And we’ve dipped into some gravity. Cavity…smlaviny. For fear of branding what this here does I’m going to keep the prose loose, flawed; crackly, cropped. Empty Speech is a password, an exercise of recognition that begs for little more than the proper response – an open door, a smile, a stiletto in the balls. As such its message is misrecognized by those who must misrecognize (censors, roughly, the Shah…) and only those who must understand do.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------Another neighbor two doors down had been complaining for eight or nine days about a smell. Something potato-like (and salty?) she said, something pretty rank. Perhaps it was a dead rodent in the walls, we suggested, but after touring her yard (it was well kept, mind you) she returned and shook her head, no. It was in the yard too. I don’t smell anything, we said. Me neither. Just the olive smell of wild spring composting.
Well maybe that’s your smell, we said. Maybe that’s the culprit.
Another week went by and by the time Kowter reached us Sunday morning she was a bit out of breath. Which isn’t something to get too disorderly about? But on this particular occasion there was some distressing news: nobody had seen Kemesh since she made that stink-racket Saturday prior. Mib chewed on the end of her thumb as she was liable to do when there was an amiss and I rubbed the vein under my knee, as I am liable to do. We should do some knocking, she said. I suppose it’s right we do that, I said. Kowter nodded consent: she knew we would conclude like we did and she had played patient while we worked out the words.
On reaching Kemesh’s front stoop Kowter turned and stopped. I’m going no further, she said, not in that curse hole. It’s not further, it’s father, Mib said, and get your damn mitts off me. Sure enough Kowter was pawing away at Mib’s front in a strange circular pattern, as if she were trying to write something. There were tears in her eyes. My breasts, Mib said, you’re erecting my mammalian protuberances…(continued tomorrow)
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