Alleymanderous and Other Magical Realities by Bruce Taylor

Author:Bruce Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, science fiction, magical realism, kafka
Publisher: ReAnimus Press

... glide past the rings and to Saturn we go, into the orange and yellow atmosphere, way down deep in it, we go. “Well,” you say, “it’s a little better than that Jovian crap.”

“For you,” I reply, and I want to say more but, oh, my god, from the Saturnian depths, the pale face of my mother appears.

“Oh, you’re so sickly, are you all right?”

I sigh. “I’m fine, Mother, really I am!”

“You don’t sound like it. Do you have a cold?”

“No, Mother, just a case of hay fever is all.”

Her face lords over me like a vast moon. “You better stay here tonight. I’ll fix you your lunch.”

“No, that’s OK.”

“You should move out of that apartment and move back with me.”

“No, Mother, I have a girlfriend—”

The vast moon face doesn’t acknowledge that you even exist; she just stares at me. “I know that you’re not taking good care of yourself.”

“Mother, I’m fine.” I grab your hand. “I have to go now.”

“Oh, you just got here—” and her face now fills the entire sky.

“It’s been a nice visit,” I say.

“You can sleep in your own bed...”

“Mother!”

“You don’t look well. I need to take care of you.”

“Oh, no, no you don’t. Oh, no way in hell!”

“You need me—”

“Oh, holy God!”

“Come back. It’s so terribly lonely here without you—”

“Agh!” And with that, we leap...

... and land in the cool and dark and quiet regions, the bottom depths of the planet Uranus. I hear my mother calling down through the murk of the atmosphere, “Where are you? Your dinner’s getting cold! I’ll pack a lunch for you—do you like turkey?”

“Whoa—” you say.

“I just bought you some new underwear!” I hear my mother distantly call.

“Yeah—” I say.

“Where are yoooooouuuuuu?”

“Lonely old lady—” You shake your head.

“Mik-ieeeeeeee.”

“Treats me like I’m five years old. I was her only purpose in life. Felt guilty as hell when I left. She even had me climbing into bed with her ‘til I was twelve. Oh, it was sick, oh, man it was bad. I hate it how she always tries to track me down. Jesus Christ!” We sit in the darkness for a long time; then it is quiet. And you finally say, “So when I start wanting more time—”

“Yeah.”

“Ooh.”

“Uh-huh.”

When the coast is clear, we don’t say much. We go and—

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