tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561599727464930642023-11-16T10:35:08.678-08:00Farthermost DreamArtwork, Poetry, Blog, Short stories and more!!! Flash fiction and artwork for the minds eye.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-32757999087831770172014-02-15T10:48:00.001-08:002014-02-15T10:48:29.171-08:00Free Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Copyright 2012, October</div>
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Ron Koppelberger</div>
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Exotic Dusk</div>
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Website: Wolffray.blogspot.com</div>
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Everyday</div>
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Things </div>
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Happen </div>
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That</div>
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Don’t</div>
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Understand!!!</div>
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Quiet times were upon them and in the moment of their rest, their success and their innocence</div>
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They were greeted by the Sass.</div>
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He was as cool as the coolest and smooth like glass. They expected the best commotion and the sass gave it to them.</div>
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In the midst of this commotion there was an unaffected voice, warning with caution and swaying poetry.</div>
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“Take heed the untiring truth, take heed the untiring truth!”</div>
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The Sass said to them, “I am the best that you can have and the rest are but of stone and broken glass!”</div>
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The voice said again,</div>
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“Take Heed”</div>
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The victory that the Sass yearned for was in the bond between what they desired and what they could find in the Exotic Dusk.</div>
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The place where they knew right from wrong and where they might take a moment to dream of the future.</div>
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Perhaps the Sass thought to himself they will not want me and what I have to offer them, perhaps. Yet he knew as the rest were they would be.</div>
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The voice of their consciousness would remain silent for the days to come and they would be found unaware of the shadows that were beginning to surround them.</div>
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Trial Blaze and Snare Slake looked at each other and a love borne of circumstance was created. Trial Was the better part of Snare as she was the cautious one.</div>
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Snare said, “ We can follow this Sass to the end of the earth baby, to the ends of the Earth.”</div>
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Trial said, “But who is this guy Snare?”</div>
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Snare thought about this for a moment before he replied. “He’s where it’s at sweetie, he’s where the road meets the highway honey. Let’s go and see what he has to say Trial!”</div>
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Trial took his hand in hers’ and said, “No Babe.” He looked at her for a moment and her caution was suddenly understood.</div>
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“You think he’s bad.”</div>
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“Yes!” Trial replied.</div>
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And as the drama unfolded the people in town began to gather around the giant stage that the stranger had built in the center of Hallow Vine (Somewhere near the edge of the western horizon).</div>
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The stage had a series of pillories and gallows poles attached to it. Oddly no one made mention of it. Sass put a sign on the front of the stage reading,</div>
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“Certain Death”</div>
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The voice sang to the consciousness of the people, the gentle denizens of Hallow Vine,</div>
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“Take Heed!”</div>
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The sky bleed spears of long amber light in the twilight sky as night approached. </div>
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Dogs barked and cats mated with relish abandon as the sky turned dark and the light of the moon shone over the rows of wheat that bordered the four sides of the town.</div>
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Somewhere near the far side of town two lay next to each other aware of the darkness that had entered the Hallow.</div>
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“What can we do about it Trial?” Snare said as he looked into her serene face.</div>
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“I’m not sure Snare, maybe we should tell someone.” </div>
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Trial kissed snare gently and they found each other in that moment. The lights flickered for a moment in the midst of their lovemaking then went gray as the bosom of a greater dream overwhelmed them and made way for the future, their future.</div>
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“Participate for prizes and free cash today at the big stage in the center of town, be there or be square!” the morning radio announcer said with a dramatic flare. </div>
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The eggs tasted good and Trial was the best cook in the Hallow as far as Snare was concerned.</div>
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“That taste good baby?” Trial said to snare as she shook a spatula in a grand wave.</div>
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“It’s great Trial.” he replied to her.</div>
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“Good then maybe we can go for a drive in the country today hon.” she said hopefully.</div>
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“Sounds good to me baby.” Snare said as he grinned at her.</div>
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They had gone for long drives in the past exploring the different parts of their surroundings and always discovering something new.</div>
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She knew the would make love in the wheat, she loved that.</div>
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They would be in the seed, new life and she would become pregnant on this day while the people in town gathered around the stage…..</div>
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The pillories…….</div>
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The Gallows…..</div>
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And lastly Sass the coolest guy on the block, the man, the guy who had all the answers.</div>
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They drove through fields of wheat and they paused near the afternoon sun to be with each other, in conception, in the grace of nature and blue skies, in the nature of innocence and love.</div>
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Chimes tinkled in the air and the sound of wind rushing into the town filled the empty spaces around the stage.</div>
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A crowd of several hundred people had gathered to witness the spectacle.</div>
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Sass sat in an old school desk chair near the center of the stage.</div>
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He picked up the microphone and spoke.</div>
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“You are gathered here today to witness a miracle.”</div>
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He stood and waved at the pillories, watch as your dreams are realized. Suddenly the pillories were full, men and women both were locked into the pillories as Sass proclaimed. “Look what they have dear hearts, look what they have.”</div>
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He waved his hands again and the men and women were gone.</div>
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“ Watch and be amazed!” he proclaimed as he paced back and forth across the stage.</div>
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The gallows rope swung in a calm arc as sass suddenly appeared in the knot, lifeless hanging in contradiction to his performance.</div>
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Then he was on stage again, whole and alive.</div>
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Betray not the miracles you have witnessed today dear ones. Take witness to the power and my anger. He waved his hand again and a spray of flame rained down on the church bell tower.</div>
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Sass stood still, silent and watching the crowd that had gathered for the show. They screamed and some shook with fear as well as admiration for his abilities. In the end he waved them off with a flourish and a shower of daisy petals.</div>
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“The rain can be the sweetest thing for the Hallow.” he said as they fled back to their homes and businesses.</div>
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And the day continued to dusk with whispers and secrets.</div>
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“You will listen and you will learn lest you perish dear ones!” Sass exclaimed as he screamed to the sky in a high pitched whine that shattered windows and eyeglasses around town.</div>
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Trial lay next to Snare her arms around him in a bed of saffron colored wheat. They were at one with the sky and the approaching dusk, exotic and warm exclaiming a freedom that few understood.</div>
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Snare said in a quiet whisper, “Years have come and gone with us sweetie but this is the best.”</div>
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Trial sighed and replied, “What about this guy Snare?”</div>
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“I don’t know Trial, maybe he isn’t what you think he is.”</div>
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“I had a dream Snare, and he was the monster, the thorn, the darkness in everyones life, maybe….I think he’s the devil Snare.”</div>
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He rolled over and looked at her expression, she was serious. </div>
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“Maybe we’ll get out of this town Trial, just leave….him and the whole thing behind.”</div>
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The savor of phenomenal hotdogs, grilled to a crisp</div>
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And cool sips of beer were admissions of pleasure to Pep Chapters world. “Ahhhhhaaaaa he groaned as he patted his belly in sated satisfaction.</div>
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Then the sky became shadow……</div>
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Pep froze for a moment as the sun receded to a twilight blur.</div>
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Good beer he thought as the sky bled crimson. </div>
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Leonora Chapter waved from the kitchen window to Peps private barbecue.</div>
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“Come listen Pep……the news, channel nine says it’s the end Pep”</div>
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Pep looked at the sky again capturing the moment before everything changed for the Hallow.</div>
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Exotic twilight he thought, an image of island girls popped into his mind and he smiled.</div>
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In the midst of the wheat the young couple were making a decision.</div>
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The car was parked a few rows over, cool, blue Camero and a ride for the lovers.</div>
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Trial said, “I have a bad feeling about going back to the Hallow Snare.” she was trembling and her eyes shone bright red in the twilight sun.</div>
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“Do we have to go back snare? Can’t we just drive on forever honey?”</div>
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“Maybe we can baby, maybe we can.” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.</div>
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Drifting clouds dotted the horizon and the wheat rippled as the night approached. In the distance crows settled in for the night and a scarecrow supplicated the twinkling stars.</div>
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Pep stood in front of the television as Del French, the anchor for the Channel Nine News spoke.</div>
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“…….and then a sprinkling of fire lit the Hallows’ church tower on fire.”</div>
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“Touch Little is on the scene with the reverend Alton More the caretaker of the church…….Alton what’s the situation there?”</div>
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“Well Del the reverend says it’s the end and this man is the devil incarnate.”</div>
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The camera cut away for a moment to show a shaky cell phone video of Sass on the stage in the center of Hallow Town Square.</div>
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Pep squinted his eyes for a moment, it looked like he had horns.</div>
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Leonora saw Dragon wings and fire behind him for a moment. The picture became clear for a second and he was just a man again.</div>
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The Exotic Dusk came and went, in a slow cloak and shade of change. The night bloomed and the town would see other twilight skies but this was the bridge, the moment between here and there, the seconds and minutes and hour of decisions. </div>
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No one had the option of going back to that nights exotic dusk.</div>
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Sass held the lace curtain at the Dollarway Motel open as he looked out into the parking lot.</div>
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Flies buzzed around the fluorescent lights in the outer hallway and Sass stared at them with interest.</div>
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The flies swam in lazy circles to the sidewalk as they all died.</div>
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Cars passed on the road to and from town, the sound was a gentle hiss as he made plans for the following day.</div>
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He would begin at the break of dawn. He thought for a moment, the sun he realized they took it for granted and his face grew red with anger.</div>
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The break of dawn he thought again.</div>
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Pep looked at Leonora from across the kitchen table. She looked worried and frayed and he felt distracted and reserved his thoughts of the future and what this monster might bring them.</div>
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Pep took Leonora’s’ hand from across the table. “It’ll be ok honey.</div>
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The twinkle in her eye was missing and the unchanging atmosphere in the kitchen, usually smelling of pies and pot-roast, fresh bread and lemon scented dish soap was dry and hot, almost oppressive in it’s new whisper.</div>
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Pep looked at her again and saw the commotion there.</div>
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“Things will be better in the morning hon.” he said as he forced a smile.</div>
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Commanding the equality of diffuse reckoning and bad insight the reverend loaded the old cross bow that had been hanging on his living room wall.</div>
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The clock rang eleven times as midnight approached.</div>
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Earthly passions he thought………where have they led us, what have they given us. Stones he thought to himself, piles of rocks and argument.</div>
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He planned for the morrow.</div>
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The canvas of indigo night draped itself over the landscape, regenerating the shadows and silhouettes of what lay naked in the light.</div>
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The dawn, the morning dew and the scent of wild dandelions filled the air with quenching opiates and evident passions.</div>
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Trial stood and brushed herself off. Her jeans were moist with the early morning moisture and she looked fresh in the dawn’s bloom.</div>
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The air was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing across the rows of wheat. Snare stretched and yawned to the rising sun as the day began anew for them.</div>
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They made their way back to the car and climbed inside. Trial opened the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of candy bars. There were half empty bottles of Mountain Dew in the cup holder and snare grabbed one and drank it in two swallows.</div>
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They sat there munching on candy and drinking the warm soda for a few moments, silent thinking of the new day and where it would lead them.</div>
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Snare put the key in the Camero’s ignition and turned the windshield wipers on as he washed off the dew that had collected on the glass.</div>
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Trial turned the radio on.</div>
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The song was an old one, something from the eighties.</div>
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“Sexy tender, what price for the sun</div>
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Sexy tender, what price for the sun?</div>
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Rely on the horizon to guide your fun,</div>
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Rely on the day to keep your run,</div>
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What price for the sun?”</div>
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When the song finished the news came on.</div>
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They listened for a moment, in shocked disbelief.</div>
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“I was right Snare……..he was bad.” Trial said.</div>
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“……….the end of the Hollow. The town is gathering around the stage as we speak and who knows what this man will bring to our town. This is Larry Mel Hubsom for WKJY.”</div>
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Trial turned the radio back off and said, “Just Drive Baby, Just drive.”</div>
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Snare paused for a moment and said, “Have to do something first Trial.”</div>
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Snare got out of the car and climbed up onto the hood, stepping up he stood on the roof of the Camero and looked in the direction they had come from. The wheat waved and undulated in the warm morning air.</div>
