He wakes at ten minutes until three in the dark again. He always wakes at this very moment in the
late night, early morn. He has done this
for centuries, waiting, watching. The
windows are open and a cold damp breeze crisps the blue-black air and shadows
that fill his room. He sits for a second
on the edge of his bed, warm feet on the cool wood floor, and breathes in
deep. Wheeze and rasp, cough, clears his
throat. Hands run through his hair,
knees creak as he rises naked into the black.
No lights are turned on; he can find his way through the dark just fine. He walks through the house to the small kitchen,
and stands before the windows that frame the Grand Oak out back and the nights
purple reflection off the water. It’s a
quiet night. The waves are small and lap
quietly against the bulkhead that keeps their sudden fury at bay. Far off lights from the factories across the
sound, shimmer like stars on the polygonic blending ripples. He leans into the window like a child, pushes
his nose against the screen, closes his eyes and breathes in deep the soft
salty purity of the breeze off the water.
Far off across the water he can see the muted flashes of a storm that is
coming. He holds his breath and hears
the tiny rumble of the thunder far away.
A wry smile overcomes his dark nights rising visage. He knows the lightning far away and its
probable cause this early morn. Electric
is about to fill his night, renew his soul
The last
report he received was good news. The
machine was almost done and would be operational within days, possibly hours,
there was just a few more tests before the all clear would be given. Linaeus and Kafka had been working hard at
their task on the other side of the world.
Their ruse was purrfect. They
disguised themselves as two plump, happy kept parakeets. They pecked at cuttle bones and the shiny
mirror that was placed inside their gilded laboratory. They bickered and
kvetched over complex calculations and equations, directly under the loving watch
of their keepers. The pretty language of
parakeets, their code, has yet to be broken.
So they toiled at their task, and no one was ever the wiser. The message was sent across the ocean via
migrating stork to migrating osprey, “All systems go. Watch the sky and be ready.”
Kafka held
the higher perch and had a flair for the dramatic. She and Linaeus argued about what should be
sent on the first test. Linaeus and his
steady proclivities quietly urged for a coffee cup. Kafka threw caution to the wind and pushed
the idea of a freshly washed lock of her hair.
Of course Kafka won. Why not make
the first test of the machine be one of romantic implications? Wasn’t this what their work was all about
anyway? After the first transfer and all
is well, Linaeus commented from his lower perch, “You were right. It was the purrfect gesture. But don’t let that little bird brain of yours
get too swollen, you have poop stuck to your ass.” Kafka smiled down from above and chirped,
“Sound science comes with a price my friend.
It is a small price to pay for unlocking the secrets of time and
travel.” The light comes on in the
kitchen across the ocean where they are kept, where they work, and both quickly
pretend to sleep. Linaeus snores a birdy
snore for effect, and Kafka ruffles feathers in reproach.
He is still
standing naked at the windows, but the light and electric has moved over and in
upon him. There is no fury to the storm
that dances in over the water. Its
disguise is purrfect. His neighbors
sleep easy; just another soft summer’s storm off the water. There is one thick crack of light that fills
his prison with bright white illumination; a low guttural rumble shakes and
rattles the old timbers and worn joists.
Everything seems to shift on it’s axis to left as if being pulled out
across the water just a smidge. The
small hairs on his tanned forearms lift and glow amber at the ends. His muscles flex taut and strain at their
connections to his bones. His eyes
adjust back from the white flash, to the dark that surrounds him, and he can
see a soft blue glow flicker from inside the doorway of his bedroom. It flutters and dances like a muted azure
candle. He turns his back to the water
and walks towards the quiet, electric call to bed.
He enters
the room and static is heavy in the air.
The blades of the spinning ceiling fan emit thin stretched out veins of
blue, white, and yellow, that fall around his bed like delicate, intricate,
random lace.
“All
systems go.”
He turns
his back to the bed and sits softly on its edge. He knows not to ever turn his back to a door
before climbing into bed. He was taught
this long ago by an old weaver woman of tales and linen. Patiently, he sits and lets the quiet
electric fill the room; muted cracks and sizzle, hiss and white noise, and then
a pause in the din.
He doesn’t
turn around. He just speaks, “Hello
Beautiful. How was your trip?” And as he speaks these words, he slowly leans
back into the electric of her that has filled his bed. As his back touches the soft of her belly and
her arms wrap around him, his body becomes blue electric, absorbing and melting
into the heavens traveled essence of her.
She
whispers, weary from travel, but excited by their touch made finally real,
“Hello to you my love.” She grasps his
hand tightly and blue light dances from their entwined fingers like
flames. There is heat, but it is nothing
that they can’t bare and nothing they didn’t anticipate.
The warmth
electric shared between them, cuts the chill of the cool breeze off the water
out back that drifts though his prison like a ghost. Before they fade off to sleep, they send a
shared message out into the last stars of the morning, which is picked up by
the earliest hunting ospreys and passed on to the storks, and carried across
the ocean.
Linaeus
will receive the message and pass it onto Kafka who is taking a much needed
bath by the window. It will simply read,
“Mission
accomplished.” Later in the day, Kafka
will allow Linaeus to sit as partner on the higher perch, and they will both
puff out their feathers and take pride in their work. Kafka will chirp, “Love of science, science
for love. This world would be a much
better place."
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