes.
Meigon can hear the noise from the typing that comes from the screen above the stage as she closes the door to shut out the noise from the street. Seated down in the last booth is Lazoo who looks in her direction and then he goes back to staring at the screen where the story in PART 1 is an interpretation of his ordeal at the hands of Hariss Clariss back in ‘97, under the sadistic whip of Tone Horroh who Lazoo had thought of back then as his friend and mentor.
Meigon can feel the phat bass track in song that Lazoo turns up as if he wants her to hear something.
As she walks down the bar, she can see JRA onscreen in the mirrors with the golden Aztec carvings that line the wall facing the bar. Onscreen, next to the window with the author is the YouTube feed from KCiAndJoJoVEVO showing the video to the song in which a woman who has betrayed her lover it seems….
PART 3
Jon Pierre stands in the doorway of the shop on Jackson Street in Petone. People in the seaside village go about their normal lives oblivious to what The Poet Soldier might be hatching on the main street of their small town.
The phone rings again and he ignores it in case it might be someone calling for the owner of the shop he’s a squatter in.
News of Rozelle’s death further numbs him. The vacant look in his eye denies the confusion he suffers inside. The discovery of JRA suffices momentarily the tumult from the conflicting accounts of what happened to the singer in France whose story will be forever linked to his making him an accessory to whatever did actually happen to Rozelle Zofen.
In his hand is the novel “Frost Maiden” by M M. Pillow. The book acts like a safety blanket Jon Pierre needs in times like these. He dares not thumb through the book right now, in fear of bringing the romance writer into the scene, crossing hers and Rozelle’s paths and infecting his memory of the romance writer in America. Needless to say Jon Pierre had already done that a long time ago when he took the mission in France instead of letting the author who dedicated the book he holds onto, know that he loved her….
CHAPTER 96
(December 14th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“Wishes come true in you…”
PART 1
Johnny remains still inside his cage after the Hip Hop track fades. He watches the crowd as it sits down, eager to see what Johnny will do next.
Leaning against one of the walls of the cage, brushing her bare thigh for Johnny’s delight is Beatrice.
The look Johnny gives the crowd calms the once restless mob. He then looks at Beatrice with a look that lets the woman know that he will not forsake her this time. Beatrice tries to cover herself up with what she can from the skimpy outfit—that leaves little to the imagination—which she believed she would need. The silence is deafening for Johnny, as he’s come to accept people hissing and booing his every move. Instead they get comfortable when he coughs to clear his throat. The aimlessness that shrouded the once brilliant shell subsides for the light that begins to shine when he steps forward.
“Ladies and gentlemen….” Johnny looks down at the ground as he begins to recite what he saw on the horizon….
“Wishes whispering thru trees of time
while the whistling wind…”
PART 2
Meigon waits down in the last booth of LMLA-ink’s offices. Behind the bar Lazoo makes coffee while watching Meigon who sits side on staring at nothing.
Lazoo sees that Meigon is conscious of the sound of the Novice on the screen to her right as he types; her blue eyes dart that way every time he stops typing.
She can be forgiven if she curses the day she came into contact with the Novice and his characters. Lazoo empathises with the single mother who looks younger than she is. The sound of the transcript and the manuscript for the story she used to read as an escape, which she is now an entrapment—Meigon is immersed in—seems to haunt her even though everything that is happening is in the present tense.
Lazoo makes a point of looking up at the screen where a post on LMLA-ink’s Facebook page appears next to the window with JRA on it as he works harder than ever to keep the story going, now that he’s decided not to have the story edited by Tyler any longer.
Lazoo can imagine how hard it must’ve been for JRA to end the partnership with Tyler. The bombshell has come at such a crucial time in the GUIOPERA—a week out from the end—and just when JRA has started a new job as a Telemarketer.
“He’s done everything he can for us,” Lazoo says as the last cup fills with the fresh brew of coffee. His comment is about what the Novice has tried to do for him and Polina who are still deeply wounded from their ordeal under the leadership of Tone Horroh. It makes Lazoo nervous that the Novice now has to juggle two roles, one as the Poet Soldier, and the other as a Telemarketer, which he does to pay his way, showing people that he is just like them.
Meigon ignores the email she sees the Novice onscreen send to her inbox, while she waits for Lazoo to let her know the reason for their meeting….
***
Down in Welly the Novice watches the clock he races as he crams to write, edit and then upload the LATEST UPLOAD before he has to leave for his Telemarketing role.
Top of mind is his nephew Teddi’s birthday yesterday which he couldn’t afford a present for.
He thinks back to when all this began on the streets of Petone, around the same time of year four decades ago. And then he sees an email from his cousin Reye with an invite for them to collaborate on Reye’s new venture “Nesian Kings.” Johnny sees another email from Andre the Novice’s brother who is a Minister in Sydney; offering him money to help the Novice out.
The Novice responds to the emails from Reye his cousin and Andre, and then one from Meigon. And then he continues on with sculpting the story in this chapter to deliver a present for his nephew’s birthday which is a day late due to his obligations to the Network and the code he still has to deliver. It’s still the fourteenth in the northern sector he tells himself.
JRA recreates the poem that marked his inauguration as the Poet Soldier all those years ago. He recites the poem he posted a few days ago on the walls of the New Global Realm to himself:
“…Signs that time is up
The same wind that
distorts innocent smiles….”
PART 3
Johnny stands next to the table Jon Pierre the Poet Soldier is seated at.
The amicable scene between the two people doesn’t require dialogue, just a smile from the five year old and a nod of approval from the man older than the child’s parents, who are at work.
The phone rings again and Johnny looks out the window to where Jon Pierre is looking. Johnny already knows there’s something peculiar going on. The shopkeeper from next-door again pops his head in the window. The look on the man’s face is less than cordial this time, poking his ear and then he disappears to tend to someone who enters his shop.
The ringing finally stops and Jon Pierre picks up his diary the POEMBOOK and begins to read from it to the boy, looking up at Johnny in between lines:
Wishes come true in you…
Wishes whispering thru trees of time
while the whistling wind
—signs that time is up
The same wind that
distorts innocent smiles
And bothers the beleaguered
Hushes the dumb forever….
Round the wind up for me son
pocket the pennies it has stolen
Similes akin
Analogies for him
Metaphors offshore
that carry bottles to doors
In them messages of truth
that blinds the poor
At heart, in soul, in spirit….
CHAPTER 97
(December 16th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
Behind the counter Milly keeps herself busy…. It occupies her, absorbing Milly’s concern for the childlike entity, now seated at the window in front of the food the tired shell requires.
The walls on either side of Bella broadcast scenes from inside Cameo Court where Johnny and Beatrice’s feud continues. The child ignores Johnny and Ms DeLani’s oscillating affair that surrounds her, the food in front of Bella—a perfect distraction—for the child.
Outside the window Milly sees another entity, an entity Milly knows well. Harold Clarenta once frequented Milly’s haven for lost children, but that was a long time ago.
Milly notices the malting hair and crawling skin on the left side of Clarenta’s face. While down the right side of his face and body, mangled hair sprouts forth in handfuls, which Harold tries to hide in his disguise.
Bella who had a cookie in her hand is gone. Milly sees the child’s coat tails outside the window as Bella flees the scene. It was an afterthought for Milly—what Bella would do—if Clarenta who is standing in front of the counter; having scaled the divide within a blink, would show. Clarenta’s blood red eyes, as he tries to conceal his morphing state with a stale smile is worrying. Harold who was once a favourite of Milly’s, twitches as the morphing process continues.