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He closed his eyes and prayed, then he yelled to the horizon.</div>
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“We’re gone Hallow, We’re gone and we aren’t commin back ever!”</div>
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Trial laughed a little and climbed up onto the car with Snare.</div>
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She screamed, “We’re never commin back Hallow……………we’re on our way baby.”</div>
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The couple embraced as they stood there on the hood of the car.</div>
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Their silhouettes raging the sun with marks of passing shadow.</div>
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They drove away from the Hallow in a cloud of dust.</div>
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Sass sat near the center of the burned out church contemplating the day.</div>
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The first rays of morning sunshine shone through the burned out portion of the roof and lit the stained glass in a new blaze.</div>
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He sighed and found his moment.</div>
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His wont……</div>
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…….and his unsated desire to do what he had come to do.</div>
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The seconds ticked by and the town awoke. The man they had let in prepared and stole the calm of the early hours with high pitched screams as he worked around the stage.</div>
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Pep woke to the smell of sausage and bacon. Leonora was humming in the kitchen and the sound of sparrows and dogs barking filtered through the bedroom window.</div>
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Uncovering himself he prepared to model images of easy calm, in truth he was afraid. Striving to brush-off the implied disaster that the news said was coming he found the country he was searching for as he took in the screams that thundered in the air outside. </div>
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To Be Continued…</div>
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Look for Exotic Dusk Book Two in the coming months!</div>
</b></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-69624905701598976252014-02-15T10:47:00.001-08:002014-02-15T10:47:41.116-08:00Free Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Copyright 2012, October</div>
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Ron Koppelberger</div>
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Exotic Dusk</div>
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***</div>
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Website: Wolffray.blogspot.com</div>
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Everyday</div>
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Things </div>
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Happen </div>
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That</div>
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We</div>
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Understand!!!</div>
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Quiet times were upon them and in the moment of their rest, their success and their innocence</div>
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They were greeted by the Sass.</div>
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He was as cool as the coolest and smooth like glass. They expected the best commotion and the sass gave it to them.</div>
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In the midst of this commotion there was an unaffected voice, warning with caution and swaying poetry.</div>
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“Take heed the untiring truth, take heed the untiring truth!”</div>
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The Sass said to them, “I am the best that you can have and the rest are but of stone and broken glass!”</div>
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The voice said again,</div>
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“Take Heed”</div>
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The victory that the Sass yearned for was in the bond between what they desired and what they could find in the Exotic Dusk.</div>
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The place where they knew right from wrong and where they might take a moment to dream of the future.</div>
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Perhaps the Sass thought to himself they will not want me and what I have to offer them, perhaps. Yet he knew as the rest were they would be.</div>
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The voice of their consciousness would remain silent for the days to come and they would be found unaware of the shadows that were beginning to surround them.</div>
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Trial Blaze and Snare Slake looked at each other and a love borne of circumstance was created. Trial Was the better part of Snare as she was the cautious one.</div>
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Snare said, “ We can follow this Sass to the end of the earth baby, to the ends of the Earth.”</div>
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Trial said, “But who is this guy Snare?”</div>
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Snare thought about this for a moment before he replied. “He’s where it’s at sweetie, he’s where the road meets the highway honey. Let’s go and see what he has to say Trial!”</div>
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Trial took his hand in hers’ and said, “No Babe.” He looked at her for a moment and her caution was suddenly understood.</div>
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“You think he’s bad.”</div>
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“Yes!” Trial replied.</div>
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And as the drama unfolded the people in town began to gather around the giant stage that the stranger had built in the center of Hallow Vine (Somewhere near the edge of the western horizon).</div>
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The stage had a series of pillories and gallows poles attached to it. Oddly no one made mention of it. Sass put a sign on the front of the stage reading,</div>
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“Certain Death”</div>
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The voice sang to the consciousness of the people, the gentle denizens of Hallow Vine,</div>
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“Take Heed!”</div>
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The sky bleed spears of long amber light in the twilight sky as night approached. </div>
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Dogs barked and cats mated with relish abandon as the sky turned dark and the light of the moon shone over the rows of wheat that bordered the four sides of the town.</div>
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Somewhere near the far side of town two lay next to each other aware of the darkness that had entered the Hallow.</div>
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“What can we do about it Trial?” Snare said as he looked into her serene face.</div>
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“I’m not sure Snare, maybe we should tell someone.” </div>
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Trial kissed snare gently and they found each other in that moment. The lights flickered for a moment in the midst of their lovemaking then went gray as the bosom of a greater dream overwhelmed them and made way for the future, their future.</div>
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“Participate for prizes and free cash today at the big stage in the center of town, be there or be square!” the morning radio announcer said with a dramatic flare. </div>
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The eggs tasted good and Trial was the best cook in the Hallow as far as Snare was concerned.</div>
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“That taste good baby?” Trial said to snare as she shook a spatula in a grand wave.</div>
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“It’s great Trial.” he replied to her.</div>
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“Good then maybe we can go for a drive in the country today hon.” she said hopefully.</div>
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“Sounds good to me baby.” Snare said as he grinned at her.</div>
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They had gone for long drives in the past exploring the different parts of their surroundings and always discovering something new.</div>
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She knew the would make love in the wheat, she loved that.</div>
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They would be in the seed, new life and she would become pregnant on this day while the people in town gathered around the stage…..</div>
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The pillories…….</div>
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The Gallows…..</div>
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And lastly Sass the coolest guy on the block, the man, the guy who had all the answers.</div>
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They drove through fields of wheat and they paused near the afternoon sun to be with each other, in conception, in the grace of nature and blue skies, in the nature of innocence and love.</div>
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Chimes tinkled in the air and the sound of wind rushing into the town filled the empty spaces around the stage.</div>
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A crowd of several hundred people had gathered to witness the spectacle.</div>
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Sass sat in an old school desk chair near the center of the stage.</div>
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He picked up the microphone and spoke.</div>
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“You are gathered here today to witness a miracle.”</div>
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He stood and waved at the pillories, watch as your dreams are realized. Suddenly the pillories were full, men and women both were locked into the pillories as Sass proclaimed. “Look what they have dear hearts, look what they have.”</div>
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He waved his hands again and the men and women were gone.</div>
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“ Watch and be amazed!” he proclaimed as he paced back and forth across the stage.</div>
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The gallows rope swung in a calm arc as sass suddenly appeared in the knot, lifeless hanging in contradiction to his performance.</div>
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Then he was on stage again, whole and alive.</div>
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Betray not the miracles you have witnessed today dear ones. Take witness to the power and my anger. He waved his hand again and a spray of flame rained down on the church bell tower.</div>
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Sass stood still, silent and watching the crowd that had gathered for the show. They screamed and some shook with fear as well as admiration for his abilities. In the end he waved them off with a flourish and a shower of daisy petals.</div>
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“The rain can be the sweetest thing for the Hallow.” he said as they fled back to their homes and businesses.</div>
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And the day continued to dusk with whispers and secrets.</div>
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“You will listen and you will learn lest you perish dear ones!” Sass exclaimed as he screamed to the sky in a high pitched whine that shattered windows and eyeglasses around town.</div>
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Trial lay next to Snare her arms around him in a bed of saffron colored wheat. They were at one with the sky and the approaching dusk, exotic and warm exclaiming a freedom that few understood.</div>
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Snare said in a quiet whisper, “Years have come and gone with us sweetie but this is the best.”</div>
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Trial sighed and replied, “What about this guy Snare?”</div>
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“I don’t know Trial, maybe he isn’t what you think he is.”</div>
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“I had a dream Snare, and he was the monster, the thorn, the darkness in everyones life, maybe….I think he’s the devil Snare.”</div>
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He rolled over and looked at her expression, she was serious. </div>
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“Maybe we’ll get out of this town Trial, just leave….him and the whole thing behind.”</div>
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The savor of phenomenal hotdogs, grilled to a crisp</div>
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And cool sips of beer were admissions of pleasure to Pep Chapters world. “Ahhhhhaaaaa he groaned as he patted his belly in sated satisfaction.</div>
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Then the sky became shadow……</div>
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Pep froze for a moment as the sun receded to a twilight blur.</div>
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Good beer he thought as the sky bled crimson. </div>
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Leonora Chapter waved from the kitchen window to Peps private barbecue.</div>
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“Come listen Pep……the news, channel nine says it’s the end Pep”</div>
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Pep looked at the sky again capturing the moment before everything changed for the Hallow.</div>
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Exotic twilight he thought, an image of island girls popped into his mind and he smiled.</div>
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In the midst of the wheat the young couple were making a decision.</div>
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The car was parked a few rows over, cool, blue Camero and a ride for the lovers.</div>
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Trial said, “I have a bad feeling about going back to the Hallow Snare.” she was trembling and her eyes shone bright red in the twilight sun.</div>
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“Do we have to go back snare? Can’t we just drive on forever honey?”</div>
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“Maybe we can baby, maybe we can.” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.</div>
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Drifting clouds dotted the horizon and the wheat rippled as the night approached. In the distance crows settled in for the night and a scarecrow supplicated the twinkling stars.</div>
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Pep stood in front of the television as Del French, the anchor for the Channel Nine News spoke.</div>
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“…….and then a sprinkling of fire lit the Hallows’ church tower on fire.”</div>
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“Touch Little is on the scene with the reverend Alton More the caretaker of the church…….Alton what’s the situation there?”</div>
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“Well Del the reverend says it’s the end and this man is the devil incarnate.”</div>
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The camera cut away for a moment to show a shaky cell phone video of Sass on the stage in the center of Hallow Town Square.</div>
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Pep squinted his eyes for a moment, it looked like he had horns.</div>
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Leonora saw Dragon wings and fire behind him for a moment. The picture became clear for a second and he was just a man again.</div>
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The Exotic Dusk came and went, in a slow cloak and shade of change. The night bloomed and the town would see other twilight skies but this was the bridge, the moment between here and there, the seconds and minutes and hour of decisions. </div>
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No one had the option of going back to that nights exotic dusk.</div>
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Sass held the lace curtain at the Dollarway Motel open as he looked out into the parking lot.</div>
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Flies buzzed around the fluorescent lights in the outer hallway and Sass stared at them with interest.</div>
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The flies swam in lazy circles to the sidewalk as they all died.</div>
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Cars passed on the road to and from town, the sound was a gentle hiss as he made plans for the following day.</div>
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He would begin at the break of dawn. He thought for a moment, the sun he realized they took it for granted and his face grew red with anger.</div>
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The break of dawn he thought again.</div>
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Pep looked at Leonora from across the kitchen table. She looked worried and frayed and he felt distracted and reserved his thoughts of the future and what this monster might bring them.</div>
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Pep took Leonora’s’ hand from across the table. “It’ll be ok honey.</div>
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The twinkle in her eye was missing and the unchanging atmosphere in the kitchen, usually smelling of pies and pot-roast, fresh bread and lemon scented dish soap was dry and hot, almost oppressive in it’s new whisper.</div>
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Pep looked at her again and saw the commotion there.</div>
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“Things will be better in the morning hon.” he said as he forced a smile.</div>
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Commanding the equality of diffuse reckoning and bad insight the reverend loaded the old cross bow that had been hanging on his living room wall.</div>
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The clock rang eleven times as midnight approached.</div>
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Earthly passions he thought………where have they led us, what have they given us. Stones he thought to himself, piles of rocks and argument.</div>
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He planned for the morrow.</div>
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The canvas of indigo night draped itself over the landscape, regenerating the shadows and silhouettes of what lay naked in the light.</div>
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The dawn, the morning dew and the scent of wild dandelions filled the air with quenching opiates and evident passions.</div>
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Trial stood and brushed herself off. Her jeans were moist with the early morning moisture and she looked fresh in the dawn’s bloom.</div>
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The air was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing across the rows of wheat. Snare stretched and yawned to the rising sun as the day began anew for them.</div>
