Chapter 4: Set-Up
Quote: Have you ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? Maybe there's a reason... Betty Lou's _maneki neko_ waved at me when I entered the Really Good that evening. I was always amused that a Japanese cat adorned so many Chinese restaurants....
Chapter 3: New Client
Quote: Have you ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? Maybe there's a reason... I read somewhere that it's inaccurate to say that sleep is ever "dreamless." The REM cycle is all about dreams, and you definitely dream every time; the question...
Breaking Through
My eyes opened, not suddenly, not from any stimulus that I was aware of. I had no sense of time, and the quiet seemed absolute. Either the room was very well soundproofed, or the rain had stopped. I became more aware of my body, realizing that I had...
Touching the Past, Part 3
Somewhere in the structure, somewhere in the near-perfect blackness, something moved. Nothing with flesh, nothing even with the outer plates of _nasekomoye,_ but it moved. Reggie's eyes could not see it, not even his non-physical eyes could see it, but...
Rooibos and Reflection
The stairs from the South Tower weren't as grand as the central stairs up to the living quarters, nor as beautiful as the stairs on the north side, with its warm display of windows. This staircase was as wide as the stairwell on the north, but the...
Of Mice and Menace
I'm not one of those hardcore city dwellers who doesn't like the country. My relief in returning to the city was exclusively that of feeling that I had escaped a physical threat. Rationally, I knew that the response was entirely out of proportion to...
Reunion, Part 1
I can’t say that mine is the sort of job that one “enjoys” going to. I’m a Charonite, or pneumonologist, if you want the scientific term. Generally, I am called to crime scenes where a sudden death has occurred, by misadventure or murder. Some...
Dialog -- You Have Stayed Too Long.txt
As I have described in my profile, some of the writing that I put up here comes from writing exercises, drafts, vignettes, and so forth. Following is a dialog, overheard illicitly, quoted here to give some tiny bit of hope to those of us who think that...
Exercise -- Write about what's under your house
As I explain in my profile, I may upload snippets, pieces, writing exercises that have a small life of their own. This is one such exercise, sparked by the idea of writing about what's underneath the house that I live in. Not what I...
The South Tower
I was reluctant to break the spell that Lightwing had woven, as it appeared to affect us both so deeply. It felt good to let the dream wrap around me, to give myself the chance to feel it, to see it through her eyes, to believe in it. That was easier...
Touching the Past, Part 2
The campsite was modest, tucked just inside a structure that held a great many metal transport vehicles; the _mashina_ or _avtomobil'_ was well-documented as being vital to the beings of this world. The ground, indeed the entire structure, was made of...
Chapter 5: Night Delivery
Quote: Have you ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? Maybe there's a reason... Let me explain something about surveillance for you: It's dull. I was going to use an obscene gerund in that description, but even that overused "F-bomb" doesn't...