PART 2
Metofeaz opens the door to the old bar.
A premonition he’s had on his way down here transpires when someone pulls the door open from the inside.
Inside the offices, Meigon reaches for the door to open it.
“Oh, I’m sorry….” Litigatti frowns; surprised to see Meigon appear from inside the dark place. Peering over Meigon’s head to avoid any eye contact, Metofeaz sees Lazoo down in the last booth.
Meigon seems annoyed at Metofeaz’s unexpected appearance for no reason, but for the fact that she hadn’t mentioned the meeting to anyone.
If one had to categorize the members of LMLA-ink into groups that separate the characters in their loyalty to the Novice; Metofeaz would be on his own, and the rest including Meigon by how she feels right now would be in the other group.
Litigatti stands back to let the woman who looks as if she’s dressed up for the meeting he wasn’t aware of, out the door. Metofeaz says nothing for fear of saying the wrong thing. He also imagines what Meigon might be thinking of him as he’s aware that Meigon is in constant contact with Sharon or The Tourist who is still at the chateau in France.
Metofeaz watches Meigon walk off down the street. Coming from inside the bar is the sound of the Novice at work. JRA continues to extract thought and response from mounting strokes keys. Its poetic impression interweaves with the sound of her heels on the pavement. Her body looks more spontaneous than Whimsical remembers as she turns the corner and looks back at him.
Litigatti looks away and notices the other women who pass by as he can still hear Meigon, the Novice’s muse who he can no longer see from where he stands undecided about whether to go inside the bar or not….
“Good Morning,” Litigatti calls out like he fires a warning shot at Lazoo who is busy at work. The Maestro ignores Litigatti who knows not to disturb Lazoo when he is in this state.
Onscreen the Novice posts on Facebook that he’s about to lift his game:
Metofeaz recognises that the Poet Soldier’s or JRA’s perpendicular notion—the inverted relativity—the Novice inscribes obstructs Lazoo’s linear perception or focus. Getting rid of his editor has meant there are no longer any outside influences from “others,” on the story to rein the Novice in which was possible via Tyler.
The data based on Lazoo’s account which Lazoo fed into the portal at the beginning of the story has infected everyone, including the Novice or the author. And now there is a battle of wills between the author, and one of his main characters whose nightmare in PART 1 feels like a “taste of his own medicine,” for Johnny as administered by Lazoo.
Lazoo’s ordeal suffered at the hands of Hariss Clariss in the ‘90s in New York as written in the End-to-End Saga is the conspiracy of an idiom that recants itself again, and again for Johnny in the SenFenide Dimension.
Metofeaz stretches his neck muscles as he tries to relax himself before he faces John James Lazoo, whom without—the story would not exist.
Metofeaz sees the situation from both sides. From Lazoo’s perspective—it can seem selfish—for the Novice to forego assistance that he might require to keep the story alive in which Lazoo was victimised and therefore he is entitled to have his say. From the Metafiction author’s point of view he would like to intensify the story of a Novice writer whose work is art to him, by defying the odds when he writes it without the help of his mentor Tyler.
Delivering a story in the end and getting paid in the long run is another consideration that neither Litigatti, nor Lazoo gives any thought to.
The code hidden in the story is also in question. Network strategy that relies on the GUIOPERA for plans is affected as operatives will have to adapt to the change in style—the free flowing purple prose that colours the darkness, inside that mind of his, that place where the Poet Soldier dwells.
PART 3
The insides of the telephone with its cover removed reminds Johnny of pictures from his mother’s anatomy books. The bell surrounded by wires and plastic is the heart. The clapper hitting the dome bell reminds him of pictures in the Playboy magazine he saw at someone’s house. The sound is an alarm that someone is coming, and he must not be caught looking at the magazines, or be found anywhere near the place where the magazines are hidden….
Jon Pierre lifts his hand when the phone suddenly begins to ring. It makes Johnny want to laugh, but he decides not to; looking away to hide his amusement….
Johnny lifts the receiver off the naked phone which for some reason, Jon Pierre had placed back on the phone. Maybe it was so whoever was calling wouldn’t get an engaged signal?
Jon Pierre looks at the boy with smile that says why didn’t I think of that? Within a matter of seconds Jon Pierre is screwing the device back together after silencing the telephone by disarming the bell inside it.
Johnny takes a seat at the table. He looks up at Jon Pierre as the phone rings making a vibrating noise on the table.
Jon Pierre gives the boy a reassuring look for Johnny not to worry himself with the intrusive contraption upon the table. And then Johnny goes back to writing in the hand bound leather book the Poet Soldier has given the boy to describe what he hears, after the child experiences the humming followed by voices asking Johnny to tell their stories….
CHAPTER 98
(December 17th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
PART 1
Bella runs as fast as the shell’s legs can carry her. The child flees from the place where she’s seen the entity, which Bella has been running from since she first landed in the SenFenide Dimension.
The fear in Bella takes over the shell’s Ultra-Ego creating a hyper-powered state that Bella is oblivious to. She zooms in and out of people on the crowded strip; like light through a pinhole. Her het up condition causes the fleeing child to breach the physical form of those around her—lancing citizens in her path.
What happens when a shell enters through someone depends entirely on the shell; whose intent it is to morph with the target they penetrate and collect from—memory and energy—not that Bella is aware of her actions. The end result is a euphoric state for the likeminded and a sick feeling when the reverse happens.
Bella turns down the alleyway. The place where she’ll hopefully find somewhere to hide looks familiar to Bella. Bella keeps on running, looking for a doorway. But the buildings begin to bend backwards and then they start to fall away from the lane she came to find refuge in. Her hiding place escapes Bella as it becomes a passageway with no end. It’s not until Bella decides to stop running, at which point the buildings on either side of her resurrect themselves and the end of the alleyway she couldn’t see is suddenly in front of her. The wall at the end of the lane touches her nose.
Bella sees writing on the wall. She traces the letters with a finger, spelling out a promise of some kind to those who can read what the message written by someone on the other side.
Her finger finds the hump of the swelling letters, rounded by indisputable passion by whoever took the time to line the wall with words that must be meaningful. Bella traces each word as if it were meant for her. She retraces the outline of the message when the feeling it brings warms her, filling the pit of her empty stomach; erasing her famished feeling. She places her face against the wall. It feels warm. Must be from the sentiment in the message, or the joy radiating from those who read it? Next, she hears music coming from the other side….
“…I saw mommy tickle Santa Claus….”
PART 2
The roaring fire warms, it enriches feeling and enhances the distinct scent of pine from the Christmas tree Litigatti, Lazoo, and Le Mac carry into the apartment. The smell reminds everyone of what time of year it is.
Genisis Jones with a tray of Eggnog makes her way around the room, her Santa hat falls off her head and Lazoo catches it as if it’s his one and only purpose in life.
Onscreen, the Novice goes to YouTube where he finds the theme song for the chapter. He clicks the link to the song that he promised everyone on the walls of the New Global Realm yesterday would be the theme to one of the moments in the story about the story he writes.
Ivory keys played by someone sitting behind a piano left of stage who would’ve had an eye on the songstress whose unmistakable voice renters the dimension she left earlier this year, when Ms Amy Winehouse centre stage takes the microphone from the stand and begins to sing,
“I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus….”