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They made their way back to the car and climbed inside. Trial opened the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of candy bars. There were half empty bottles of Mountain Dew in the cup holder and snare grabbed one and drank it in two swallows.</div>
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They sat there munching on candy and drinking the warm soda for a few moments, silent thinking of the new day and where it would lead them.</div>
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Snare put the key in the Camero’s ignition and turned the windshield wipers on as he washed off the dew that had collected on the glass.</div>
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Trial turned the radio on.</div>
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The song was an old one, something from the eighties.</div>
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“Sexy tender, what price for the sun</div>
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Sexy tender, what price for the sun?</div>
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Rely on the horizon to guide your fun,</div>
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Rely on the day to keep your run,</div>
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What price for the sun?”</div>
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When the song finished the news came on.</div>
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They listened for a moment, in shocked disbelief.</div>
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“I was right Snare……..he was bad.” Trial said.</div>
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“……….the end of the Hollow. The town is gathering around the stage as we speak and who knows what this man will bring to our town. This is Larry Mel Hubsom for WKJY.”</div>
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Trial turned the radio back off and said, “Just Drive Baby, Just drive.”</div>
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Snare paused for a moment and said, “Have to do something first Trial.”</div>
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Snare got out of the car and climbed up onto the hood, stepping up he stood on the roof of the Camero and looked in the direction they had come from. The wheat waved and undulated in the warm morning air.</div>
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He closed his eyes and prayed, then he yelled to the horizon.</div>
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“We’re gone Hallow, We’re gone and we aren’t commin back ever!”</div>
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Trial laughed a little and climbed up onto the car with Snare.</div>
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She screamed, “We’re never commin back Hallow……………we’re on our way baby.”</div>
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The couple embraced as they stood there on the hood of the car.</div>
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Their silhouettes raging the sun with marks of passing shadow.</div>
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They drove away from the Hallow in a cloud of dust.</div>
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Sass sat near the center of the burned out church contemplating the day.</div>
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…….and his unsated desire to do what he had come to do.</div>
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The seconds ticked by and the town awoke. The man they had let in prepared and stole the calm of the early hours with high pitched screams as he worked around the stage.</div>
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Pep woke to the smell of sausage and bacon. Leonora was humming in the kitchen and the sound of sparrows and dogs barking filtered through the bedroom window.</div>
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Uncovering himself he prepared to model images of easy calm, in truth he was afraid. Striving to brush-off the implied disaster that the news said was coming he found the country he was searching for as he took in the screams that thundered in the air outside. </div>
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To Be Continued…</div>
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Look for Exotic Dusk Book Two in the coming months!</div>
</b></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-60486725764922647452014-02-15T10:46:00.003-08:002014-02-15T10:46:51.462-08:00Free Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Copyright 2012, October</div>
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Ron Koppelberger</div>
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Exotic Dusk</div>
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***</div>
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Website: Wolffray.blogspot.com</div>
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Everyday</div>
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Things </div>
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Happen </div>
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That</div>
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We</div>
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Understand!!!</div>
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Quiet times were upon them and in the moment of their rest, their success and their innocence</div>
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They were greeted by the Sass.</div>
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He was as cool as the coolest and smooth like glass. They expected the best commotion and the sass gave it to them.</div>
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In the midst of this commotion there was an unaffected voice, warning with caution and swaying poetry.</div>
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“Take heed the untiring truth, take heed the untiring truth!”</div>
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The Sass said to them, “I am the best that you can have and the rest are but of stone and broken glass!”</div>
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The voice said again,</div>
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“Take Heed”</div>
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The victory that the Sass yearned for was in the bond between what they desired and what they could find in the Exotic Dusk.</div>
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The place where they knew right from wrong and where they might take a moment to dream of the future.</div>
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Perhaps the Sass thought to himself they will not want me and what I have to offer them, perhaps. Yet he knew as the rest were they would be.</div>
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The voice of their consciousness would remain silent for the days to come and they would be found unaware of the shadows that were beginning to surround them.</div>
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Trial Blaze and Snare Slake looked at each other and a love borne of circumstance was created. Trial Was the better part of Snare as she was the cautious one.</div>
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Snare said, “ We can follow this Sass to the end of the earth baby, to the ends of the Earth.”</div>
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Trial said, “But who is this guy Snare?”</div>
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Snare thought about this for a moment before he replied. “He’s where it’s at sweetie, he’s where the road meets the highway honey. Let’s go and see what he has to say Trial!”</div>
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Trial took his hand in hers’ and said, “No Babe.” He looked at her for a moment and her caution was suddenly understood.</div>
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“You think he’s bad.”</div>
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“Yes!” Trial replied.</div>
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And as the drama unfolded the people in town began to gather around the giant stage that the stranger had built in the center of Hallow Vine (Somewhere near the edge of the western horizon).</div>
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The stage had a series of pillories and gallows poles attached to it. Oddly no one made mention of it. Sass put a sign on the front of the stage reading,</div>
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“Certain Death”</div>
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The voice sang to the consciousness of the people, the gentle denizens of Hallow Vine,</div>
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“Take Heed!”</div>
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The sky bleed spears of long amber light in the twilight sky as night approached. </div>
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Dogs barked and cats mated with relish abandon as the sky turned dark and the light of the moon shone over the rows of wheat that bordered the four sides of the town.</div>
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Somewhere near the far side of town two lay next to each other aware of the darkness that had entered the Hallow.</div>
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“What can we do about it Trial?” Snare said as he looked into her serene face.</div>
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“I’m not sure Snare, maybe we should tell someone.” </div>
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Trial kissed snare gently and they found each other in that moment. The lights flickered for a moment in the midst of their lovemaking then went gray as the bosom of a greater dream overwhelmed them and made way for the future, their future.</div>
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“Participate for prizes and free cash today at the big stage in the center of town, be there or be square!” the morning radio announcer said with a dramatic flare. </div>
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The eggs tasted good and Trial was the best cook in the Hallow as far as Snare was concerned.</div>
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“That taste good baby?” Trial said to snare as she shook a spatula in a grand wave.</div>
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“It’s great Trial.” he replied to her.</div>
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“Good then maybe we can go for a drive in the country today hon.” she said hopefully.</div>
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“Sounds good to me baby.” Snare said as he grinned at her.</div>
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They had gone for long drives in the past exploring the different parts of their surroundings and always discovering something new.</div>
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She knew the would make love in the wheat, she loved that.</div>
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They would be in the seed, new life and she would become pregnant on this day while the people in town gathered around the stage…..</div>
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The pillories…….</div>
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The Gallows…..</div>
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And lastly Sass the coolest guy on the block, the man, the guy who had all the answers.</div>
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They drove through fields of wheat and they paused near the afternoon sun to be with each other, in conception, in the grace of nature and blue skies, in the nature of innocence and love.</div>
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Chimes tinkled in the air and the sound of wind rushing into the town filled the empty spaces around the stage.</div>
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A crowd of several hundred people had gathered to witness the spectacle.</div>
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Sass sat in an old school desk chair near the center of the stage.</div>
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He picked up the microphone and spoke.</div>
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“You are gathered here today to witness a miracle.”</div>
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He stood and waved at the pillories, watch as your dreams are realized. Suddenly the pillories were full, men and women both were locked into the pillories as Sass proclaimed. “Look what they have dear hearts, look what they have.”</div>
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He waved his hands again and the men and women were gone.</div>
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“ Watch and be amazed!” he proclaimed as he paced back and forth across the stage.</div>
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Then he was on stage again, whole and alive.</div>
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Betray not the miracles you have witnessed today dear ones. Take witness to the power and my anger. He waved his hand again and a spray of flame rained down on the church bell tower.</div>
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Sass stood still, silent and watching the crowd that had gathered for the show. They screamed and some shook with fear as well as admiration for his abilities. In the end he waved them off with a flourish and a shower of daisy petals.</div>
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“The rain can be the sweetest thing for the Hallow.” he said as they fled back to their homes and businesses.</div>
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And the day continued to dusk with whispers and secrets.</div>
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“You will listen and you will learn lest you perish dear ones!” Sass exclaimed as he screamed to the sky in a high pitched whine that shattered windows and eyeglasses around town.</div>
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Trial lay next to Snare her arms around him in a bed of saffron colored wheat. They were at one with the sky and the approaching dusk, exotic and warm exclaiming a freedom that few understood.</div>
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Snare said in a quiet whisper, “Years have come and gone with us sweetie but this is the best.”</div>
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Trial sighed and replied, “What about this guy Snare?”</div>
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“I don’t know Trial, maybe he isn’t what you think he is.”</div>
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“I had a dream Snare, and he was the monster, the thorn, the darkness in everyones life, maybe….I think he’s the devil Snare.”</div>
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He rolled over and looked at her expression, she was serious. </div>
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“Maybe we’ll get out of this town Trial, just leave….him and the whole thing behind.”</div>
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The savor of phenomenal hotdogs, grilled to a crisp</div>
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And cool sips of beer were admissions of pleasure to Pep Chapters world. “Ahhhhhaaaaa he groaned as he patted his belly in sated satisfaction.</div>
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Then the sky became shadow……</div>
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Pep froze for a moment as the sun receded to a twilight blur.</div>
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Good beer he thought as the sky bled crimson. </div>
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Leonora Chapter waved from the kitchen window to Peps private barbecue.</div>
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“Come listen Pep……the news, channel nine says it’s the end Pep”</div>
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Pep looked at the sky again capturing the moment before everything changed for the Hallow.</div>
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Exotic twilight he thought, an image of island girls popped into his mind and he smiled.</div>
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In the midst of the wheat the young couple were making a decision.</div>
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The car was parked a few rows over, cool, blue Camero and a ride for the lovers.</div>
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Trial said, “I have a bad feeling about going back to the Hallow Snare.” she was trembling and her eyes shone bright red in the twilight sun.</div>
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“Do we have to go back snare? Can’t we just drive on forever honey?”</div>
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“Maybe we can baby, maybe we can.” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.</div>
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Drifting clouds dotted the horizon and the wheat rippled as the night approached. In the distance crows settled in for the night and a scarecrow supplicated the twinkling stars.</div>
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Pep stood in front of the television as Del French, the anchor for the Channel Nine News spoke.</div>
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“…….and then a sprinkling of fire lit the Hallows’ church tower on fire.”</div>
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“Touch Little is on the scene with the reverend Alton More the caretaker of the church…….Alton what’s the situation there?”</div>
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“Well Del the reverend says it’s the end and this man is the devil incarnate.”</div>
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The camera cut away for a moment to show a shaky cell phone video of Sass on the stage in the center of Hallow Town Square.</div>
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Pep squinted his eyes for a moment, it looked like he had horns.</div>
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Leonora saw Dragon wings and fire behind him for a moment. The picture became clear for a second and he was just a man again.</div>
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The Exotic Dusk came and went, in a slow cloak and shade of change. The night bloomed and the town would see other twilight skies but this was the bridge, the moment between here and there, the seconds and minutes and hour of decisions. </div>
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No one had the option of going back to that nights exotic dusk.</div>
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Sass held the lace curtain at the Dollarway Motel open as he looked out into the parking lot.</div>
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Flies buzzed around the fluorescent lights in the outer hallway and Sass stared at them with interest.</div>
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The flies swam in lazy circles to the sidewalk as they all died.</div>
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Cars passed on the road to and from town, the sound was a gentle hiss as he made plans for the following day.</div>
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He would begin at the break of dawn. He thought for a moment, the sun he realized they took it for granted and his face grew red with anger.</div>
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The break of dawn he thought again.</div>
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Pep looked at Leonora from across the kitchen table. She looked worried and frayed and he felt distracted and reserved his thoughts of the future and what this monster might bring them.</div>
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Pep took Leonora’s’ hand from across the table. “It’ll be ok honey.</div>
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The twinkle in her eye was missing and the unchanging atmosphere in the kitchen, usually smelling of pies and pot-roast, fresh bread and lemon scented dish soap was dry and hot, almost oppressive in it’s new whisper.</div>
