The exciting conclusion of Rocket’s novella/COW post:

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The sideburns stopped and directed my attention off into the distance. Again, I saw something rushing toward me and again I became frightened. But at it got closer and slowed I realized that I was looking at two images.

They looked like men, but they also looked both too simple and too complex to just be men. Was I looking at souls?

One man (or soul?) looked like a jigsaw puzzle with several pieces forced into the wrong places. There was both peace and conflict within him. It was if a wall that he had built inside of himself was holding back flood waters. The wall was holding steady, but occasionally a lick of water shot over the top to douse the dry side. The man knew that the wall was strong, he had built it with his own hands, after all. But was it possible that it was starting to erode on the other side?

The man tossed his novelty hat aside and, for a moment, his concerns as well. Things were proceeding smoothly. After some years on the job, he was finally beginning to feel comfortable. Things were better than he was imagining, he reminded himself. He had righted a shaky organization. There was continual growth and progress, even in this slow economy. The momentary lapses of doubt were always brief and most often cured by another gaze into the visionary future the man had planned.

The man rubbed the bristle above his upper lip. Now he was giddy. He did have a plan for the future, and more importantly, he was the only one who really knew what was going to happen. He had been able to keep a secret, in this profession of all places, where others are either spying on you or secretly taping you or just outright demanding to know your business. He had been able to keep a secret in the most hostile of environments.

“Soon enough they’ll know,” the man thought to himself. “Soon enough they’ll know and they’ll understand. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll finally approve.” The man cleared his throat before deliberately thinking his next thought. “Not that it matters if they approve. I’ve just got to keep this ship going in the right direction.”

The other man (or soul?) also looked like a misbegotten jigsaw puzzle. Yet, his puzzle looked almost parallel to the first, as if each had the other’s misplaced pieces. This man’s body was sore, mostly from a day in the field, but also from the visit to the doctor about two weeks ago. He rubbed his shoulder and his arm.

“Time is a cruel mistress,” he thought. “She gives you so much when you’re so young and you don’t know what to do with it. Then she takes it away once you know what you should be doing.”

Suddenly, determination reminded him that he was a jealous lover, not a jilted one. “I ain’t finished yet, though. I still got enough in me to show them they made the biggest mistake of their lives.”

This man shook his head and smiled. He was going to have his turn. He was going to show them and the rest of the world. He didn’t need to study and to run through the routines and typical drills. He knew what to do because he had done it ten thousand times before. All he needed was to rest. He needed to rest and make sure he was ready for the day when he would begin the battle anew with his purple fatigues. “Just be patient. Soon.”

Suddenly the images rushed away into the whiteness as quickly as they had arrived. I turned to the sideburns with a deep craving in the pit of my stomach. “What does this mean? What was I just looking at? What else can you show me? Who are you? What is this all about?”

The sideburns just smiled (yes, that’s right, they smiled again). “You know what this means. You’ve learned enough for now. We’ll meet again when you’re ready.”

I felt like I was falling but I don’t remember landing. What I do remember next was lying on the ground with RandBall standing over me and hitting me in the face with an inflated whoopee cushion (where did he get a whoopee cushion?). He was desperately trying to rouse me. “Rocket, get up. You’ve got to get up. It’s time…to play…hockey!”

I finally gained my senses and sat up. I was still confused for just a moment when suddenly a warm wave of realization washed over me. I knew where I had been and I knew what I had just seen. I looked at RandBall and only had one thing to say.

“July 27th.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.