Polina Rada hands Meigon the decoration and then she realises that it’s the mistletoe. The Novice onscreen in black skull cap, looking more like a gangsta than a poet or for that matter Santa, reminds Polina of John Page—especially at this time of year.
Meigon raises the mistletoe above her head. Polina rolls her eyes but then her laughter breaks free, as tears fill her eyes when Polina realises how JRA feels about Meigon, whose daughter Sophie sneaks up behind Meigon.
Metofeaz shakes the hand Le Mac holds out to him as Arley Evon who Litigatti was once involved with sidles up to the Lieutenant and threads her arm through his and then she rests her head on the kid from Compton’s shoulder.
Onscreen the Novice looks like he’s passed the point of no return, as people begin to question whether or not the former confidence man ever did need the help of an editor.
He smiles as he teases those who care about whether or not he wins the game that he must loose, while he hides how he really feels inside at this time of year.
The voice of Ms Amy Winehouse is enough to warm the hearts of those everywhere, who like the Novice have nothing this Christmas but the story he composes….
PART 3
Jon Pierre undoes the stitching in the back of the POEMBOOK and removes the cover to find pictures hidden in there. The images of stayed time bring back memories that concur with the song playing on the radio.
Standing in front of him on the table is the novel—Frost Maiden—that the Poet Soldier has mounted on the mahogany plate stand he took from the shelves in the second-hand store belonging to someone he’s yet to meet.
The buzz from the marijuana joint he had out back of the shop creates a stage on which he floats unaffected and devoid of talk that he’s finally made the list. The smile on his face is from word of a contract, which he’s read about in Johnny’s writing. The contract which has been sold and resold until the price on Jon Pierre’s head is one that makes the Poet Soldier proud; for how much the Network is willing to pay for someone to decommission him.
He brushes dust from a picture of them together under the willow tree for which he wrote for her the poem “A day under the sun in the Americas.”
“….Mommy kissing Santa Claus, last night….”
CHAPTER 99
(December 19th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
The sound of Christmas falls through the air like exquisite snowflakes—created especially for this time of year—gently tumbling from the sky. Some of the pleasant particles float off, adrift on an agreeable current; landing in far off places sharing the Maestro’s unbelievable touch.
Bella smiles as the feeling passes through her. The child warms to the peaceful alleyway where more words appear on the walls she stands against with arms spread to capture the feeling from the messages as they’re being softly placed on the wall by those on the other side.
The warm walls that line the alleyway provide a sanctuary for Bella, a place where she can relax. The façades with windows and doors that must’ve opened once upon a time for people to appear remain closed. Looking up at the intricate designs of the grand places that would’ve been an architect’s pride and joy; it could seem like the shutters on the windows had been jammed shut in an instant as a result of a judgement. Behind the painted over—stone colour —veneer which indiscriminately covers all walls along the lane, Bella imagines there are families, and people who belong to each other. They hide or have been hidden behind the walls by someone to preserve their way of life from HC’s rule over the SFD.
***
Beatrice DeLani looks around the stadium when Johnny points at the sky. Heads in the audience turn to where Johnny points beyond the rafters of the stadium to where they can see the second horizon. A singer is there angled over them like an angel.
Johnny reaches for the door of the cage, while he keeps an eye on the audience. Beatrice looks at the shell’s hand as it disappears through her midriff and then she hears the lock behind her when Johnny unlocks the cage.
With the crowd consumed by the performer in the sky singing a Christmas carol that warms their hearts, Johnny has time to look into Ms DeLani’s eyes to let her know that the lancing was no accident.
Beatrice remembers the many first kisses along their journey, which has been a rollercoaster ride. The feeling as Johnny takes his hand out of her, still unnoticed by anyone in the audience; surpasses all other intimacy the two people have shared.
PART 2
The Novice responds to the comment on the photo of him and his brothers and sister from last Christmas on his Facebook page.
“I get emo when I have to, but I’m feeling the love this year – like never before in my time as a writer… FB Fam, cousins, old friends on the Walls of the New Global Realm… Social Networking is a God Send…”
Then he posts the theme to chapter by Christina Aguilera “This Christmas.”
JRA still imagines what he’s heard on the F3quenZor to be true—that if he writes a story that’s worth reading—for those who bother with him and his antics, he will receive a just reward from those who took a gamble on the Novice writer and his work. The payday he used to dream of, is now part of a forgotten dream as he steers the story in a direction that satisfies all parts of him as a storyteller and not as an aspiring author, or someone with Novice Aspirations.
***
Lazoo, a character who was cast as an illiterate at the outset, during a time when the Novice was truly a novice, with nothing more than aspirations—looking for inspiration—which he found in James Elton, enters the backend of the GUIOPERA via the portal.
Onscreen the Novice gets ready for another day in reality, which he’ll start by writing followed by an edit of the work that may or may not correct all that has to be corrected. But in the end whether or not the work is pristine perfect, it will still be his—Emotional Techno Fiction—a sub-genre of Metafiction where fiction and reality morph as in a Perfect Scarce Loop!
Lazoo receives a message from Metofeaz saying, “Go for it!”
Lazoo smiles when he reads the confirmation that the application he’s been tweaking is working.
“The Maestro is now writing the story…. :)”
Lazoo reads further confirmation on LMLA-ink’s Facebook page by the Novice himself that he, John Lazoo a character is in control.
PART 3
Ammer looks around the place where he’s tracked his target to. Hannibal worries himself with the thought that he might not be able to scrub from his skin the musty smell of old books and dustiness of used knick knacks that line the walls of the tiny second-hand corner shop in Petone.
Jon Pierre sees the reflection in the window of the new and improved Ammer who replaces the one John Page—Pierre’s then protégé—decommissioned in Vienna without the Poet Soldier’s say so. Needless to say that John Page’s life was taken by the opposing faction in the Network in return for Page’s uncommissioned sanction.
News of the birth of twins in the US, James and John from eggs belonging to the same donor who provided eggs from which Litigatti, Le Mac and Tone were born does little to ease the pain of Page’s death. Page’s assassination happened in ’65 not long after Page killed Hannibal—the one who worked on the mission in France—the killing was within weeks of the birth of JRA.
Ammer cocks the gun he holds with an almost straight arm looking down at the operative that Hannibal has finally caught up with. Jon Pierre feels the nozzle being pushed into his head, a little harder than the nervous operative would’ve liked when Ammer cocks the weapon for effect rather than part of a ritual the inexperienced killer does not have. And then Jon Pierre sits back in the comfortable chair where he finds the gun placed on his crown to be comforting. Ammer moves his feet ever so slightly to rearrange himself, adjusting the distance of the gun from the Poet Soldier’s head, in front of Ammer in the arm chair, bringing a smile to Jon Pierre Solomon’s face.
The Christmas carol on the radio sort of adds flavour to the sour scene the Poet Soldier knew wasn’t too far off from when Johnny who sits at the table writing, as ordered by Jon Pierre became known to the Network. The brave boy’s hand shakes as he fights to hold the pen still so he can write his and Jon Pierre Solomon’s way out of the harrowing scene Johnny feels responsible for.
“Relax,” Jon Pierre tells Johnny as the boy wills the words to come. And each time Johnny strains to hear the voice all that happens are silent tears that roll down his face….