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Pep looked at her again and saw the commotion there.</div>
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“Things will be better in the morning hon.” he said as he forced a smile.</div>
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Commanding the equality of diffuse reckoning and bad insight the reverend loaded the old cross bow that had been hanging on his living room wall.</div>
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The clock rang eleven times as midnight approached.</div>
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Earthly passions he thought………where have they led us, what have they given us. Stones he thought to himself, piles of rocks and argument.</div>
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He planned for the morrow.</div>
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The canvas of indigo night draped itself over the landscape, regenerating the shadows and silhouettes of what lay naked in the light.</div>
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The dawn, the morning dew and the scent of wild dandelions filled the air with quenching opiates and evident passions.</div>
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Trial stood and brushed herself off. Her jeans were moist with the early morning moisture and she looked fresh in the dawn’s bloom.</div>
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The air was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing across the rows of wheat. Snare stretched and yawned to the rising sun as the day began anew for them.</div>
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They made their way back to the car and climbed inside. Trial opened the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of candy bars. There were half empty bottles of Mountain Dew in the cup holder and snare grabbed one and drank it in two swallows.</div>
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They sat there munching on candy and drinking the warm soda for a few moments, silent thinking of the new day and where it would lead them.</div>
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Snare put the key in the Camero’s ignition and turned the windshield wipers on as he washed off the dew that had collected on the glass.</div>
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Trial turned the radio on.</div>
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The song was an old one, something from the eighties.</div>
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“Sexy tender, what price for the sun</div>
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Sexy tender, what price for the sun?</div>
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Rely on the horizon to guide your fun,</div>
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Rely on the day to keep your run,</div>
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What price for the sun?”</div>
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When the song finished the news came on.</div>
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They listened for a moment, in shocked disbelief.</div>
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“I was right Snare……..he was bad.” Trial said.</div>
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“……….the end of the Hollow. The town is gathering around the stage as we speak and who knows what this man will bring to our town. This is Larry Mel Hubsom for WKJY.”</div>
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Trial turned the radio back off and said, “Just Drive Baby, Just drive.”</div>
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Snare paused for a moment and said, “Have to do something first Trial.”</div>
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Snare got out of the car and climbed up onto the hood, stepping up he stood on the roof of the Camero and looked in the direction they had come from. The wheat waved and undulated in the warm morning air.</div>
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He closed his eyes and prayed, then he yelled to the horizon.</div>
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“We’re gone Hallow, We’re gone and we aren’t commin back ever!”</div>
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Trial laughed a little and climbed up onto the car with Snare.</div>
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She screamed, “We’re never commin back Hallow……………we’re on our way baby.”</div>
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Their silhouettes raging the sun with marks of passing shadow.</div>
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They drove away from the Hallow in a cloud of dust.</div>
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The first rays of morning sunshine shone through the burned out portion of the roof and lit the stained glass in a new blaze.</div>
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His wont……</div>
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…….and his unsated desire to do what he had come to do.</div>
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The seconds ticked by and the town awoke. The man they had let in prepared and stole the calm of the early hours with high pitched screams as he worked around the stage.</div>
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Pep woke to the smell of sausage and bacon. Leonora was humming in the kitchen and the sound of sparrows and dogs barking filtered through the bedroom window.</div>
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Uncovering himself he prepared to model images of easy calm, in truth he was afraid. Striving to brush-off the implied disaster that the news said was coming he found the country he was searching for as he took in the screams that thundered in the air outside. </div>
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To Be Continued…</div>
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Look for Exotic Dusk Book Two in the coming months!</div>
</b></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-23062929457984808852014-02-15T10:46:00.001-08:002014-02-15T10:46:01.093-08:00Free Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Copyright 2012, October</div>
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Ron Koppelberger</div>
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Exotic Dusk</div>
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***</div>
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Website: Wolffray.blogspot.com</div>
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Everyday</div>
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Things </div>
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Happen </div>
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That</div>
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We</div>
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Don’t</div>
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Understand!!!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large;"><div align="center">
Quiet times were upon them and in the moment of their rest, their success and their innocence</div>
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They were greeted by the Sass.</div>
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He was as cool as the coolest and smooth like glass. They expected the best commotion and the sass gave it to them.</div>
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In the midst of this commotion there was an unaffected voice, warning with caution and swaying poetry.</div>
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“Take heed the untiring truth, take heed the untiring truth!”</div>
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The Sass said to them, “I am the best that you can have and the rest are but of stone and broken glass!”</div>
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The voice said again,</div>
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“Take Heed”</div>
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The victory that the Sass yearned for was in the bond between what they desired and what they could find in the Exotic Dusk.</div>
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The place where they knew right from wrong and where they might take a moment to dream of the future.</div>
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Perhaps the Sass thought to himself they will not want me and what I have to offer them, perhaps. Yet he knew as the rest were they would be.</div>
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The voice of their consciousness would remain silent for the days to come and they would be found unaware of the shadows that were beginning to surround them.</div>
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Trial Blaze and Snare Slake looked at each other and a love borne of circumstance was created. Trial Was the better part of Snare as she was the cautious one.</div>
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Snare said, “ We can follow this Sass to the end of the earth baby, to the ends of the Earth.”</div>
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Trial said, “But who is this guy Snare?”</div>
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Snare thought about this for a moment before he replied. “He’s where it’s at sweetie, he’s where the road meets the highway honey. Let’s go and see what he has to say Trial!”</div>
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Trial took his hand in hers’ and said, “No Babe.” He looked at her for a moment and her caution was suddenly understood.</div>
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“You think he’s bad.”</div>
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“Yes!” Trial replied.</div>
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And as the drama unfolded the people in town began to gather around the giant stage that the stranger had built in the center of Hallow Vine (Somewhere near the edge of the western horizon).</div>
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The stage had a series of pillories and gallows poles attached to it. Oddly no one made mention of it. Sass put a sign on the front of the stage reading,</div>
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“Certain Death”</div>
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The voice sang to the consciousness of the people, the gentle denizens of Hallow Vine,</div>
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“Take Heed!”</div>
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The sky bleed spears of long amber light in the twilight sky as night approached. </div>
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Dogs barked and cats mated with relish abandon as the sky turned dark and the light of the moon shone over the rows of wheat that bordered the four sides of the town.</div>
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Somewhere near the far side of town two lay next to each other aware of the darkness that had entered the Hallow.</div>
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“What can we do about it Trial?” Snare said as he looked into her serene face.</div>
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“I’m not sure Snare, maybe we should tell someone.” </div>
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Trial kissed snare gently and they found each other in that moment. The lights flickered for a moment in the midst of their lovemaking then went gray as the bosom of a greater dream overwhelmed them and made way for the future, their future.</div>
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“Participate for prizes and free cash today at the big stage in the center of town, be there or be square!” the morning radio announcer said with a dramatic flare. </div>
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The eggs tasted good and Trial was the best cook in the Hallow as far as Snare was concerned.</div>
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“That taste good baby?” Trial said to snare as she shook a spatula in a grand wave.</div>
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“It’s great Trial.” he replied to her.</div>
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“Good then maybe we can go for a drive in the country today hon.” she said hopefully.</div>
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“Sounds good to me baby.” Snare said as he grinned at her.</div>
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They had gone for long drives in the past exploring the different parts of their surroundings and always discovering something new.</div>
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She knew the would make love in the wheat, she loved that.</div>
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They would be in the seed, new life and she would become pregnant on this day while the people in town gathered around the stage…..</div>
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The pillories…….</div>
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The Gallows…..</div>
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And lastly Sass the coolest guy on the block, the man, the guy who had all the answers.</div>
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They drove through fields of wheat and they paused near the afternoon sun to be with each other, in conception, in the grace of nature and blue skies, in the nature of innocence and love.</div>
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Chimes tinkled in the air and the sound of wind rushing into the town filled the empty spaces around the stage.</div>
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A crowd of several hundred people had gathered to witness the spectacle.</div>
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Sass sat in an old school desk chair near the center of the stage.</div>
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He picked up the microphone and spoke.</div>
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“You are gathered here today to witness a miracle.”</div>
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He stood and waved at the pillories, watch as your dreams are realized. Suddenly the pillories were full, men and women both were locked into the pillories as Sass proclaimed. “Look what they have dear hearts, look what they have.”</div>
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He waved his hands again and the men and women were gone.</div>
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“ Watch and be amazed!” he proclaimed as he paced back and forth across the stage.</div>
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The gallows rope swung in a calm arc as sass suddenly appeared in the knot, lifeless hanging in contradiction to his performance.</div>
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Then he was on stage again, whole and alive.</div>
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Betray not the miracles you have witnessed today dear ones. Take witness to the power and my anger. He waved his hand again and a spray of flame rained down on the church bell tower.</div>
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Sass stood still, silent and watching the crowd that had gathered for the show. They screamed and some shook with fear as well as admiration for his abilities. In the end he waved them off with a flourish and a shower of daisy petals.</div>
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“The rain can be the sweetest thing for the Hallow.” he said as they fled back to their homes and businesses.</div>
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And the day continued to dusk with whispers and secrets.</div>
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“You will listen and you will learn lest you perish dear ones!” Sass exclaimed as he screamed to the sky in a high pitched whine that shattered windows and eyeglasses around town.</div>
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Trial lay next to Snare her arms around him in a bed of saffron colored wheat. They were at one with the sky and the approaching dusk, exotic and warm exclaiming a freedom that few understood.</div>
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Snare said in a quiet whisper, “Years have come and gone with us sweetie but this is the best.”</div>
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Trial sighed and replied, “What about this guy Snare?”</div>
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“I don’t know Trial, maybe he isn’t what you think he is.”</div>
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“I had a dream Snare, and he was the monster, the thorn, the darkness in everyones life, maybe….I think he’s the devil Snare.”</div>
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He rolled over and looked at her expression, she was serious. </div>
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“Maybe we’ll get out of this town Trial, just leave….him and the whole thing behind.”</div>
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The savor of phenomenal hotdogs, grilled to a crisp</div>
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And cool sips of beer were admissions of pleasure to Pep Chapters world. “Ahhhhhaaaaa he groaned as he patted his belly in sated satisfaction.</div>
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Then the sky became shadow……</div>
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Pep froze for a moment as the sun receded to a twilight blur.</div>
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Good beer he thought as the sky bled crimson. </div>
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Leonora Chapter waved from the kitchen window to Peps private barbecue.</div>
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“Come listen Pep……the news, channel nine says it’s the end Pep”</div>
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Pep looked at the sky again capturing the moment before everything changed for the Hallow.</div>
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Exotic twilight he thought, an image of island girls popped into his mind and he smiled.</div>
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In the midst of the wheat the young couple were making a decision.</div>
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The car was parked a few rows over, cool, blue Camero and a ride for the lovers.</div>
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Trial said, “I have a bad feeling about going back to the Hallow Snare.” she was trembling and her eyes shone bright red in the twilight sun.</div>
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“Do we have to go back snare? Can’t we just drive on forever honey?”</div>
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“Maybe we can baby, maybe we can.” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.</div>
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Drifting clouds dotted the horizon and the wheat rippled as the night approached. In the distance crows settled in for the night and a scarecrow supplicated the twinkling stars.</div>
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Pep stood in front of the television as Del French, the anchor for the Channel Nine News spoke.</div>
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“…….and then a sprinkling of fire lit the Hallows’ church tower on fire.”</div>
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“Touch Little is on the scene with the reverend Alton More the caretaker of the church…….Alton what’s the situation there?”</div>
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“Well Del the reverend says it’s the end and this man is the devil incarnate.”</div>
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The camera cut away for a moment to show a shaky cell phone video of Sass on the stage in the center of Hallow Town Square.</div>
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Pep squinted his eyes for a moment, it looked like he had horns.</div>
