Spotting the Confederate

CHAPTER 11

...at the end of another virtually indiscernible path I found Peggy pulling in her fishing nets. We hadn't seen each other since the revolution. She'd carved out a little home in the cliff. We went inside and Peggy put the kettle on the hot plate. She was a pirate now and looked like stone. She had no decorations or furniture in her home except a wooden chair with a ream of wire on it. All was silent except the buzz of the generator; hard to believe we were still in the city.

I used her restroom and noticed the medicine cabinet was wide open and empty. The back of its door had a message scrawled on it in marker. Someone had used white paint to conceal the majority of the words so at the top I could only read the name "MARGARET" and at the bottom it said "THE KEY TO THE OPEN SEA" then a little more white paint, then the signature, "- THE DUCK" ....it looked like a love note or a dear john letter or a love poem where all the love had been removed. The whole thing was in upper case letters.

I told Peggy where I'd been but intentionally left out having seen the minister's children. There was something troubling about her now. She listened to me but hardly said a word; smoking and sorting out her nets, never looking at me. She said she needed to leave but invited me to stay as long as I wished. We shook hands and I was left alone, sipping tea on the back porch, looking out at the ocean, wondering about the duck. I overheard the minister's children again just a little ways above me, then I saw a man trying to walk across the precarious incline at the edge of the island without rolling into the sea. He was wearing a confederate uniform. The minister's kids saw him struggling and went over to help him.

I realized Peggy's house was actually a houseboat; not part of Manhattan. She had a dinghy tied to the back and I borrowed it...

The Story of Manny and the Blind Man

Ever since he told it to me I've tried to write it. Manny's story about helping the blind man when nobody else would. He told it to me at work, during a slow day. He was mopping the floor and I leaned against the reception desk, completely captivated. Unfortunately every time I try to write the story it comes up short.

One time I was exiting the 50th St. Station on the 1 train and I passed the Dunkin' Donuts built into the station. I think that's the 1 train? Anyway, it was the station I went to with Maida one time and she got a small coffee:

There were two Indian guys closing down the gates on the shop. I think they were Indian. One of them was in uniform while the other was wearing a formal suit. As I passed them the sharp dressed guy asked the uniformed guy, "So, how was last night?" then there was a short silence in which they both grinned. The uniformed guy shook his head, laughed, and replied, "I had a lot of fun." And then they both laughed.

I wondered about the look exchanged between the question and the answer. Sometimes I try to fill that look with something and I can't do it. I'd like to fill that look with Manny's story about the time he helped the blind man get on the correct bus.

Antihumilitarianist Movement Nods at ILOANBooks!

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To learn more about the movement and the liberation of your own body please click the link above. Our new book, Yesterscopes, is referenced on their website alongside other books that capture the antihumilitarian message, (including Oscar Wilde's 'Dorian Gray' and Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones')!

Antihumilitarianists believe in representing oneself in the most positive and pleasing way possible. They believe that freedom of the flesh leads to freedom of the soul. In the names of both Honesty and Clarity: ILOANBooks aspires for literary nudity and blushes at the recognition.

Love, in the Time of Canola

A love struck ignoramus climbs into a cage ready to hold hands and talk about his dreams with his fascist love interest but things do not pan out the way he expects them to... not even with a little help from the Leonard Cohen songbook.

Veterinary Clinic : a short film

A gentleman with some time on his hands wanders into the local veterinary clinic and has a chat with the receptionist.