CHAPTER 100
(December 20th 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“I want to wish you a merry Christmas….”
PART 1
Beatrice stabs the food on her plate with a fork….
Harold who is dressed in his dinner suit appears to be who he says he is; looking at her from the other end of the dinner table. Images of another Clarenta, which Beatrice had seen when Johnny lanced Beatrice inside the cage, overlay themselves upon the one of Harold who sits smiling at her from a safe distance.
On the walls of the mansion is a live broadcast of Johnny Shawshank an Evangelist as he does his thing in a packed house down at Cameo Court.
Beatrice frowns at Harold’s decision to have Johnny bless their wedding in a few days’ time. Clarenta is quite proud of himself from having snared Johnny Shawshank’s services for the event—a coup in HC’s mind.
Ms DeLani focuses on the tune that slips in through the cracks of their broken communication, made up of of Harold pointing at what he wants and of her laboured responses….
***
Bella who has been staring at the same spot on the wall for some time now, shuts her eyes and then she opens them again to see if she is imagining what she can hear behind the wall. She swears that she can hear footsteps coming towards her.
Another windfall of magic in the sound of music is sprinkled over the SFD by someone behind the second horizon. It dusts the dream dimension at dusk as citizens prepare themselves to live out fantasy and fathomless tales of fortune for those on the side of the divide.
The footsteps behind the wall find their stride, in time with the Christmas song. The walls of the alleyway change their colour from the stone-faced shade that covered the façades to a more human hue.
Bella looks up the alleyway where people look down at her as if they know her. Careful not to disrupt the harmonious scene Bella goes back to listening to the footsteps behind the wall. They’re getting closer, allowing Bella to picture the kind of character they belong to. They sound like they belong to someone forthright, and someone who cares. And they’re definitely in time with the music.
“I want to wish you a merry Christmas….”
PART 2
Meigon clicks on the link the Novice posted on Facebook as the theme for chapter 100 of GUIOPERA IV *BeautifulDistraction* —“Feliz Navidad” by Michael Buble & Thalia. She does so after the Novice requested her to. JRA wants Meigon to comment on the post, validating the chapter which is one of a handful of remaining chapters in the GUIOPERA that ends in a few days from now.
The Christmas song makes Meigon smile taking her mind away from the pile of research stacked high on the mother’s desk. She listens to the song with some trepidation as she considers the Novice’s intention when he does what he does—“I want to make people to feel”—is the cut-throat-creative’s motive. Meigon’s grain of salt approach to JRA’s work keeps her sane and separates her from all other women who read his work for which she is supposedly his Muse. Meigon clicks on the Novice’s profile and then his photos and then she hears Sophie’s voice coming from somewhere in the apartment.
Meigon rolls her eyes at the sound of her daughter’s voice screaming from what she reads in the GUIOPERA to do with Bella in PART 1.
Meigon quickly decides what she and her daughter will do today as a distraction from the story about the story being written.
“Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad….”
PART 3
Jon Pierre slowly raises a hand in the air for Hannibal to see. And then the Poet Soldier, a wily character reaches inside his jacket and produces two cigars.
Ammer who sits at the table where he reads the STORYBOOK, with the gun in his hand that hangs down by his side, notices the Poet Soldier’s movement and brings the gun up from his side. The would-be assassin lines Jon Pierre up in his sights like a seasoned killer. Ammer looks more confident than before.
The Christmas carol on the radio makes Johnny who sits with his arms folded facing Ammer a little less nervous. Hannibal whose been studying what Johnny wrote starts to hum the tune when Jon Pierre Solomon an expert negotiator waves a cigar at Hannibal like it’s a piece of candy.
Ammer squares his shoulders like the operative in the story who gains confidence, from having tracked down the man at the top of the Network’s most wanted list. He even starts to move his head to the classic carol “Feliz Navidad” by José Féliciano on the radio.
“You have what it takes,” Jon Pierre says as he tosses Ammer the cigar.
“You keep quiet!” Ammer snaps at the Poet Soldier as Ammer catches the cigar like he swipes a fly.
“JRA, uh?” Hannibal looks at Johnny who blinks and then he nods his head before he remembers to smile. “I mean yes Sir,” Johnny quickly corrects himself. And then the smart lad looks at the bottle of whisky on the shelf behind the counter.
Johnny stands up as he has written in the STORYBOOK in front of Ammer which Hannibal checks as if it were now the script for what is happening in the cosy shop.
Hannibal looks down at the work, nodding his head agreeing with what Johnny has written“….a Christmas drink with his target, shows that Hannibal Ammer is a class act, and not some dimwit thug without any class….”
Inside Johnny, his mind dares the gunman to move a muscle or batter an eyelid as the child unfolds his arms ensuring the metal pen tucked up his sleeve is safe from Ammer’s sight. Johnny’s racing heart is hidden beneath his winter coat with long sleeves.
Johnny points to the whisky bottle on the wall sending the pen down the sleeve of the coat his mother thought would see him through a few winters. And then he folds his arms when the pen is safely at his elbow.
Johnny smiles at Ammer who places the gun down on the table as the Christmas song on the radio goes up a notch…..
“…I want to wish you a merry Christmas
I want to wish you a merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart….”
CHAPTER 101
(December 21st 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
Johnny looks out over the barren plains of an unfruitful wasteland—the place they call “Dimension Forks.”
On the second horizon he reads aspirations the wind has carried there. The seeds sewn; their fruits are sweeter than nectar—which people slowly suck—as if the thoughts and its sentiments are sucklings from a surrogate; they do not wish to know is not theirs.
The convertible parked at the side of the highway looks like a getaway vehicle for the soldier who has received an honourable discharge for his time in the dream dimension.
Johnny looks in the direction of where the convertible is faced—the first horizon—the gate to the AmalgaMension Dimension. The entity wonders whether he’s paid his dues for the gateway to open up and let him into the place where he’ll instantly become whole and therefore one with the shell he is in?
He senses static in the air, like the atmospheric activity clashing to produce clouds that roll over head. And then he realises it’s from the radio in the vehicle on the side of the road.
Johnny looks at the armour laid out on the ground next to him. And then he looks at the sleeves of the black suit he’s in. His choices based on uniforms and the responsibilities that come with them continue to torture him, as he hears whispers in the wind transporting wishes, he wishes would fall upon deaf ears….
PART 2
Meigon dusts flour from her apron, as the real project she stalls herself from starting begins to pester her.
She can hear theme for the chapter that Sophie reads with headphones on, as Meigon places cookies fresh from the oven on a tray for them to cool.
Meigon's phone vibrates on the bench with messages, which could be from any one of the characters she has come to like. Meigon wipes her hands on the apron and checks her phone and sees that it’s a message from Polina inviting Meigon for coffee. Above that one there are two from The Tourist.
PART 3
John Reyer rounds the corner of Jackson and Fitzherbert Streets Petone, where the second hand shop used to be. Now the second-hand shop is a restaurant—and like everything JRA sees at the moment—it’s airbrushed, and distant like the events that took place inside the location forty odd years ago….
…Later in the season, JRA reads the work onscreen without having to limit light by placing fingers across his face.
Lazoo in New York, as the Maestro has stepped up to the plate. Readers watch the ball sail through the ether, destined for the outskirts of the city as LMLA-ink combine at the bottom of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Bookmakers smile as the numbers tally from those who still bet against the Novice and his characters the designer begat from nothing, daring people to believe that they were voices in his head.