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Leonora saw Dragon wings and fire behind him for a moment. The picture became clear for a second and he was just a man again.</div>
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The Exotic Dusk came and went, in a slow cloak and shade of change. The night bloomed and the town would see other twilight skies but this was the bridge, the moment between here and there, the seconds and minutes and hour of decisions. </div>
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No one had the option of going back to that nights exotic dusk.</div>
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Sass held the lace curtain at the Dollarway Motel open as he looked out into the parking lot.</div>
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Flies buzzed around the fluorescent lights in the outer hallway and Sass stared at them with interest.</div>
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The flies swam in lazy circles to the sidewalk as they all died.</div>
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Cars passed on the road to and from town, the sound was a gentle hiss as he made plans for the following day.</div>
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He would begin at the break of dawn. He thought for a moment, the sun he realized they took it for granted and his face grew red with anger.</div>
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The break of dawn he thought again.</div>
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Pep looked at Leonora from across the kitchen table. She looked worried and frayed and he felt distracted and reserved his thoughts of the future and what this monster might bring them.</div>
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Pep took Leonora’s’ hand from across the table. “It’ll be ok honey.</div>
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The twinkle in her eye was missing and the unchanging atmosphere in the kitchen, usually smelling of pies and pot-roast, fresh bread and lemon scented dish soap was dry and hot, almost oppressive in it’s new whisper.</div>
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Pep looked at her again and saw the commotion there.</div>
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“Things will be better in the morning hon.” he said as he forced a smile.</div>
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Commanding the equality of diffuse reckoning and bad insight the reverend loaded the old cross bow that had been hanging on his living room wall.</div>
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The clock rang eleven times as midnight approached.</div>
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Earthly passions he thought………where have they led us, what have they given us. Stones he thought to himself, piles of rocks and argument.</div>
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He planned for the morrow.</div>
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The canvas of indigo night draped itself over the landscape, regenerating the shadows and silhouettes of what lay naked in the light.</div>
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The dawn, the morning dew and the scent of wild dandelions filled the air with quenching opiates and evident passions.</div>
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Trial stood and brushed herself off. Her jeans were moist with the early morning moisture and she looked fresh in the dawn’s bloom.</div>
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The air was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing across the rows of wheat. Snare stretched and yawned to the rising sun as the day began anew for them.</div>
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They made their way back to the car and climbed inside. Trial opened the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of candy bars. There were half empty bottles of Mountain Dew in the cup holder and snare grabbed one and drank it in two swallows.</div>
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They sat there munching on candy and drinking the warm soda for a few moments, silent thinking of the new day and where it would lead them.</div>
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Snare put the key in the Camero’s ignition and turned the windshield wipers on as he washed off the dew that had collected on the glass.</div>
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Trial turned the radio on.</div>
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The song was an old one, something from the eighties.</div>
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“Sexy tender, what price for the sun</div>
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Sexy tender, what price for the sun?</div>
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Rely on the horizon to guide your fun,</div>
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Rely on the day to keep your run,</div>
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What price for the sun?”</div>
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When the song finished the news came on.</div>
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They listened for a moment, in shocked disbelief.</div>
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“I was right Snare……..he was bad.” Trial said.</div>
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“……….the end of the Hollow. The town is gathering around the stage as we speak and who knows what this man will bring to our town. This is Larry Mel Hubsom for WKJY.”</div>
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Trial turned the radio back off and said, “Just Drive Baby, Just drive.”</div>
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Snare paused for a moment and said, “Have to do something first Trial.”</div>
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Snare got out of the car and climbed up onto the hood, stepping up he stood on the roof of the Camero and looked in the direction they had come from. The wheat waved and undulated in the warm morning air.</div>
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He closed his eyes and prayed, then he yelled to the horizon.</div>
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“We’re gone Hallow, We’re gone and we aren’t commin back ever!”</div>
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Trial laughed a little and climbed up onto the car with Snare.</div>
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She screamed, “We’re never commin back Hallow……………we’re on our way baby.”</div>
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The couple embraced as they stood there on the hood of the car.</div>
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Their silhouettes raging the sun with marks of passing shadow.</div>
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They drove away from the Hallow in a cloud of dust.</div>
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Sass sat near the center of the burned out church contemplating the day.</div>
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The first rays of morning sunshine shone through the burned out portion of the roof and lit the stained glass in a new blaze.</div>
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He sighed and found his moment.</div>
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His wont……</div>
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…….and his unsated desire to do what he had come to do.</div>
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The seconds ticked by and the town awoke. The man they had let in prepared and stole the calm of the early hours with high pitched screams as he worked around the stage.</div>
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Pep woke to the smell of sausage and bacon. Leonora was humming in the kitchen and the sound of sparrows and dogs barking filtered through the bedroom window.</div>
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Uncovering himself he prepared to model images of easy calm, in truth he was afraid. Striving to brush-off the implied disaster that the news said was coming he found the country he was searching for as he took in the screams that thundered in the air outside. </div>
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To Be Continued…</div>
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Look for Exotic Dusk Book Two in the coming months!</div>
</b></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-78768668759408605042013-07-17T12:30:00.001-07:002013-07-17T12:30:36.496-07:00Timothy Pilgrim (Three Poems)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="yiv1446345031gmail_default" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1696" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">
Timothy Pilgrim is a Pacific Northwest poet from Bellingham, Washington, who has published more than 170 poems.</div>
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<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1559" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
<b id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1874">Centering</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1557" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
I'm in some black shop,</div>
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building a coffin for my lover.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1697" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
Each upright must be perfect,</div>
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bubble in the level centered</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1700" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
between red lines -- steady,</div>
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middle of storm, moon full,</div>
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<br /></div>
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exactly midnight, current gone</div>
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in deep pool, stopped at the middle, </div>
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dark, still, cool. Casket lid </div>
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must be aligned, tight fit --</div>
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<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1701" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
able to shut out the past,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1835" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
a whole stream of memories.</div>
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Painted onyx, deadline late June,</div>
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be wide enough for two.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="yiv1446345031" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Timothy Pilgrim</div>
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<b>Quid pro quo</b></div>
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Wasps lie in wait, ambush fruit flies </div>
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near ripening peaches, plums, grapes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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They inject prey with eggs -- </div>
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not by using stingers. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1840" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
Baby wasps within, feeding on them, </div>
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the flies buzz off, woozy, beeline it</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1843" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
to nearest brandy snifter,</div>
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slip over the rim, crawl down in,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1844" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
sip a bit, swim. They know alcohol</div>
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kills drunks, politicians, and wasps.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1846" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
One whiff of good stuff will do. Some flies</div>
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hang out in a Hennessy's glass for hours</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1848" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1849" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
on pretense of ridding themselves of wasps.</div>
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Rumor has it Iranians are training brigades</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1850" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
of fruit flies. To counter this threat,</div>
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wasps in formation have been seen </div>
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<br /></div>
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careening low over Los Alamos, </div>
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egg guns sewn to gossamer wings.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1851" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
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<span class="yiv1446345031" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Timothy Pilgrim</div>
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<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1857" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
<b>Six ounces late</b></div>
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<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1852" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
Clock hands stand at nine miles --</div>
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no way to know how many grams pass</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
before my time. Yet I am optimistic,</div>
<div style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
bask celsius in shadows of deceased,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1853" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
believe kilometers, not mere feet,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1856" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
tick through veins, surge down arteries,</div>
<div style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1854" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
arrive at a heart several metric tons deep.</div>
<div style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
I am prepared to vacuum ash-filled souls</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1865" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1855" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
into endless infinities of somethingness,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1866" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
spurt happiness over a three-pint universe,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1885" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1867" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
spew forth boxed sets of five-liter lives.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1868" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
Hopeful, brined giddy, full of fahrenheit,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1884" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1869" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
I weigh in, time existence, measure fate. </div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1870" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
As expected, death is six ounces late.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1871" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1872" style="font: 14px Verdana; margin: 0px;">
<span class="yiv1446345031" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Timothy Pilgrim</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374088610125_1873" style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-45100787470397236512013-07-10T00:58:00.001-07:002013-07-10T00:58:03.732-07:00Let the Demons Be forgotton..........SLEEEP BLESSED SLEEP!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-6592595681529939582013-06-21T02:04:00.002-07:002013-06-21T02:04:29.722-07:00The Darkest Witchcraft<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
The Darkest Witchcraft</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelbeger</div>
She danced naked by the candent glow of the moon and the stars, twirling and singing her sacred song. From what or where would she find and deliver the romance of a generation in glee, bliss, ecstasy and fire? The fates knew and they jealously guarded their secret wont. She spun and gold webs formed in the air above her head, the blueprints to sorrow. She danced and jumped to the rhythm of forgotten drama and careful desire. The moon grew large and yellow in the cloak of inky darkness as she waved her hands in supplication to the mystery that was magic of destruction.<br />
She sang to the shadowy heavens in tune to the crickets and the night owls, whispering in her song and dreamy romance she sang and sang and sang until the sky turned red with the fire of dangerous eyes and radiating passion. The explosions ripped the air in two and the web streaked fire across the sky as the bombs fell to earth. Her witchcraft nearly perfect she laughed and breathed in the acrid smell of smoke. The trees began to glow with the fire and the ground smoldered as all became ash. She was in the way of the witch the rockets and the future of unbidden existence as she sang to the heavens with her song of destruction and witchcraft. To the end of the night she found the beginning of a new dawn and the wasted remains of a small place known only as Bridal Bridge near the edge of the abyss and close to the end of time.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-78309698570109024072013-06-21T02:02:00.002-07:002013-06-21T02:02:59.450-07:00Despots and Revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Despots and Revolutions </div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
</u></b></span></div>
He was disarranged by the demanding wont of a lunatic spree. He had killed the temptation to sunny dispositions for the precipice of sinister woe. The air was cold with the first winter frost and his bare feet crunched in the frozen grass. The feeling was bone numbingly chill, to the center of his feet and radiating up to his ankles. The mass the very center of his being was overwhelmed by the prospect of killing the despotic leader. <br />
He had entertained the idea of assassination for nearly a year now and here he was on the verge of completing his plan. He had striped down naked for the event. He slid between the neat rows of barbed wire and electricity with ease. The inner door to the compound was only a few feet away. The lights came on suddenly and the yard was illuminated in a candent blue glow. Crouching down he prepared to attack. The door swung open and the despot stepped outside into the cool crisp night air. He watched the despot for a moment and stood, he was alone and vulnerable. The despot lit a cigarette and walked further into the yard.<br />
He pounced then, screaming and swinging his fists at the mans forehead. The despot staggered back a few feet and screamed in fear, finally tripping and falling to the frozen ground. He jumped on him in that moment and in a few brief seconds the struggle was over, the despot lay dead at his feet. He was breathing heavy and he was anything but cold, a heat, the heat of excitement washed over him and he knelt next to the despots body.<br />
Stripping him of his uniform he dressed in the dead despots cloths as well as arming himself with the 45 cal. Pistol that he had strapped to his hip. <br />
