and then there were none
it had been a while that's for sure. And although I missed the comraderie I was, even at this late date, uncomfortable, even reluctant to turn in at the gate that surrounded the old place.
Yet, I was drawn, and could not continue down the row of Maples that lined the street. The lamplighters had already passed and the hiss of gas and the gleam of yellow accompanied me through the gate.
the rust concerned me. If nothing else they had always been fastidious about the place...what had happened?
the knocker, an old Marley look-alike banged hollowly...why was I knocking? why the hesitation to just walk in? What was I afraid to see; or not see?
I entered.
It was empty, still, void...dead.
On the old marble table, a table which had seen conversations that rivaled Algonquin, lay an empty bag of ranch Doritos, a solo playing card and a bobby pin.
"ahhh, bastard" I whispered "you and your bobby pins"
the fireplace was cold, ashes and dust mingled on the hearth. I bent to retrieve an old newspaper and stopped
there in the dust was a footprint, naked and new
I looked around
"Hello?"
"Anyone?"
My voice was swallowed in silence but one by one the hairs on the back of my neck rose...someone, something was here.
I pushed open the door to the library. The Q-Tip bust of Ozymandias remained where I remembered it. The full length 16th century portrait of Verdilak still hung over the empty trophy case, her violent, piercing green eyes following me, seeing into my soul as only they could...
I turned my head. our parting had been bitter, unexplainable, to this day I was confused..."woman thou art fickle"
I sighed, blinked back the tear and reminded myself that I had promised to visit her grave later that day...
"He sold Squeegies!" I wailed "Squeegies!"
But again, my voice died in the void of the empty old house.
I sensed it again. I was not alone. There was a mystery here, alive in the death of this house, this Usher, and I knew now that it had been no accident that my car had run off the road not 10 miles from here.
I would find why they had left...or been taken from here.
I opened the basement door and stared down into the darkness, jars of pickled pickles still visible along the rail. The fears of Y2K had gripped us all once upon a time but we had quickly gone through the packages of twinkies and boxes of Microwave popcorn and had decided to heck with it all, but the pickles hadn't turned out so well and given us all gas so there they sat.
there was a rustle, a muted laugh of craziness and evil from the darkness below.
closing the door behind me I crossed myself and started down.
"Welcome paul" came a voice...I swear I recognized it...but not quite. I peered into the gloom and saw only a darker shadow, a blacker than black in the far corner.
"Come on down... though I have feasted recently, I have great hunger now"...again that voice...who??
"They are all gone...and yes it was I who took them" it whispered.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, I could not have turned back if God Himself had commanded me.
He or it was drawing me....
"Come, look upon me, as they all did before they died"
(i know this voice! i know it...Oh...no...it can't be)
in the darkness his wings, tattered, musty, stirred and a foul air wafted across my face. He grimaced a smile and his fangs, putrid and dripped with I will never even guess what glimmered sickly.
"come, say hi to an old friend, come hug me as they did..for you are the last to arrive and long have I awaited you and called you and beckoned your soul..come"
My destiny was to die in his embrace. I was so tired. they were all gone anyway, she was gone...what was to live for?
and I knew he had good cause..they had turned on him and driven him out and thought him dead.
but he was here and he had called me and I had come
and bowing my head I leaned into his wings and opened my neck for the smiling fangs that had waited for so long for revenge.
and with my last breath I paid homage to the man who had taken from us all that we had tried to take from him and who in the end was victor
Re: and then there were none
In order to literally kiss the official Blarney Stone one has to climb to the top of a very high tower, put one's back to the little window, lean out backwards across an open space and try to plant a wet one on it. Hmmm, I'm thinking that to watch drunk Irishmen try to do it might make it worth the trip!
________________
ESSE QUAM VIDERI
It was then that I began to look into the seams of your doctrine. I wanted only to pick at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing raveled out. And then I understood that it was all machine-sewn. - - Henrik Ibsen
Re: and then there were none
I'm trying to visualize that and I'm picturing something easier done in a handstand, or standing normally and bending over.
Re: and then there were none
On April 3rd ezBoard is purging forums that haven't been active in 6 months, so... I guess they're in the process of moving things to a supposedly better setup called Yuku or Yuku Groups.
Lemme see... Did you all graduate and are now living responsible lives devoid of inane pursuits? Or did AB finally sample every last beer in the world and there's nothing left to do? Ahhhh, maybe Karash has you all in a big cage in an underground laboratory? Hmmmm, naw... a more likely explanation might be that he started his own enlightened (or endarkened) sect (the harried krispnas?), has brainwashed (extorted?) the lot, and you're all on some corner panhandling donations for his non profit sche-, er, I mean organization. Yes?
________________
ESSE QUAM VIDERI
It was then that I began to look into the seams of your doctrine. I wanted only to pick at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing raveled out. And then I understood that it was all machine-sewn. ~ Henrik Ibsen
They knew the facts about God, but deduced the wrong things about Him by their reasonings. ~ Martin Zender
I have email addresses for contact purposes if you'd like them. as to not let the search engine spiders have them, I can be found at actionbastard at yah oo dot com
It was then that I began to look into the seams of your doctrine. I wanted only to pick at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing raveled out. And then I understood that it was all machine-sewn. ~ Henrik Ibsen
They knew the facts about God, but deduced the wrong things about Him by their reasonings. ~ Martin Zender
Re: and then there were none
Acting Bastardly: you forget that I am not fluent in the technology of youth, explain this LiveJournal and how I get there. Tried to google Karash but get only old stuff, his name was trevor something and his wife was nice to me though I suspected a sort of Yoko Ono John Lennon/Mcartney thing there though y'all are so young that may mean little
msavery..msavery...sigh, as shakespeare said age makes morons of us all..will go back into time and renew old aquaintances
There's a search box on the front page, key in something like actionbastard or virdilak and you'll find things. We still like good old fashioned email sometimes, too.
I think Karash is going by Manitor these days, though neither of that pair is online much. I actually talked to his bride this afternoon though. For what it's worth, I do know something about Lennon/Yoko in spite of not remembering Lennon being alive.
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