|
For Ana and Ruby
Myron Epimetheus
Great is the stack of books near the little man and greater still the amount of notes he has scribbled on those little white napkins which serve so well for the marking down of thoughts. He has labored long for there is much to be studied here and much time was lost when his thinking had been interrupted. A shudder passes through his dead limbs at the memory of the intrusion within his mind, but it passes quickly for there is thinking left to do. Rising, the little man shambles across the wooden floor to prepare himself something warm to drink. He mutters as he moves, speaking first in one ancient set of syllables and then another ......
...... The building shakes as power of some kind surges through the area and the little man drops his mug. “This will not do,” he mutters as his warm beverage is lost between the floorboards, “no it simply will not do. Things like this cannot do for they distract from the work that needs to be done. And there is so much work to be done that something like this must not do.” His mutterings change in their cadence at a shifting in his thought. “Yes, of course! That young man who had come to put a stop to things such as this ...... But these things continue and they have not stopped and that simply will not do.” Again his mutterings change as he retrieves his smug from the floor and an oval of silver light shimmers near the little man. His feet shuffle through the oval and he appears elsewhere, in a place where there is no light and where those who should be working lie sleeping.
A startled female cries out in surprise as he arrives. A few muttered syllables flood the passage with light so that his dead eyes might perceive her more clearly. He shakes his head as he looks at her. “No. No, this simply will not do.”
|