The man smiled and went to the door after throwing the body to the other side of the electric fence. Looking out the door from the inside he let out a wild lunatic yelp. The dogs were at bay and he would see his country through this time of necessity, he would forget this terrible despot. Turning to the interior of the building he waved the guard close and whispered into his ear, “Our revolution has just begun.” The guard looked at him for a moment and dismissed his sudden suspicion, he looked exactly the same as the despot, identical in every way except his notions of freedom were etched in the blood of the old rule and the promise of a new tomorrow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-77232915837509545632013-06-21T02:01:00.000-07:002013-06-21T02:01:25.924-07:00The Pumpkin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
The Pumpkin</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
Restoring the shattered remnants of the pumpkin would be difficult. Crew Frisk Took a long narrow piece of solder from the roll and heated it with acetylene torch. The Pumpkin was a tarnished tin and it had been smashed and broken by some of the local hoodlums. He heated the surface of the first edge and smeared the melting solder into place careful to connect the seams of the two edges. The pumpkin smiled in half at Crew as he turned it in his gloved hands. A bright orange light lit his living room and he sighed with the ghosts of a thousand Halloweens. The solder slid easily across the next piece as the metal glowed red, almost too hot for the solder. He blew on the tin and it cooled rapidly accepting the new seam.<br />
The last piece was the top, but first………but first. He went to the body on the living room floor and removed one of it’s eyes, plop and squish as he pushed it into the tin pumpkin. “Very nice!” he whispered as he licked the blood from his sticky fingers, “Very nice indeed!” The pumpkin was almost complete. He fixed the final seam with the solder and torch as the eye looked from within the confines of the tin pumpkin. <br />
He finished and took the pumpkin to the front porch with the others, a long row of metal pumpkins all soldered and fixed with the stares of all the local hoodlums and trespassers. He giggled and lit a candle, the first trick or treaters would be arriving soon and he had a surprise for them.<br />
An hour later the doorbell rang and he raced to answer it, “Trick or Treat!” they sang on the other side of the door. He grabbed the bowl and opened the door.<br />
The trick or treaters staggered backward and screamed as he pushed the bowl toward them; it was full of the fingers and toes of the hoodlums. The children ran away screaming as he laughed after them. <br />
Crew Frisk made the news the next day and as they lead him away he waved at the cameras and pointed to his eyes, there were bandages there and empty eye sockets beneath. “I’ll be seeing ya!” he laughed as the police pushed him into the back of a patrol car. They would discover the tin pumpkins secret weeks later after the first winter snows and the end of fall. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-88449804248704126852013-02-03T08:21:00.002-08:002013-02-03T08:21:59.280-08:00Stories Needed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<hr class="hr" size="1" width="100%" />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><!-- google_ad_section_start -->The Ghoul Saloon edited By Ron Koppelberger<br /><br /><br />For this anthology I would like stories about Ghouls…..living or dead. In Bars, in cars in the wild west, in school and maybe even on the moon! Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls in any world you would like… ” …we’ll all have a drink on the ghoul!” might be a line from one of the stories chosen for this anthology. Humor is ok and so is outright horror. Send me your best, the story you want to shine with. <br /><br />Send submissions to: will806095@bellsouth.net with The Ghoul Saloon in the subject line.<br /><br />Reprints are Fine as long as you hold the rights. <br /><br />Send your submission in RTF Format.<br /><br />Length: There is no minimum or maximum<br /><br />*A for the love of only anthology, I have done dozens for the exposure!<br /><br /><br />FORMAT: Usual Static Movement formatting rules apply: single space with indented paragraphs, no space between paragraphs and standard 12 font. Use centered *** for scene breaks, and please put your bio at the end of the story in the manuscript. Please make sure your story is how you want it to appear in print, and pay attention to grammar and punctuation!<br /><br />* Cover art to come.<br /><br />*Poetry is fine......send it if you have it!</span><br />
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Read more: <a href="http://staticmovement.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=koppelberger&action=display&thread=849#ixzz26oCtpbwo" style="color: #003399;">http://staticmovement.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=koppelberger&action=display&thread=849#ixzz26oCtpbwo</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-11672993472104996402013-01-13T23:36:00.001-08:002013-01-13T23:36:41.630-08:00AAAA Secret Art available at amazon.com/Ron Koppelberger.....Surreal Dreams One, Two, Three) This is the most amazing artwork I have ever seen!!! Will K. author of Morning Sunshine Spirit.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-42748171875351446812012-12-30T00:11:00.000-08:002012-12-30T00:11:23.253-08:00Horror Express,Surreal Dreams, Surreal Dreams Two all available at Amazon.com/Ron Koppelberger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-70356256006166235082012-12-30T00:06:00.001-08:002012-12-30T00:06:30.598-08:00Breathing Fire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppel Berger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Breathing Fire</div>
</u></b></span></div>
Enlivened by the promise of payment in flames of favor, welcomed by magic’s untold and dreams of ecstasy, he ruled the perch, the straw and the sordid grip upon the secret of fire. Boss Mean approached the eternal source of warfare, of battle and fighting bond with an easy awareness. Pepper and tickets permitted he thought, to hold the balance of forever in spiced embers of time, in enemy eyes and war, scarlet battles for the red flames of perdition.<br />
The tiny flame guttered and ebbed, flowed and elongated in rhythm to the desire of its master. “ By the Gods I’ll have my turn at chance, by the fires of hell itself.” he exclaimed to the flittering shadows and the small blaze of candent existence. A small ember, a spark of fire lit the air above the flame and in its place a tiny ebony moth appeared, flittering, evanescent and erratically circling. Boss reached out and touched the space where the moth revolved. Opening his hand he grabbed the tiny shadow. It was a warm flame in his palm and it beat its wings furiously, tickling his hand. “ Sweet lords of soul shine, by the wayfarer winds of swords and precious battle lines, give me your victorious bond, your will unto the possessor of fire and victory.” he yelled to the ceiling. Smokey disarrays of mist collected near the ceiling as the room filled with smoke, the smoke of ceaseless wars and conquests unbidden. Boss whispered, “ By the Gods of reception and the revolution in tongues of rapture, by the flames of province, by the gods.” His breath disturbed the flame and the tiny brilliance of a hundred year war.<br />
Boss counted the blessings of fire, of war, of remitted peace. Engraved in the lines between youth and ancient rest, lay the face of a consuming treaty, in want of fervid passion, in his countenance the fond flow of anger and desire, desire for the shade of conquest dealt by the fires of what owns majestic histories in won wrath and promised rule. He relished the flame, his lips parched and cracked as the sooty smoke drifted if wave of ambient gray. The tiding of conflict, “ Moth, betray not my need for victory.” he chanted in singsong rhythm to the wavering flame, the small mirage of searing advance. <br />
Later, he would sing to the silhouette of fire and war, in unswerving passions of commanded power; in the end, in all and all he would covet the seed and feed the raven with a single rose as the advent of war sought its possessor and charge.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-65699336190046305932012-12-30T00:05:00.001-08:002012-12-30T00:05:09.881-08:00The Enigma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
The Enigma</div>
</u></b></span></div>
Consecrated opium winds and amplified fields of sensual grace danced before his tired eyes. A disconcerting fear ornamented his hunger for the solution to the enigma. A lionized encounter with the shadowy secrets of conviction and oblique convention, the doorway to greater things and bidden by the curious, called and moved him to the center of mystery. <br />
He streaked the rough hewn surface of his beard, he hadn’t shaved in a week. Revolutions of wilderness wash and wild temptation to go south, to the nether realms of the unknown rubbed like sandpaper against the surface of his brain. The pen of believable hopes and suppressed desires deposited their task in his lap and the enigma remained an enigma. Mystery upon mystery and secret upon dark secret, a symbol of life and the signifier of death, the cruciform was an ambiguous challenge. <br />
He dusted off the bits of dried clay that clung to the stone tablet and traced his finger across the secret script. Blind in distinctions of history, the possibilities plagued his every waking moment and shapes in shadow played near the corners of his weary eyes. The evasive passage was a delirium of contradiction. The stone seemed to vibrate as he slowly unraveled the secret. “ A breath of life and never-ending eternity….” it had read. <br />
He looked at his hands for a moment, unlined and youthful as they had been for one hundred and twenty years. It had been that long he realized with a touch of nostalgia. The secret had been revealed to him years ago, the enigma in stone, he thanked the gods. <br />
Sipping at his cold black coffee he considered the bitter sweet sustenance and its wont for a palette, its desire for the dawn and its nascent beginning, the start of a new day. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-33775220819628685092012-12-30T00:03:00.001-08:002012-12-30T00:03:41.565-08:00Captivity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Captivity</div>
</u></b></span></div>
He became aware of the lukewarm furrows of chattering breech in the stone arcade by the advance of shadow and chambered envelope. The sunrise announcement was an essential eye and it fostered the wonder of the arched totem. Cockroaches, incredible in simple matters of disposition, perfectly satisfied with the performance of inherited engagement. They filled the porous walls of the arcade with a lodger secret and a surreptitious sound, a passion, a harmony of lullaby autonomy. <br />
He feigned sleep with slited eyes and precarious constructions of barterd awareness. A penetrating ray of light shone through the empty alliance of lonely shallow sorcery, clean and warm in mountain ascent and amber grain, in saffron and gold, in waves of wheat bloom. The chains lay cold in dispute with the dream and the garden called in destined climates of portent and storm. The cockroaches respecting the will of ebb-tide watched and waited. <br />
The man found evidence of harvested revolution as he discouraged his exile to the arcade. In settled designs of sensation he assumed the contented flow of saffron and wellspring invocation, for reason and the future of the world, the quest for a place unto the respite of captivity and slavery.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-22894931374694392692012-12-15T22:14:00.000-08:002012-12-15T22:14:12.037-08:00Wild Temptation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Wild Temptation</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
The reality was like an evanescent passion a state of being made true by the early light of his dream, his fantasy. Chase Kickshaw changed the shade gently, down to up. Intimate circles of light filled his eyes like glowing halos of release.<br />
Case looked out of the dirty glass and bit his lower lip, doubtful he thought. He was a pioneer in the company of love. She would be real, fresh and rare, a rare jewel of his design.<br />
Quiet moments passed and he waited patiently for her to arrive, beauty in all his troth and hers’. He waited with expectant breaths of love. “My sweet.” he whispered The decanter held a bit of honey and mint, he sipped the brew from the wide mouth of the decanter. Heeding the suns’ judgment he looked to the sky, the sun waited for her beauty, what he had prayed for the sun and the sun and the sun, he saw it in glory tempted by his eyes and his desire.<br />
Case turned from the window after the day had gone to pass, the sun remained. He was blind except for the image of the sun. He wondered fore a moment at the blindness then he fell to his knees, knowing the beauty of his new mistress and the wont of his neglect.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-75365107072052053762012-12-15T22:12:00.001-08:002012-12-15T22:12:13.964-08:00Stagnant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Stagnant</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
</u></b></span></div>
The slender stalks of wheat knew the wont of those who cherished natural care. They would concern themselves with the harvest and the garner, by the need of man and woman and child. The saffron ripples moved in harmony with the land and some arrived, yet some sought the other the will of fire and the will of destruction. <br />
The wheat remained in overtures of nourishment for the blessings of what would come, yet still the land would be parched with flame, divided by two both dark and light. But for now the wheat remained and the fire stagnant, yet to be. <br />
The horizon went on for an eternity giving birth to dreams and saffron yet desiring a harvest of sustenance, knowing the spirit of wheat bloom and the heart of men. In the midst of the day the sky sang gentle tunes of warm wind and bright yellow gold, waiting for the souls of those who would be among the blessed and the damned.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-2392075325137367052012-12-15T22:10:00.002-08:002012-12-15T22:10:49.674-08:00Thrice Instant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Thrice Instant</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
The desired the pacifying taste of freedom, defined by the need she pampered.<br />
<div align="center">
“Implore, enjoin by</div>
<div align="center">
Passions apple and the</div>
<div align="center">
Still water of my mix,</div>
<div align="center">
Give me thrice in an instant</div>
<div align="center">
The savor of what</div>
<div align="center">
We have and the first kiss of lovers</div>
<div align="center">
In high skies.”</div>
She chanted to herself. The brew she stirred said delicious, simply delicious. She sipped the mixture and thrice instant cringed at the taste. “What are you?” she screamed, “What in heaven are you?” she screamed again. The mix bubbled and cooked and devoured the pot, the stove, the kitchen and finally the small cottage.<br />
At last she sighed and the brew rumbled in her gut. “If for a taste thrice instant I’d be devoured as well!” she realized.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-48561715488418853052012-12-15T22:09:00.001-08:002012-12-15T22:09:02.781-08:00Evaporate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Evaporate</div>
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
Postponing spring bridles the hardheaded grace he shared with madness was risking the invisible picture. Fine Balm lay separate from the challenge of failure and substance. He had harnessed the frequency, the contract between purchase and evaporation, the wont of essentials and the likeness of a ghost. He had become invisible, evaporating by the second, a foot his eyes and then his legs, his wicked temper gone to sedate comfort. <br />
Fine had showered and abandoned his need, his need to drink the essence of life, the blood of darling socialites and matrons in memento. Vampire fellowship, cosmopolitan endurance and specters in velvet, he had simple evaporation like harlots’ in secret.<br />
Fine stifled a chuckle and danced in reviving awards of opiate sweet. He had gone invisible to the glare of the stars and the space between here and there. Patrons, lawless and wandering barefaced, intrigued his mind and in the end Fine gazed into the mirror seeing nothing. Embracing places of provision he saw the harbinger of suffering vitality and his sacred union with blood. Messy tears and hallowed promise expressed his prosperity as he fussed the hour of deadlock, he would taste the defeat of his failure with a vampires desire. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-30950634271700846552012-12-02T03:43:00.001-08:002012-12-02T03:43:02.044-08:00The Order Of The October Chaff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
The Order of the October Chaff</div>
</u></b></span></div>
The magic of quiet attire in twilight seasons and Fall address wore the melancholy of Halloween mists, the shadowy sensation of wistful winds and the throes of an aged bargain; Summer for Winter and Fall breaths of intermission, the moments considered the change from Summer to Autumn orange, tattered leaves blown in a heaping blanket of crumbling decay and cool airs of approaching snows.<br />
The town of Hallowawe lay hidden in secret anonymity near the edge of Acres Woods; The surrounding vistas were well worn in harvest bloom, fields of sorghum and wheat cloaked the landscape between Hallowawe and Acres Woods like a great ghost of undulating saffron sky in the distant Summer sun. The houses were old with character and old fashioned regard. Main street lay in the center of Hallowawe, running East to West through the heart of the town. A Texaco gas station, the Prow Pharmacy and Hanson’s Grocery among others lined the street with easy promises and simple satisfactions. <br />
Race Case, his mother had believed his name was perfect for him. When he was a baby she found herself racing after his curiosity; he was always into something she had told him when he was older, “Race Case, chased ya all over the place. “ she had laughed. He considered his mother for a moment as he stepped into the Hallowawe Feed. He missed his mom. She had died about three years earlier. She hadn’t suffered, she’d died in her sleep quietly and without exclamation. She was the reason he had moved to Hallowawe. His parents had been farmers until his dad passed. The farm had gone to seed literally after his death. Maybe he was meant for this life, the farmers lot he thought as he ordered seed from Barley Huss the owner of Hallowawe Feed.<br />
“ Near Winter now Race,” he said with caution, “You aren’t thinking bout plantin are ya?” he asked. <br />
“Nope, this is for next year Barley; I thought I’d get a jump on it before the others, sides it’s savin me money. Always buy my seed early Mr. Huss.” Barley handed Race a receipt and said,<br />
“Yer one of the good ones.” Race grinned and said,<br />
“See ya in the spring.” as he walked out into the street where his truck was Parked. <br />
The evening twilight was a portent of the Halloween season, children in costumes and candy buckets full of Beer Barrels, Hershey Bars and a scattering of pennies. The sky lay in orange silhouette on the horizon, frayed bleeding spears of crimson as Race drove East toward the farm.<br />
The old truck, A Ford F-150, smelled of oil and exhaust. He turned the radio on as the silhouette of the setting sun shone in his eyes painting him in a soft amber hue. He had turned the radio to an oldies station; a song by The Doors was playing and Jim Morrison was commanding,<br />
<div align="center">
“Break on through to the other side……</div>
<div align="center">
Break on through to the other side…..”</div>
Race traveled the two lane road into the countryside. A flock of crows sat next to the road pecking at a dead raccoon and squawking, “Caw, caw!” Race rolled the truck window up muffling the sound of the birds as he passed.<br />
Unwinding in a long reassurance of farm country vista, his property lay directly ahead, the curving dirt driveway flowing into the main road. The truck bumped and rattled in aged complaint as he turned off the main road onto the bumpy two-track. Trees, oaks and pines, lined the stretch of driveway for a quarter of a mile ending with a small three bedroom ranch and a two story red barn.<br />