***
Inside the yellow cab, Metofeaz Litigatti checks his Nokia for the LATEST UPLOAD as he waits for the roller door in the basement car park.
The rising door lets in daylight. Litigatti has to readjust his eyes to see what he reads. By the time he can make out what’s on the small screen he sees the people in the scene crossing the driveway in front of him.
The CD player randomly selects a track as programmed for this time of year. Litigatti thinks about sending Lazoo, and Le Mac a message letting them know that he’s on his way to pick them for the season’s final huddle, or session, until he reads about it onscreen.
The Chris Rea track “Driving Home for Christmas” begins as Metofeaz slowly edges the yellow cab out of the driveway. People on the street stop to make way for the cab as they realise that it’s Metofeaz; taking shots of LMLA-ink’s company car as it pulls out onto the New York street and drives away….
CHAPTER 102
(December 22nd 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
Beatrice studies the female who is the front runner to be her maid of honour….
The pretty girl, whom Harold approves of after he spent two days alone with her in his den, appears sorry for what happened.
“There is no need to be sorry! One day you’ll be standing here where I stand…So my only advice to you would be, make the most of it…It happens to the best of us…”
Beatrice’s short, sharp tone helps the candidate deal with the uncomfortable situation.
“By the way, he doesn’t like women. Only girls shaped like little boys….” The young woman tries comforting Beatrice, and then the girl takes off her hood to reveal her close cropped hair cut. “He made me do it…Said…I wouldn’t stand a chance… “Definitely wouldn’t be getting my vote!” He said….” The girl tries explaining to Beatrice what had happened to her long locks.
PART 2
Rozelle closes the novel—Frost Maiden. The knock at the door is discreet, while noise from help outside and throughout the house getting the chateau ready for today’s sting operation helps calm the young woman’s nerves.
The door opens and it’s who Ms Zofen was expecting, her landlord and handler.
“Imogen, it becomes you….” Rozelle welcomes her, laughing at the woman who lifts the front of her dress. Rozelle gasps in silence as she sees torn stockings that her neighbour proudly parades like a can-can dancer as she throws the dress about with glee to prove that she has already accomplished her task in the mission.
There’s another knock at the door—loud and obvious—and Rozelle sits up in her bed and covers herself up with a pillow she grabs and then sheets she pulls up to her chin.
The door opens, and it’s the American who contacted Rozelle and her neighbour some months ago with news that the Poet Soldier was interested in meeting them.
“Mr Businessman!” The landlord smiles. Rozelle watches her handler, neighbour and friend when she had no one as Imogen goes to work on the male that the two women see as someone who is weak….
PART 3
Lazoo hears the horn from the yellow cab out front of the bar. And then he checks the monitor for the security camera mounted across the street.
Onscreen the Novice tries his best to edit the work before he uploads one of the few chapters left in this year’s GUIOPERA.
Lazoo closes the lid of the Lenovo machine and exits the bar for the rolling session with Metofeaz and Le Mac in LMLA-ink’s limousine, the yellow taxi.
Lazoo hears JRA tapping on the screen above the stage as the Maestro closes the door of the bar….
Dear Meigon,
I want you to write the chapter we discussed…. Up until this point in the story Meigon has been researching a book she had been planning to write before she met the Novice on Facebook in February this year. It can be a prologue to the new book—*BeautifulDistraction*. Or it can be an account of your liaison with the Novice, or JRA? Whichever one you prefer. “Meigon” an anagram for “Imogen,” has been indistinct, mostly wondering what the hell she has gotten herself into when she agreed to be a character in the Novice’s Metafiction story. It would be ideal if in the piece you come up with; that Meigon lets her true feelings be known-Angry at how she might feel used by the novice writer is okay….
John Reyer Afamasaga
CHAPTER 103
(December 23rd 2011)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
“I’m driving home for Christmas….”
The words to the Christmas song that whelms the district could explain what has happened….
Bella stands with her back up against the wall. The footsteps have stopped. Somewhere in the chaos Bella lost her focus and now she can no longer hear them. Or, had the footsteps turned around and returned to whence they came?
The child is not as downhearted as in previous utterances of the word she lives by; from the prospect that whoever’s footsteps they were, behind the warm wall which Bella believed were coming for her, are gone again.
***
“Shawshank!...Shawshank!” Johnny repeats the name he will use in the forthcoming stanza of the REPRO as a poet as he looks down at the armour he shed scattered along the hillside.
The cut-throat-creative muses the muzzling of an epic battle that must’ve ripped cartilage and the holes in the armour scattered where he tore it off—to free himself—from the dread that part of his Ultra-Ego was responsible for. The tale that would make most feel frail is forgotten, for now.
The mercenary for love stands to his feet and sends a signal to the dimension, by holding his hands together and bowing his head. The solemn scene is respectful. The vigil that comes to an end is shaded by dawn light shewn scantily across the plains, on which the sole figure of Johnny in a ceremonial black suit casts an even more profound impression upon proceedings. The pardoned man has one more request.
The message to the Warmth, the giver of all power, is that Johnny will play Konsole Ace-A-Leez at some stage, but not now. Maybe he’ll play the coveted role within the orbital period in which it takes the second horizon to appear where it is behind Johnny right now.
Down at the side of the road, the radio in the silver convertible scans the dimension. It seeks a particular station from the signals abound in the atmosphere. Johnny listens for the radio to tune itself in to a frequency that will give the poet a new meaning to the adventure he is about to embark upon….
PART 2
“Welcome to the Chateau everyone…. My name is Rozelle Zofen, and I am your host and guide for the tour of my house and the Valley of Vineyards….”
The woman standing at the top of the stair case where it fishtails left and right to the rooms of the chateau is younger than he remembers her to be. There’s also another woman, one in the tour party that reminds him of someone else.
Above the guide is the famous portrait. It is of Rozelle Zofen, probably not long after the war ended. He remembers the gown, different from the one worn by the woman who lived in the house before Rozelle, but the eyes remain the same.
Rozelle’s incarnation at the top of the stairs finishes her welcome and then the tour party study the entrance way of the house made famous in the story “Illicit Blade of Grass.”
“I’m Rozelle….” The woman’s voice behind him hides an accent that belongs to a Southern Belle with a French one that’s adequate.
Afraid from what she might think, the tired traveller ignores the introduction and slips into the crowd to make himself scarce.
The Tourist frowns and then she moves onto the next person whom might appreciate the personal touch, all the while keeping an eye out for Metofeaz Litigatti whom the distinguished looking man reminds Sharon of.
PART 3
Metofeaz listens to Lazoo as he reads out the Novice’s email to Meigon, who played the game against the Novice. Litigatti feels for the woman, who had her reasons but who betrayed the Novice nonetheless…
“She was still playing the game as recently as last night….” Lazoo’s comment doesn’t serve to ease the pain. Metofeaz imagines what JRA must be feeling after giving the woman a final chance yesterday to stop emailing him with taunts as suggested by the “others,” which Meigon has been doing since meeting John Reyer back in February.
Lazoo receives a message from Genisis; it makes him think back to when the Network sent Ms Jones in to seek him out, back in the ‘90s.
