2002-10-03 1:00 p.m. Weeks have passed and I've made some discoveries. Most notable is the fact that the spirit or spirits that dwell in this house don't object to my presence per se. The ghosts hate my shoes. They squeak. One of the things that appealed to me about this place was the hardwood floors but the sneakers that I wear squeak with every step. Last night, my doorbell rang and I met on my doorstep a man looking very shaken and holding a box in his arms. He gave me the box, which held a pair of lace-up shoes, leather with sturdy soles. Very nice shoes. He told me, after I had invited him inside, that he was a neighbor of mine from three doors down. Shortly after I had moved into the neighborhood, he told me, he had stopped seeing his own reflection in the mirrors in his house. There was a man like him in the mirror, but there were tiny differences each time. It started off as minor differences... hair parted the wrong way, a shirt with vertical stripes reflected as unflattering horizontal stripes... but soon grew truly disturbing. His reflection would be holding small birds, finches like the ones that live in the trees in our backyards. While the man tried to brush his teeth, his reflection would pluck feathers off of the bird and eat them. While shaving he had to ignore his reflection stomping on the corpse of a cat then pulling out stringy matter from the cat's body to spell out words on the wall. Among the cat-gut-words was this: "Purchase nice shoes." The next night: "Take shoes to 903 Hancock." The night after that: "That was 905, idiot." It required the mirror-deaths of many cats to spell out these messages night after night, but finally here he was, eager to fulfill his mission and give me new shoes. I thanked him and assured him that I thought his true reflection would certainly return now. After he left, I slipped into the new shoes and walked around the apartment. Each footstep was a more dignified clip-clop. In the middle of the night, I awoke with the feel of cold hands pressed against my cheeks, but I think that's their way of saying "thank you." |
1. today is nice 3. happy yesterdays 8. thanks for hosting 4. doing other things |
(Proof that I am the only one reading.) |