Race parked the truck and glanced at the burnt orange twilight horizon, tomorrow was Halloween. He rarely got any treaters nevertheless tonight was devil’s night and his mailbox was fare game; he didn’t think anyone would venture as far as the house. Last year they had smashed his mailbox beyond repair, he had replaced it with a brick and stone pillar with the box securely cemented inside. The evening sky was a bloody smear and drifting from distant points of life came the Oder of wood smoke, tinctured crisp Fall air in seasons sure.<br />
Race got out of the truck and listened; he had seen the silhouette, the shape of something fast and tall reflected in the glimmer of frayed indigo and saffron light, near the corner of the house, the far side near the Azalea bushes. There were flittering shadows and an echoing whisper, a soft hush of sound like a swarm of flies, big bluebottle, buzzing in mass.<br />
The front of the ranch was prefaced by a big bay window, the quiet yellow glow of interior lights shone through the part in the heavy drapes. Warm and safe he thought nervously. The yeowl of a cat in heat tore the silence in pointed wild wont. The buzzing continued a bit louder now and the shadows near the tree line called secret mysteries of fear. Maybe he should go back into town and get the Hallowawe police, maybe he should get the hell back in the truck and drive as fast as he could toward Hallowawe he thought as the shadows multiplied and spread out into the wood line near the edge of the house. <br />
Race swallowed his fear and the trepidation that held him in place as he moved to the front door of the house. The stone steps were covered in a slick mess of crimson, blood, thick, viscous and fresh. Race inhaled in shaky contemplations of death; devils night, was it animal blood, he didn’t think so.<br />
The shadows near the corner of the house shifted and swayed and Race made a conscious effort to ignore the buzzing sound and the whimpers he heard, the howling groans of some great goblin phantasm, the demon spirit of Halloween, in all souls confection, Candy and blood. Blood and dandelion weed, syrupy cotton tufts and black droplets of jagged leafy growth led to the side yard, he had used weed killer on the ragged grass but he was plagued with dandelion weed. The scattered weed sang copper near the edge of the walk, perfumed in dark stain and accented by the buzz of a million flies. <br />
Race glance at the gray and ebony shadows at the corner of the ranch, whimpering he definitely heard a whimpering sound. What was the secret hidden behind the corner? Were they fearful conveyances of pain, injury, was someone hurt, perhaps a child, a babe in distress. He walked slowly to the corner of the house. The blood was smeared in scarlet palm prints on the wooden lattice trim. “ Here goes.” he said in a whisper to himself. Looking around the edge of the house he took several steps back. <br />
The flies, there was a shape swarmed in flies. A human sized mound completely enveloped by flies, a whirling shifting mass of winged green and blue bottle flies. The sound was deafening. The whimpering was coming from beneath the thick blanket of flies. He had to do something, but the flies, he thought cringing . He had to help.<br />
Race touched the whimpering figure and a great cloud of inky black flew up like an explosion, buzzing madly. It was a woman, he could see she had long ravens black hair and full pouting lips. Her eyes glowed a bright neon green and they implored him, pleaded with him to help. She was dressed in a burlap dress, an old grain bag; it was covered in blood from the neckline to the bottom hem.<br />
She moved her legs and Race noticed they were covered in welts, scratches and angry purple bruises. She grabbed his arm as he stood there in silent waves of shock. The flies were crawling into his eyes and mouth tickling his lips wildly. She pulled herself up with his hesitant help. “What the hell Happened?” he said through the buzzing swarm.<br />
“Help me.” she moaned in response, “The order, the order are coming. We’ll have to get away, they’ll kill us!” she said in a halting stutter of what was obvious terror. <br />
“ Come on, we’ll go inside, “ he offered as he held her up. “I don’t know who’s after you, but I have guns in the house. We’ll be safe there.” She took a few shake steps and whispered, <br />
‘Guns……..guns won’t stop the order, they’ll kill us both! ” she groaned as<br />
they moved to the front door.<br />
Visions in ancient drama, the caste of flies followed to impossible conclusions of darkness. Race edged the front door open after finding the lock, with his help she stumbled through the door. Once they were both inside, Race pulled the screen door shut with a rattling metallic bang, the glass in the top portion of the screen door crawled with the blue flies. A few lingering flies found the freedom of the house but the majority had been held at bay outside.<br />
She was beautiful, her features, subtle, soft , primal in flushed checks and glistening eyes of fire. He shut the interior door blocking out the cloud on the screen glass. She crumpled to the floor in a heap. A few errant flies buzzed around her face as she sighed in relief. <br />
Race listened as she confessed the better part of her nightmare, her soul bared for him to see in confused gushes of fear and tremulous vision. He looked more closely at her thinking the blood on the burlap bag came from some horrible injury, she’d need a hospital he thought but after a quick survey he realized the blood wasn’t hers.<br />
“The Order of the October Chaff, they’ll find us here! We’re not safe! They’ll kill us with magic’s and the road to hell!” she said in halting unstrung fear. He listened to her labored breath , the sound of her terrified exhalations. The air was thick with the coppery odor of blood and something else, the scent of fresh cut flowers, lilacs and blood red roses. She looked at him and whispered, “Please help!”<br />
The sound of an echoing howl, a thirsty exclamation, by the edge of the wood line, surrounded the house, flittered through the walls in a dull muffled screech. She began to cry, tears welling up in the corners of her almond shaped eyes, trailing to the hollow of her checks and spattering against her bruised legs. He couldn’t help staring at her, she was the pinnacle of beauty, dark and enchanting the wants of a passionate embrace. He touched her check, brushing away the tear there; it was a damp silken droplet and before he could think he put the tip of his finger to his lips. The tear was warm, salty and tinged with the desire of a careless abandon. <br />
The howling and the screeches continued outside, closer and more insistent.<br />
“We’ll have to leave now! They’re near now…..” she implored Race. He stood there staring down at her in quiet reverie , sated by her tears; magic illusions of Eden he thought. “Sweet, sweet siren, yer the perfect picture of love , the sure sense honey.” She stood up on shaky legs. Grabbing his hand she said, <br />
“We have to go!” the howling continued and the sound of high pitched screaming filled the air, the currents of October chill, the Halloween season and realms of the unbidden, by degrees and dire darkness.<br />
Race pulled the heavy drapes away from the front window and peeked out. The woman screamed behind him and he staggered back a few steps. There was a face in the window coated in thick sheets of insect life, cockroaches, crawling and filling and spilling from his mouth. In the midst were a pair of scarlet rimmed eyes, bulging and wild. <br />
There were four or five of them standing in a semicircle in the center of the front yard. The figure in the center was covered by thick mats of gray fur and two wolves stood guard beside him. The figure to his left was covered in waning tides of butterflies, monarchs and yellow buttercups, flittering, floating in clouds around her; he assumed the figure was female. The shape to the wolf’s right was horned like a twelve point buck and covered by thick ropey braids of hair, knotted in dreadlocks like a rastapharian. The last was winged like a raven, dark shadowy and screeching, the silhouette of a thunderhead in dark skies, momentarily illuminated to reveal thousands of ebony colored birds, ravens, like a tornado, circling in loud bands of sound, pulsing and haunting. <br />
“The Order of the October Chaff. They’ll take me!” she screamed. The front window shattered and glass flew inward as a million flies filled the room and swallowed up the woman. She was a shapeless mound of black; shifting in commune with each other the flies buzzed and swarmed. Phantomlike she moved to the front door, step by step, the flies compelling her. Race grabbed at her in an attempt to restrain her. His hand came away in cloying gobs of flies. They were chocking him, filling his lungs, his mouth; he screamed and bit down, spitting as he crunched mouthfuls of the insects between his teeth. <br />
The woman shifted through the glass door, opening it and stepping outside. Race collapsed in a heap of flies, smothering him with their want, their need, he fell unconscious.<br />
Later that evening he awoke to the sound of children laughing and squeaking glass. He stood and looked out the screen door. He saw three or four small shapes running up the drive. Devil’s night, he remembered. They had waxed what was left of his front windows. He stepped outside as he began to recall the nightmare. The front of the house, it was painted in scarlet, in blood across the front of the house.<br />
<div align="center">
THE ORDER OF THE OCTOBER CHAFF</div>
Race paused, thinking. The scent of lilac perfume was in the air. A moth flew close to the front porch light, fluttering, a half dozen or so, maybe more. One of them landed on him, then two, then more. He heard a howl in the distance. The moths came by the thousands and Race knew the order of the October chaff wasn’t complete yet.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-30958369773067671552012-12-02T03:41:00.002-08:002012-12-02T03:41:28.520-08:00Neon Electric<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Neon Electric</div>
</u></b></span></div>
Posey Wing lay beneath the window sill staring through the blinds; there were a few missing louvers and he could just make out the neon signs exclamation.<br />
<div align="center">
“HOT….L”</div>
Vacancy the sign flashed. The red neon gave Posey a candent red eyed appearance, pupils dilate and undialate, scarlet like the eyes of a dog in a photograph. <br />
He dozed in a nightmare restlessness, sleep without rest. The sound of his sighs, his exhalations in smoke scented perfumes and moldy carpeting, in cockroach heaven, tinctured the electric buzz of the neon sign with a breath of life; he was lonesome in beggar realms of dirt, stone and humid tears of sweat.<br />
The air conditioning was just beneath the far side of the sill, the foot of the bed, close to the door. The far corner of the blinds bled dirty droplets of dust down onto the cold metal of the conditioner in spattered dew drops.<br />
Clairvoyant, he was clairvoyant. He knew someone had died in the room, he could see the man laying in the floor near the bathroom. He wasn’t there he knew that, nevertheless he still saw and in seeing he suffered the misery of the clairvoyant.<br />
Blood, puddles of blood , the green nap of the carpeting was stained a dark brown, almost black. They hadn’t bothered to replace the carpeting. The man lay in a nimbus of mist, scarlet, frozen in time; hanging above his head was a fine spray of blood, still, glistening, suspended in an instant.<br />
Posey turned from the ugly taboo and grabbed the pack of smokes he had placed on the edge of the window sill. Voodoo amusements he thought as he lit the cigarette, voodoo amusements my man. He inhaled deeply savoring the taste . He needed a coffee, black and strong. Posey stood and grabbed for the ancient coffee cup. There were bits of green and blue mold floating on the surface of the half empty cup. “Yuuuuuucccckkkk!” he groaned. <br />
Crossing the room, past the mans body, the blood and the sightless eyes, he found the dark silhouette of the radio; he turned the knob and the radio blared to life. There were three or four stations playing simultaneously, a Mexican man talking in wavery exclamations , drifting in and out , wavering in ripples of sound. Beneath the Spanish broadcast a Pink Floyd song , he couldn’t remember the name of it; there was the faint sound of a minister in a preachy voice, “Re……ent, ……….pent sinners!” he exclaimed over the Floyd song and the Spanish dialogue. He listened for a moment and decided the radio was haunted.<br />
As he was about to turn it off, he paused; from the bottom of a long dark hole, a tube, gravely, liquid, dark and in ethereal command , a voice sounding like bubbles and static, deep. The voice reminded Posey of an old episode of The Outer Limits, an alien voice, definitely not human. He clicked the radio off and an image clouded his mind for a moment, babies crying in a long tiled room, a woman in the throes of passion, and the alien.<br />
The alien, the monster was a black silhouette in shadow, gurgling, flemy and in vigilant dimensions of madness. The shadow tilted at a crazy oblique angle near the corner of the room. Posey jumped as the radio blared back to life. “……iners repent, ye sinners!” he heard in infinite echoing static. Posey trembled uncontrollably for an instant as the monster melded into the corner of the wall. Posey paused for a breath and a hazy moment of contemplation.<br />
There was a tiny sink and mirror on the opposite side of the room. “Coffee.” he whispered to himself as he imagined the bitter taste of caffeine. As he crossed the room he grabbed the cup from the bedside stand: the logo on the side of the mug read,<br />
<div align="center">
“Wild Coyote Inn.”</div>
With a picture of an amber colored coyote on the front. He dumped the ancient brew into the drain. Bits of fury green mold clung to the basin. Posey ran the hot water and using his hand he pushed the chunks of mold into the swirling rush of water. Taking a bar of soap wrapped in paper, he washed the mug and mixed a cup of coffee with the white labeled generic brand he had bought earlier that day. <br />
As he drank the coffee became viscous, it tasted like blood, the lifeblood of a dream, a nightmare in pass. Posey wiped his mouth on the starched white cotton of one of the motel hand cloths, it smelled of bleach. The towel came away stained scarlet in smears of blood. <br />
He exhaled loudly as he clicked the radio back off, dumping the mugs contents into the sink. “Just coffee.” he said aloud as he looked at the brown liquid staining the sink. <br />
Posey grabbed a t-shirt from his battered suitcase and slipped it over his head. He found his tennis shoes and slipped them onto his sock less feet. His mother had told him, “Always wear socks with your shoes Posey, otherwise your feet will stink!” He felt a brief moment of guilt as he saw his mothers look of admonishment peering through a veil of years. <br />
Posey walked out onto the front stoop closing the door to the room behind him. The sidewalk was washed in the flickering neon light of the hotel sign. A pile of dead flies lay scattered across the sidewalk beneath the sign. <br />
Posey crossed the street and began walking south on Mawson Lane. As he approached the corner of Mawson and Rhy he spotted the prostitute on the corner. She walked toward him as he approached. A cool sashay, lipstick and curly blonde hair. She wore a lace halter done in white, sweet songs done in dry deserts he thought. She massaged her hip with long rose colored fingernails. The scarlet colored miniskirt inched up just far enough for him to catch a glimpse of her panties. <br />
“ Watchya doin honey?” she said. Posey paused in mid stride, she was covered in blood and long gashes, knife wounds covered her arms and throat. Several of her fingers were missing as if she had tried to fight off an attacker. She seemed oblivious.<br />
He had discovered his Psychic self when he was eight years old, or rather it had discovered him. <br />
He had been by himself at Aziza Memoriam park; there were swings and slides and spinning wheels for the children. The barbecue pit was near the center of a group of picnic tables and the public restrooms. He had been on the spinner by himself; he pushed ran and jumped on the spinning wheel. Around and around, the wind, tall pines and picnic area became a blur. Jumping back off, his head swam for a moment and he staggered to the picnic tables. The smell of burning charcoal and hamburger grease filled his nostrils. He felt sick as the park wavered and tilted in front of him. <br />
He saw three or four men around the barbecue pit, only thing wuz that they were ghosts he thought, he could see right through them. He was frozen in place as the scene unfolded before his eyes.<br />
The men were laughing and yelling, “Burn baby burn!!” one of the men shouted in a whooping rage. <br />
“Got dat beech but good man!” a scraggly man in a green t-shirt exclaimed.<br />
“That’ll teach that miserable witch!” the third man said to the green shirt.<br />
He watched as a plume of smoke drifted in thick oily streams from the cement pit. The cloying odor of charred meat hung in the air and Posey gagged back the contents of his stomach. He went over and looked in to the cement and mortar barbecue pit, Ash, gray ash and ghosts in blood and bones, “Blood and Bones.” he whispered aloud as the prostitute waved him closer. High-down in his memories, he took a few steps closer to the bleeding woman. Her mouth moved but the words didn’t match, a mans deep tenor. “Beware the wrath of the jade willows breath and the blood of the myrter!” She said as she looked at the bleeding nubs of her missing fingers. <br />
Posey took in a deep breath, clean and tinged by the scent of lilacs, perfumed incense. The prostitute turned away from Posey for a moment and said, “ I love the scents of summer honey. Can you smell that, it reminds me of my grandmothers perfume. She always wore it before she went to the store or bingo. Grandpa said she was a rare beauty and she baffled the sky. Do I baffle the sky Posey? Do I make your heart race like a wild Raven Posey?” she asked in an easy rhythm of seductive coquette. “Do I baffle the sky Posey?” Posey stared at her as she tried to apply her lipstick. “Cherry blossom hun.” It was blood red and in commune with her bleeding face. She kept dropping the damn lipstick, her damaged hands weren’t working. “Gosh darn it Posey, I can’t get this right.” Posey thought for a moment and offered, <br />
“You definitely baffle the sky miss.” She grinned in open eyed glee as she put her lipstick away. <br />
“Thanks honey…..hey…..” she gave him a sly smile, “I might be sweet on you Posey, how about a freebee babe?” Posey shook his head in horror at the thought and said, “ No thanks…..ahhhhhhaaaaa?” he questioned. <br />
“ You can call me Daisy.” she offered in return. <br />
“No thanks Daisy.” he said apologetically.<br />
“Suit yourself hon.” she said as she crossed the street in directions of unknown haunt. <br />
Posey looked at the spot on the corner where Daisy had been. The was a spreading puddle of scarlet and several bloody footprints pointing further down the street. Only thing was the footprints weren’t hers, they were large, a mans footprints, tennis shoe tracks, clearly heading toward the Neon Electric.<br />
The city offered a few rarities, good bear, a good burger, museums for the eclectic minded, he hated modern art, and the Neon Electric.<br />
Posey lit a cigarette and too a breath of smokey relief as he followed the bloody shoe tracks. He ended up standing near the bright neon glare of the Neon Electric. The footprints led inside. He looked at the ticket booth for a moment then the sign. Two stories high the sign flashed green and indigo light, spilling out onto the concrete in black light illumination, the bloody tracks glowed in the signs wash. <br />
<div align="center">
“NEON ELECTRIC.”</div>
It sang in a staticy hum. <br />
The ticket booth to the black light museum was empty and the front entrance beckoned him with its unbidden secret. Posey went inside.<br />