“He’ll be fine,” Le Mac in the backseat sounds apprehensive but all three of them feel for their leader as another Christmas looms marking the end of another year in which John Reyer has again been incapacitated from living a life.
“Well, at least he hasn’t been arrested, evicted, or ever made an indecent move…Like them sleazebags had him down for….” Litigatti sees the brighter side that comes to mind when one thinks of the “others.” The “others” include people as close to JRA as his family who live vicariously through the Novice onscreen in their moronic story they write hoping it will meet up with the GUIOPERA somewhere, someday.
Onscreen John Reyer shows no signs of hate towards those who choose to play the game. The main reason why someone does what the “others” tell their cronies to do which is to: “Get in his face! Annoy him! Put him off his game!” Is for the chance to be written into the story the Novice writes. Or, out of jealousy of the one man show—conceived, written, and played by John Reyer—that’s taken the world by storm.
Lazoo continues when he reads Meigon’s response to the Novice’s email, in which Meigon refers to the “others” as a “hidden network,” which LMLA-ink refer to as MICERs, an acronym for— Morons, Idiots, Clowns, Extras and Retards, not to be mistaken for the “Network,” which LMLA-ink are a part of.
Mr. Afamasaga,
You know how I feel about airing personal issues publically, so I will not be conveying the depth of my anger, nor my amusement, at your trying to use me as a character in the Novice’s Metafiction story. Frankly, I’m just as guilty for I have been using you and the operatives to further my research and gain access to the SenFenide Dimension. Not much is known about the SFD, even though we each have a portal there through our dreams. Stumbling upon a hidden network using social media to transmit secret messages was not my intention when I started my research into the dream dimension, but writers must go where the research takes them.
Oh, and please tell Polina she can stop having me followed.
Thanks, Meigon
***
JRA listens to the F3quenZor as he watches onscreen; the output from the application Lazoo conceived. The data flows like a river in a window. Next to it is another window; it shows a feed from the old bar in Chinatown. The Novice can see that the lid of the Lenovo machine is still open. Lazoo must’ve forgotten to close it properly. The program which scans minds of those Lazoo decides that he would like to know more about continues to spew out the algorithm, which John Reyer doesn’t care for any longer.
News that in the end, Meigon—out of loyalty to JRA—had double crossed the “others”, who are an Australian and New Zealand based group whose aim is to discredit JRA, no longer matters to the Novice. Lazoo has proven his point that until that such time that JRA leaves down under he will continue to be the object of some Low-Life’s obsession, who rallies the “others,” to ensure JRA is hampered from living a life. Irony is, the Novice had begun writing this year’s GUIOPERA thinking his job was to convince Lazoo and the US based core of LMLA-ink that he could lead them following the ousting of Tone Horroh. In the end it was Lazoo, Metofeaz, and Le Mac; the Novice’s characters from the End-to-End Saga who came to JRA’s rescue.
“Forgive and forget….” JRA sends a message via the F3quenZor to the crew as he clicks on the theme for the session, which LMLA-ink conduct on the streets of NYC and on the walls of the New Global Realm.
And then he emails Meigon who must be wondering to herself what’s going on:
“only one woman can give me the ones I need... sweet, sexy, wetted will….”
The pinging of responses from his Network is a tingling sensation that runs up his spine as JRA gets ready to shed the tag “Novice” for the more suitable title of “Poet Soldier” to carry him and his work through the remaining days of Christmas and into the New Year.
“Driving home for Christmas….”
CHAPTER 104
(December 24th 2011—10:30 AM—Down Under)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“Real World Tasks”
PART 1
A new born sun peers above the mountain range. Johnny shields his eyes from the holy beam that ends where he stands. The warm glow in his eyes as he accepts the call from the dimension—to prosper—radiates goodwill and amity that spreads quickly across the barren land when Johnny Shawshank points to the second horizon.
“Sustainability,” Johnny whispers, and new springs begin to bubble with energy that overflows from an endless source that does not require rape or pillaging of the land.
“DataCommodity,” Johnny says the name of the new oil—refined data—mined without drilling into the earth’s crust, a by-product from man’s very own natural resource that flows through the veins of the New Global Realm.
“Love, Trust, Honesty, Respect,” Johnny says the last of what he has to say. And then he makes his way down the hillside to the vehicle which will take him to Neon City.
PART 2
The sun shines down on Lambton Quay, in place of snow that falls in the great cities in the Northern Hemisphere. Kiwis and visitors enjoy the yuletide made of sunrays down under—a relaxed buzz—for everyone, including the one or two who beg on the sidewalk. New Zealander’s and their guests mingle in the Christmas sunshine as they do last minute shopping, or just enjoy the feel of the Capital on a fine day.
In and amongst it is the Poet Soldier who has just jumped off the bus. In shorts and unshaven, he looks like a hobo. He has a green cloth “New World” shopping bag—an upmarket version of a homeless man’s briefcase—in hand. It replaces the Laptop, which for a moment he considered bringing with him. He says goodbye to Sallyann whom he caught the bus into the city with and then he surveys the warm WELLY scene he’s just stepped into.
The Novice maps out in his head the most inconspicuous route to “Gotham” in the Chews Lane precinct where he’ll meet Martha who is interested in coordinating “MAPP—it” Product Placements for his “WELLY STORY” in February 2012….
The call earlier from Tyler, the office manager at “Active Communications” where the Novice works to pay his way, something JRA is conscious of after receiving surgery via the public health system—was good news for the Novice. He has work from the 28th of December to the 30th which will pay the rent. In the bigger picture, in which the Novice plays in a GAME he entered into when he was only five years old—paying the rent by honest means is of paramount importance.
JRA enters the café on Chews Lane. The theme of “Gotham” according to the Novice is dark places in the great cities on earth where the caped crusader as Bruce Wayne could’ve waited for the signal in the night sky. The Novice imagines, there, the eccentric billionaire would’ve sipped great coffee while the Batman designed the most wonderful, imaginative and fulfilling ways of killing perpetrators.
The Poet Soldier seats himself on a comfy leather couch on the mezzanine level from where he can see the lane and those coming and going from the café. The ambient track in the air stirs him but it also calms him, and so he has to ask the waitress who it is? The waitress tells him that it’s “Mylo!” John Reyer decides the chilled out electronic number “Valley of the Dolls” that relaxes the cut-throat-creative will be one of the themes for “WELLY STORY,” which he’s here to distribute the concept for; in a spiel he’s still trying to condense into an elevator pitch.
At a quarter past the hour, Martha shows. She greets someone who JRA had noticed entering the café a few minutes before. Martha Samasoni who the Novice knew of as a singer back in the day when he was a DJ in the Wellington nightclub scene; impresses JRA with her work on Facebook. Martha’s passive but steady stream of posts which pushes artists and their work flies beneath the spam radar.
Martha who also has a day job, where she works for the NZ Police in their HR department signals that she prefers the table at the front doors of “Gotham,” to the leather couch up the back on which the Novice waits.
The woman who Martha greets pulls out a chair at the table where the Novice thought he and Martha would be having a private meeting. The blonde woman looks familiar to JRA and once seated Martha introduces the New Zealand artist—Anita Prime—2011 LA Music Award Winner for Video of the Year, for her song “La La La.”
The Novice, who didn’t expect an audience, now wishes he had worn the suit like Johnny Shawshank in PART 1 of the story. Within half a minute he forgets about his attire as he tests his spiel for “WELLY STORY,” and the sales pitch for “MAPP—it” which will hopefully fund the online serial of his hometown.
