Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Why Not Take Flight?

From the ships to the stars, not afraid. We looked down, back at what he had left behind, and saw the blobs of the giant eggs. We had escaped just in time. Not so lucky, however, our family and friends. And the rest of the people we didn’t know on our now almost dead planet.

This producer of giant eggs was either a giant bird or a giant insect. We could not be certain. Wings it had and some kind of plastic type beak. Its wings flapped and blew us over, the trees down, the cities down, the waves up. In a matter of minutes: utter destruction. And all in the blackness caused by this flying thing’s giant shadow. No wonder we took to the stars.

Our luck had ensured that at the moment of the first flap, we – my wife and I – were polishing the instruments in the cockpit of the starship vessel. Another few minutes either way and we could have been mopping floors or scrubbing toilets on a different deck. At the first flap we were pulled into our seats and readied for take off. By the fifth flap we were cutting a streak through the sky, ready to populate planets.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Net Result: Swagger

Flexibility is the key here. You need to bend, bend, bend.

We were speaking, earnestly, about the newer modes of style. We indicated, without explicitly stating, our uncomfortableness in the face of these latest onslaughts. All shiny and new, praised for their newness. Not like the old days. Not like the old days at all.

We could see, both of us, through the tops of the olive stabbers rising from our glasses of Vermouth, perfect visions of the city. Perfect versions of the city.

We were speaking about the need to accommodate, the aforementioned need to bend, and how it is a requirement. Without it, that accomodation, you could well find yourself on your knees in an alley somewhere, no more backward glances allowed.

The morning crept in. It rose, the sun, far over there, climbing out from behind the skyline, those silhouettes of skyscrapers one by one. It rose and smiled, the sun, blessed our golden flakes, kissed our bare ankles and gently warmed the creases in our sheets. And behind thin closed eyelids, the certain movement of balls.

Flexibility is definitely the key here. We were bending and flitting all over the apartment. In one room, the sun. And empty bottles of vermouth.