His eyes took a moment to adjust to the black lighting. The first thing he saw was the jade willow, six foot tall it took up an entire corner of the front room. The jade sparkled in the shadow light like a great ghost. He could hear the wind blowing through its jeweled branches. Near the base of the willow lay the body of the ticket taker, crumpled in the final throes of death.<br />
The hall leading to the back of the museum was lined with shelves and colored neon lights. A giant mural of a seductive ornate design covered the opposite side of the hall. The mural showed a woman kissing a man in a fireman’s uniform, she wore nothing and her eyes seemed to loll with the black lighting in the hall. The shelves were lined with glowing curios, glitter covered, painted bright and obvious.<br />
Posey moved into the hall. There were smears of blood covering the floor and tennis shoe tracks. Posey had a brief flash, a vision overwhelm his senses with the sight and smells of a nightmare drama. <br />
The end of the hall seemed to waver in the dark lighting, swaying at a crazy angle, and the smell of blood fresh, coppery. Posey tried to fix a glance at the shadow he saw crouching there, or was it laying there, he couldn’t tell, his psychic senses were in full swing. Dressed in black he saw a skull faced reaper with a blood spattered scythe. Black and white bone, sinew rending unto the blade. The figure screamed, “ Drink the wine! Drink the wine Posey!” Posey shook for a moment as if jolted then he paused the red neon glowing in his wide eyes. He looked at the pathetic creature crouched beneath a display of stained glass crucifixes. “ Drink the wine!” the man whispered in a throaty exclamation.<br />
Posey stared at the shadowy shape of the killer, he was still, quiet in solstice with the screaming ghost, “ Drink the wine!” The mans head had nearly been blown in half and a sodden mess of brains lay next to his motionless figure. Blood, great puddles of congealed crimson liquid pooled beneath his body. He had just missed the action. The killers escape, his way out by self destruction. <br />
The man whispered, “ Drink the wine Posey!” he held out a bottle of grape MD 20/20 toward Posey, “ Have a sip my man, have a sip!” <br />
Posey turned and walked out of the Neon Electric to the waiting street with its freaks, ghosts, burnouts, hookers and dirty dreams of poverty. He made his way back to the motel and bolted the door behind him.<br />
“HOT….L” the sign flashed as Posey layed down in a haunted portion of respite. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-9823435719557966512012-11-27T00:00:00.003-08:002012-11-27T00:00:41.292-08:00Threadbare Tyranny<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Threadbare Tyranny</div>
</u></b></span></div>
Chimes and withering roses, warm gusts of perfume and tides of killjoy resolve filled the spaces and clutter that Bacon The Clown occupied. “They’re vermin, dirty lousy vermin!” he whispered to the green witch smiling back at him from the vanity mirror. “Lousy rotten bloodsuckers and jerks, all of em rotting jerks!” he said as his body quivered with anticipation for the performance. <br />
The year had gone as well as it would have had he been in hell, in loathsome cotton candy misery, in popcorn shame and costumed arrays of clown hatred. Tempests and twilight fires he thought as he added a few final touches to the grease paint on his face. I’m threadbare with all of this crap he thought, threadbare and burned to the bone with tiny smiling faces and overgrown children looking for the hoot, the holler, the guffaw. His woe had been the motivating factor in his aggression and he simply screamed with joy when the little ones cried out in fear. He grimaced and the paint crinkled with his maniacal grin. “I’ll show them the tyranny of the threadbare, the tyranny of the wonted clown, in all his glory and with just a touch of glee!” he said aloud as he made his way to the dressing-room door. His black gloved hands slid against the door brass and the knob remained steadfast, outside he could hear laughter, mocking him, shaming him with it’s accusation. “Let me out!” he screamed at the door, “Let me out!” The laughter continued and he reared back and slammed his fist into the door. “Let me the hell out!” he screamed in rage. The laughter continued and he grabbed a chair and slammed it against the door until it splintered. “I’ll show you the tyranny of the threadbare, I’ll show you!” he screamed. He grabbed the knob again and jerked hard, the door wiggled in it’s frame for a moment and the trim came loose falling to the spotted dirty floor. <br />
Stepping back he ran toward the door with his shoulder. The door slammed inward before he made contact with it and the carnival barker stepped through the door. The momentum of both men knocked them to the ground and the barker died on the spot after hitting his head hard against the floor. Bacon kneeled over the barker and shivered with the cool air that floated across the circus common. Spit rolled from between his lips and he coughed a few times as he tried to rouse the barker. <br />
Two children screamed and pointed at the clown, “He’s the one, he’s crazy, he killed that man!” Bacon raised his head and shook, “No…it was an accident, I was locked in and it was an accident!” A crowd gathered and the clown tried to regain his feet. A large bearded woman stomped on his foot and he fell back to the ground. “He killed Al. He killed Al the Carney Leroy!” Leroy looked at the clown and slammed his fist into his face. Leroy’s hand came away with a smear of paint and blood. Bacon fell to the ground and moaned, “The door was locked…I couldn’t get out, it was an accident I swear it!”<br />
There were dozens of people around the clown now and they all took turns punching and kicking him. “STTTTTOOOOOPPPPPPP…it was an accident, an accident!” he said through broken and bleeding lips. When they were finished they tossed his body into one of the large green trash dumpsters along with his belongings. <br />
He awoke near midnight. There was dried blood covering his face and he had two black eyes that were swollen and puffy. His legs ached from the bruising and his side hurt like crazy. “Arrrrrggggghhhh!” he said as he spit out a gob of blood. Gray clouds tinged the midnight sky and he thought of moving west as he climbed out of the dumpster. “Gotta get goin!” he said to himself and the dirty green dumpster. He staggered to the main tent as he looked for the generator that powered everything in the circus. There it was…ten gallon cans of diesel fuel lined the yard next to the generator. Bacon reached into his baggy trousers and pulled out a lighter. “I’ll teach those no good jerks!” He dumped over one of the canisters and watched it flow under the main tent. Reaching into his pocket again he pulled out a scrap of paper and lit it. Tossing the burning paper into the diesel he limped-ran to the edge of the encampment and the road leading west away from the circus. The big tent caught fire and by the time he got a mile away there were several explosions.<br />
“Gotta go west.” he said to himself as he made his way into the night a threadbare tyranny on his mind.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-9056644366451031972012-11-26T23:58:00.002-08:002012-11-26T23:58:31.902-08:00Little Tyke<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
Little Tyke</div>
</u></b></span></div>
“How’s my little tyke?” the tall farmer said to the tiny clown staring up at him. “Kiss my butt!” the clown replied with a sneer and a quick wave of his hands. “I can see that this little devil needs some learnin Margie.” the farmer said to his lanky wife. The tiny clown coughed and lit a cigar, puffing on the fat brown smoke he said, “ What comes with tall water farmer Zeek?” <br />
“Well little man I’m sure I don’t know, what comes with tall water?” the farmer replied.<br />
“Boogers and crap, that’s what farmer Zeek!” he yelled up at his questioning face. The small clown stepped closer and stomped on the farmers foot. The blue-jeaned man stood back and whooped as pain shot through his leg and up into his stomach. “Ye eeeeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaa!” he hollered. The clown laughed and pinched Margret on the rump.<br />
“Yer a sweet lookin thang lady!” he said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. Margeret grabbed her howling husband by the hand and stormed off toward the main tent. The clown chuckled and looked at the bottom of his tiny shoes. There were razor barbs runing the length of his tiny black loafers and a spring loaded nail near the tips of both shoes. “That’ll teach those no good sons a guns!” The tiny clown guffawed again and scratched his head, maybe he had been a litle bit rash with the bean poles he thought. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a pocket mirror and smoothed back his colored hair. A cherubic face stared back at him, stripes of grease paint ran beneath his eyes similar to a football player and his lips were bright red. “Perfect for the show.” he whispered to the mirror. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-60644511401072763812012-11-26T23:56:00.002-08:002012-11-26T23:56:56.587-08:00The Morning Dew<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="center">
Ron Koppelberger</div>
<b><u><div align="center">
The Morning Dew</div>
</u></b></span></div>
Mottled sunshine flittered against his pale skin as he roamed the garden path. The dew shone brightly on the Lilacs and Roses but mostly he noted the dew on the stray Dandelion that had grown up in the middle of the Daisy bushes. It was there that he found solace, a type of peace likened to a long sleep and a good meal. She had handed him a cut Dandelion before she left. Her presence or rather her lack thereof was little evidence of her visit nevertheless the Dandelion was a reminder. <br />
He had been sitting on the front porch of his Spanish style ranch, the alcove was arched and provided a good view of the gardens and the well kept lawn. The whiskey he was sipping at tasted warm and welcome, he had been thinking of his predicament. The fact that Wolf was fifty-seven and alone, without consort or love bothered him but not quite enough to do anything about it, besides no one would replace Grace his wife. She had died of bone cancer and the process had been long and drawn out; he hadn’t been surprised by Grace’s death just exhausted and sad. She had been gone a good ten years or rather mediocre ten years. He had spent most of that time alone except for Rain, she lived across the copse in Courage Glenn. He had gone out with her several times. She was attractive and a bit younger than wolf and willing to start a relationship with him if he wanted it, he just didn’t know. He had been thinking about Rain when he heard the moan. It was a sorrowful sound, like a female in pain. He stood from the polished wooden swing and called out, “Is there anyone there, are you ok?” Jasmine and dreams of carefree seasons filled his mind strangely for a moment. “Is there anyone there?” he repeated into the dark of the garden. He heard the moan again and took a few steps forward toward the path. A promised destiny he thought, what if I go into that garden and find her hurt, bleeding maybe even dieing? A journey begins by the way of thrush and thrash he thought as he stepped out into the yard.<br />
He stepped past a marker and a measure of the past, the red rose bush his wife had loved so much, he paused for a moment and caressed one of the blossoms, folded and compact in the darkness. Farther down the path he could see the faint glow of something, it looked like the outline of a woman. He moved forward down the path toward the light when he heard the moan again. It was loud and filled with grief. He paused again and looked into the dark toward the glowing figure, was it a ghost, he thought of Grace for a moment when she spoke. “Come to me Wolf, Come to me!” she coaxed. He stood there for a moment wondering and praying both. What if this is madness, he had been alone a long time, maybe he was losing his mind. She called again, “Come to me my love, come to me Wolf!” she insisted. The voice was not his wife’s, she had died of bone cancer ten years ago and he knew it could not be her, but then who was this woman calling him into the dark, a ghost? She moaned again and it sounded more like a sob. “Come to me!” she pleaded.<br />
“Who are you, what do you want with me?” he said with just a bit of fear. <br />
“I’m dead, I’m dead, you must help me Wolf, you have to!” she moaned in a quiet whisper, closer now and visible to Wolf. She was beautiful, close to his age and…she was glowing in a strange amber light. He stepped closer to her and she reached her hand forward to touch his. A tiny spark of electricity jumped between their hands and Wolf felt a low vibrating intensity overwhelm him. “You must help me Wolf!” she said directly to him. He was having a hard time believing his eyes, she was trailing a halo of fire from behind, was it the damn whiskey, he didn’t feel drunk. “I’m dead Wolf, and I don’t know what to do!” she cried. <br />
Wolf said, “You look alive as me honey.” he said as he attempted to console her. <br />
There was a rattling in the bushes and she grabbed his hand, the flow of energy felt good and he smiled oblivious to her fear. “We must leave, it’ll find us here!” she insisted. The bushes to the side of the path shook in the distance and there was a cracking sound as if tree limbs were breaking. “We must leave!” she pleaded again. Just then there was a high pitched scream from the far end of the garden and the sound of water, like a river rushing furiously. She pulled him toward the house nearly dragging him. He watched as a trail of fire blossomed out behind her as she moved. The sweet syrup of Jasmine incense and wild honey assailed his senses for a moment as they moved onto the front porch. “That’s a soul that abides by the darkness of an indigo night, wonting in search of spirits, and the eyes Wolf, the eyes are terrible!” she informed him. “We must abide the fear with passion, passion for what was and what will be. We must become one with the moment!” she pointed into the cabin with a ghostly trail of sparks.<br />
They locked the door behind them the shadows of the cabin dark and warm. She stood like a glowing fiery specter before him, her arm outstretched and inviting. The terror outside the cabin forgotten, left behind the instant she moved into the cabin. They would be one with the night and life and forever, had he found his wife, he wasn’t sure. He thought for a moment and smiled, he didn’t care she was his now and he was hers. The night wore on and he sipped at the whiskey glass contemplating his new love. She would see him through ghost or not, she would see him through. The clock on the wall read 2:45 A.M. and the refrigerator ticked coolly in the kitchen as the night wore on. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556159972746493064.post-80943030490806960442012-11-07T03:20:00.000-08:002012-11-07T03:20:30.623-08:00Amy Huffman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b><i><span style="color: black;">Friendly? Flutter</span></i></b><br /><br /><span style="color: black;">The surf was a deafening as the silent touch</span><br /><span style="color: black;">of hand against arm. A subtle pull:</span><br /><span style="color: black;">of wave and warmth and almost </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="color: black;">swept away. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: black;">My toes and thoughts tangled. Tumbled.</span><br /><span style="color: black;">Caught. The direct flash </span><br /><span style="color: black;">of the wind-brushed sand broke the spell.</span><br /><span style="color: black;">Running backwards through mist and memories</span><br /><span style="color: black;">I stumbled only twice. Reconfiguring</span><br /><span style="color: black;">the argument to a plea and back again.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black;">I found the music. Disturbingly distracting.</span><br /><span style="color: black;">And drawing me into a blurred focus. Land-</span><br /><span style="color: black;">locked arms. Smiling. Drumming. Twirling.</span><br /><span style="color: black;">Rhythm forgoes responsibility. And consequences</span><br /><span style="color: black;">fall to the left of remembrance.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black;">Three beats against the wind, and it’s easy.</span><br /><span style="color: black;">When you are dancing with an angel,</span><br /><span style="color: black;">you can easily forget ,to care,</span><br /><span style="color: black;">that the devil wants ,you, </span><br /><span style="color: black;">to go for a swim.</span></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Purity's Vengeance</span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Little boys should never play</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">with matches inside a mind</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">field(ed) by timers and dice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Duck! (Or was it dick?) I know,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">luck is not the lady you had hoped for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Or the tramp you ran out the back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Rather, she is a black-fisted bitch</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">with a paw for each of your eyes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Scratch them out yourself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Her nails are still wet. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">From leeching your brother's sin. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Mistaken.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">You are an only child?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Well, only a child would latch</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">on to such irrelevant distinctions</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">in the face of such sanctimonious slaughter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Get your point out of my face!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Before I show how hollow your pants really are.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Ah ha! Now the true trick takes </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">shape. Shadow and light</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">help my sight(ing). Of your</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">most embellished guilts. I'll take</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">two. They are smaller than both of us</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">hoped. (Let them go.) You would</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">only choke on their seams.</span></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Aligned. Alight.</span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I count electric sheep</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">all night. Their Frankenwool flames</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">dripping from fictitious hillsides. I know</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I lit the torches myself. They <i>Bah</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><i>Bah Bah</i> me. Bad! But I am not</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">the scientist who infested them with this</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">dream life. My nightmare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">continues, a waking</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> haunt, devoid of blinking.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">At least such strobing would be soothing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Instead I shoot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">thimbles at the ceiling, marking</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">their physical march across my psychic waves.</span></div>
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