“Hone (Maori for John; pronounced Hor-neh), a Maori lad from Whakatane comes to the Capital with a dream of joining a rock band. Aleisha a stripper from Christchurch relocates to the zip code 6011 after the February quake, where she meets adman and coke head Lunar Bois.”
“You!” The Novice says, as his mind darts back and forth from who will pay for the lunch Martha and Anita order, and impressing Martha a novice promoter.
The Novice points at Martha, as he repeats himself when he continues to outlay the concept.
“You! Will decide whether you would like to appear as yourself, or have a character do what you do….” The Novice says and then he remembers that he has an appointment at “Active Communications,” to get a rundown on the campaign for the 28th, 29th and 30th of December to do with a government initiative. The initiative is by EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), which promotes the insulation of homes, for which the government has allocated $347,000,000.00 for companies like “Eco Insulation” to install the insulation which the Novice’s job as a telemarketer is to book appointments for a quote.
“Don’t be surprised if you read about this, our meeting here today, in the work….” The Novice then warns his captive audience about how Metafiction works.
“Hone, from Whakatane, could be hopping of that bus up there….” The Novice points at a bus up the lane on Willis Street. “And! Aleisha could be at this very moment…be stepping down off the interisland ferry….” The Novice now points in the opposite direction….
PART 3
On the sunny streets of WELLY down under, John Reyer tends to Real World Tasks, which includes putting together a team for a GUIOPERA style story about his hometown. The one month serial is destined for the online in February 2012. While on the side of the world Lazoo, Metofeaz and Le Mac decide to go offline as they swing by Polina’s place to pick up the Princess of the New Global Realm for LMLA-ink’s rolling session—a Christmas Special—on the streets of New York.
An email arrives in LMLA-ink’s inbox, where it waits to be read….
John,
They’re watching what I do, so I can’t talk long. This is what I found on Michelle’s desk. It’s only the beginning of the story, at least one version of it. I know she is grateful to you for the Frost Maiden placement in the GUIOPERA.
Meigon
CHAPTER 105
(December 24th 2011—04:00 PM—Down Under)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas”
PART 1
The night air keeps Johnny Shawshank’s eyes awake as he passes another shanty town where people still dance, showering themselves in the new oil.
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas….”
The song on the radio reminds him of someone, not that he needs reminding, as every billboard on the roadside from the Dimension Forks has been of her pending marriage to Harold Clarenta.
As a sideshow, there is Bella’s occupation of the lane, where she refuses to come out of. The child threatens that she will throw herself into the scene at the docks at sunrise.
The same sunrise will see the arrival of a new cargo of entities, and also the event on everyone’s lips and everywhere one looks—The Wedding!
“…From now on our troubles Will be out of sight….”
The words linger in the air as if they should mean something to Johnny who tries to ignore the past.
PART 2
“Hey!” The Novice calls out…“Lee!” The Novice calls out again, and the famous man walking up a sunny Cuba Mall on Christmas Eve minding his own business removes his earphones and turns to see the Novice. The look on the famed director of “Once Were Warriors,” Lee Tamahori’s face is as if he’s about to be accosted by one of his own characters from his Kiwi Classic. “Lee Tamahori, right?” Is the Novice’s usual manner when he’s on the street that goes with his indecorous appearance. “How was the James Bond film?” The Novice asks the director of a New Zealand gem “Once Were Warriors,” about one of Tamahori’s Hollywood formula movies “Die Another Day.”
Needless to say the famous director declined the Novice’s request, “Do you mind if we take a snap?” To which Mr. Tamahori’s response was, “Never know where those things may end up…” To which the Novice admits, “Just Facebook, you know?”
By the time Andre, the Novice’s brother who came to spend some time with his older brother turns up with the camera, the silver fox with red boxes in his hand is gone….
The Cuba Street scene is mellow, filled with families lunching, the day before Christmas.
“Damn! It’s the way I come across. Pretending I know someone….” The Novice sounds disappointed at not getting a picture with Lee Tamahori. “Should’ve let me ask,” the Novice’s little brother is not supportive as he shows his older brother a picture on his camera of him and Martin Freeman, “Tim Canterbury, from the Office….” Andre a Chaplain in Sydney, Australia skites to his eldest brother a struggling writer.…
The Novice vanishes down the alleyway where he normally hangs out when he’s not in Plum café in Cuba Mall as Andre goes into “Iko Iko.”
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas….”
Down the alleyway, JRA can hear a Christmas carol escaping from one of the apartments above him. The rendition of the same song, also coming from the cobblestone walkway, where two girls busk for orphans in Canton, reminds John of Meigon.
PART 3
Meigon smiles as Sophie brings her mother a cup of warm chocolate to her bed where Meigon is hold up in dressing gown, woolly hat and fluffy slippers.
“Looks like Rudolph’s,” Sophie touches her mother’s red nose, as her mother places the warm cup she holds in two hands close enough so she can feel the heat on face.
“I feel like Ebola Monkey,” Meigon who has come down with a nasty cold tells her daughter the same thing she wrote in an email to John, who hasn’t returned her message.
Meigon sees the HP Laptop out of the corner of her eye as she tries not to think of what has happened, choosing to keep her focus on her daughter Sophie who seats herself down on the corner of her mother’s bed. Meigon keeps her eyes on her daughter who sits side-on facing the Laptop….
***
*Excited*
Lazoo receives a txt from Genisis. Inside the yellow cab, it’s quiet. Only Luther on the radio has anything to say.
“Here we are as in olden days….”
Litigatti remembers times when things were simple, as Polina makes her way down the steps of her apartment building.
Lazoo bites his lip as he reads for himself in the fourth to last chapter of this year’s GUIOPERA the way JRA feels about Meigon.
*Screams*
Lazoo checks another message from Genisis who’s excited about the ending as Polina opens the back door to the cab and hops inside.
“For the fans…” Polina looks at Le Mac.
“For the fans Lina…” Le Mac places a fist for the Princess of the New Global Realm to place her’s on, as Metofeaz winds down the window to see out into the New York traffic.
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas….”
CHAPTER 106
(Christmas Day 2011—Down Under)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
“Sense from Sensibilities”
PART 1
“Johnny Shawshank, Poet Soldier…” Johnny watches the guard’s reaction to the name.
“Sure!” The guard says and then he points to the gates opening for Johnny to drive through.
Johnny drives through the gates and soon he finds himself surrounded by people celebrating the event that will happen at day break. He drives down the strip, and past the dive bar where the audience take the place apart as part of the celebrations. The sign “Cameo Court,” crashes to the ground. Sparks fly everywhere it makes Johnny smile, until he remembers what the sparks hide—the alleyway beside the dive bar.
He continues down the strip until he comes to the gates to the docks where he turns into and again gives his new identity.
He drives into the area beside a sea that changes colour, and the angle on which it sits, sometimes affecting the equilibrium. Or, does it have a mind of its own? Meaning it dictates the balance in the environment.
Down the end Johnny can see the grill of the convertible he drives, in the scene that covers the end of the docks, a space no less than a wall of a canyon.
In the sky the ball of fire that encases the cargo of entities streaks across the horizon.
Johnny looks at the keys in the ignition as the vehicle idles in the middle of the dock, where people begin to appear for the event at sunrise….
