Thursday, July 13, 2017
The Strangeness in Her Smile
Greta nearly threatened Rupper with her
magic. Not much of a threat since it
mostly focused on insuring Good Luck.
He left anyway. Bearer of multitudinous
maladies, many real, he went to live
with his sister and brother, both single
physicians.
After a year’s hit and miss relationship,
Hinton moved into her condo. A Boeing
engineer, he laughed at any mention of
magic. “Doesn’t fly!”
To avoid his sarcasm, she kept her
various strategies to herself.
But he discovered the mildest. She had
found a bright penny many years ago
and kept it in her mailbox, sealed in
a transparent little bag such as
watch repairmen use for tiny screws.
He had a key to the mailbox and was
surprised to find it there, as he was
the reminders she wrote to herself.
“For mail, US Mail!” he spat. But
everyone in the condo association
had other uses for it too.
“Lax everything around here!” As if
such habits ruined the world all
by themselves.
Hinton gave her the identical, blessedly
compact, lecture he had given his mother.
"The Rational Is My Magic God!”
Overkill for her small ways.
She soon kept an internet printout
in the mailbox.
How to help your husband’s job reward
him without question.
No worry: written in a secret language.
The one spell there she preferred
translating into English.
Mostly because the last word,
Hullmists, had such agreeable
sibilance.
And if she lingered over the m,
too, a resonance that vibrated
her for hours.
A few month later, Hinton
announced his promotion.
“That’s because you know
literally everything!”
True enough, but her Mona Lisa
smile knew something also.
Labels: disorder, engineer, magic, Mona Lisa, order, rational