PART 2
John replies to the email from his brother-in-law Geoff, who is one of the artists he’ll plug in the upcoming “WELLY STORY.” John explains in his reply that he’ll try and make it to the family lunch on Christmas day, but as the Poet Soldier he wants to deliver his gift for those not as lucky and as blessed as he is this Christmas.
John can imagine what it will be like at Shalleen and Geoff’s place with his nephews; Teddi and Sano, and Andre his brother who he spent time with yesterday; great food and amazing atmosphere….
But the journey that began a long a time ago begs for an ending that rewards those who have invested time in the Novice and his work.
John Reyer knows his family will understand; that the gift he’s been given must be shared with as many as possible on this day, especially those who have nothing.
The Novice reads over what he’s written and then he looks at the clock which says that its “6:33 AM.” With his priorities laid out in front of him; his responsibility as the eldest of his father’s children who they came together for his unveiling last Christmas is as important as delivering the story about the story being written.
The run to the finish line has never been more exciting for the competitive person.
The email from his Muse remains unopened. He can see the greeting in the email; “John,” the contents of the email will remain a secret till he’s completed the remaining chapters.
Michael Bublé on YouTube begins to sing the prelude to the climax the Poet Soldier has promised the planet….
PART 3
Metofeaz turns up stereo as he steers the yellow cab down the street where story has it, Meigon lives.
Lazoo wakes and looks around. The all-night vigil in which the characters sent message after message to their creator pleading with him to give them one more chance to make things right has reached the morning. Lazoo checks his mobile to confirm where they are in the story.
“Wakey wakey….” Metofeaz says in the rear view mirror to Polina and Le Mac asleep at opposite ends of the backseat.
“Christmas eve and we ain’t thought of a present yet….” Metofeaz reminds the crew.
“Yeah, yeah….” Le Mac moans as Polina yawns….
***
Meigon wanders around her apartment in her dressing gown checking that everything is in place for tomorrow, from the presents under the Christmas tree to the baking she’s been doing for the last few days.
The Laptop which Meigon hasn’t opened for more than twenty-four hours is warm. The lid is like a cover to Pandora’s Box. Inside the machine is a wall of characters, none more entertaining than the one she met nine months ago.
Sophie watches her mom as the hard working Romance writer stands by the laptop.
“How ya feeling today?” Sophie’s voice interrupts the woman who continues to question her sense from her sensibilities….
“Don’t want a lot for Christmas….”
Michael Bublé slips through the door. The music is coming from Sophie’s bedroom that Sophie forgot to close the door to. Meigon looks there and then she looks out the window of her home in the Mid-West….
“Won’t ask for much this Christmas
I won’t even wish for snow….”
CHAPTER 107
(Christmas Day 2011—Down Under)
“WARNING: Uncut by a knife in the hands of an editor!”
PART 1
Johnny can feel the heat from the convertible’s engine, which he sees through the grill he meets head on as he sends the vehicle flying into the scene….
PART 2
JRA, the same one from the dedication in “Frost Maiden” reads over the piece that Michelle Pillow submitted for the GUIOPERA.
He wonders if there ever will be a book written with the title—*BeautifulDistraction*—which came about during one of their many conversations during their “Dynamic Liaison.”
The Poet Soldier steadies himself as he gets ready to write the poem for his Muse from an angle that pleases those who wish his blindness was physical and not metaphorical….
*BeautifulDistraction*
By Michelle M. Pillow
It started with a rumor. Jon Pierre Solomon, the poet solider, was somehow living his life in a dream dimension, a place where he still wrote poetry long after his mortal life should have ended. Those who hired Meigon did so with the sole purpose of trying to uncover JPS’s secrets, while gaining access to John Reyer Afamasaga’s network of operatives. They didn’t tell her everything. In fact, considering the larger picture they didn’t tell her much at all. She thought she was doing research. She thought the people she was investigating were the enemy. She thought it would be simple. All she had to do was smile and distract, keeping him from his work.
Then Meigon met the ‘enemy’. John hardly seemed like a threat and his operatives acted more like children threatened by the step mother. They approached her like a target, trying to glean information about her life with not-so-subtle questions. They even hired people to follow her. There was nothing to find so she wasn’t worried. Annoyed, but not worried. Her job didn’t entail sensitive material for she was merely the distraction. What she didn’t count on was that the novice author would prove to be a distraction all his own.
GUIOPERA guest author, Michelle M. Pillow, is a romance author of paranormal, historical, futuristic, and fantasy novels. She is the author of Space Lords 1: Frost Maiden featured in GUIOPERA 4 *BeautifulDistraction*. You can learn more at www.MichellePillow.com.
PART 3
Polina knocks on the door, as she brushes her hair, and then she licks her lips in hope of making herself look a little more respectable after spending the night driving around looking for where Meigon lives.
The door opens and an attractive woman in her thirties with a cheeky grin, which says she knows what you’re about, appears.
“Hi, my name is Polina Rada. You wouldn’t be Michelle Pillow by any chance?”
“Try both names!” Metofeaz who is now standing outside the taxi waiting to see if they’ve found JRA’s Muse calls out to Polina.
The woman looks amused at the sight of Polina, whom the woman recognises and realises what she’s up to from having just read the LATEST UPLOAD.
“Or, Meigon?” Polina adds apologetically; willing the woman to say yes. But the woman just stands there, and now she looks down at the cab.
“Yeah, Lazoo, Metofeaz and Le Mac; the usual suspects…” Polina sheepishly introduces the tired looking crew who wait to see if they’ve found the woman they feel they owe an apology.
Polina hears something inside the house, and then a girl’s voice call out, “Mom! Who is it?”
“Just LMLA-ink hon,” the mother does her best to be nonchalant. The next thing you can hear is screaming and then footsteps that come running.
Lazoo looks in the side mirror on the door as he hears screaming coming from inside the Brown stone. People start appearing from inside their homes.
“I have an iPad by Steve Jobs,” the teenager who could pass for Sophie whom the Novice had Polina become attached to in the story announces.
Polina looks down at the cab, where Lazoo looks agitated as Polina sees that the neighbours have come out of their houses.
“Would you like to go get your iPad Sophie?” Polina bravely says and the girl obliges and then Polina waits for the mother’s response.
“Imogen, pleased to meet you Ms Rada,” the woman says as she holds out her hand.
“How did you find me?” The woman keeps talking but the words sound like they’re from somewhere else, and not from the person standing in the doorway.
Polina looks back up after she recomposes herself. The daughter is back with the iPad, on which the teenager already has the LATEST UPLOAD onscreen.
“Click it!” Is all Polina can manage to say, as the woman waves out to her neighbours….
Lazoo looks up at the steps where Polina and the mother and daughter continue chatting as the penultimate chapter comes off the press.
Chimes to Mariah Carey’s Christmas standard bring smiles, tears and relief for all those who took the time to read my blah, blah, blah.
*BeautifulDistraction*
Trees from the woods
Words from the noise
were airbrushed
before they were seedlings
A New York Street
In Kansas
A profile picture
A few symbols
Arranged for the deranged
Always at an arm’s length
“Like” felt like…
We were skites on Skype
And Rock Stars on Walls
Was blind
I didn’t need distracting
There is no end, just new beginnings….
Merry Christmas and thank you for your time and patience.
John Reyer Afamasaga
To be continued…
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