Delight of Haven's Discreet

The neighbors lay a swaddled crimson puma cotton creme towel inside my twisted arms. I soothe my right bend of bruising veins to understand a pain I previously mistook for growing angst.

"...this is a child."

"That's what we thought."

"......she looks a lot like me I guess..."

"That's what we thought too."

"Where does she come from?"

"We found her in Flanders' backyard next to a guy who got slashed from his neck over his heart."

"He's.....gone?"

"Yeah he sure is."

"What else was there?"

"A bunch of fucking dead animals."

"Like what?"

".....think they were hyenas or something like that."

"What's a hyena?"

"Some ugly fucking beast that laughs at people."

"Where do they come from?"

"Some ugly fucking people who laugh at people and become some ugly fucking beasts that laugh at people."

"......what and how do we deal with this?"

"We'll raise her together but keep her from those two motherfuckers."

"If they had a mother they might indeed fuck her."

"Fuck her over or fuck her under?"

"Fuck her over and fuck her under."

"I don't want her to meet them."

"She can hear you talking...."

"I don't want you to meet them."

"Huh."

"She said huh guys."

"That's what I would say if the lady who looks like me said some crazy shit that didn't fucking make sense since it's bound to fucking happen one way or a fucking another."

"Do you have to fucking curse around her god damn it!"

"Oh fuck."

"Aw fuck."

"Fuck."

"Fucking fuck!"

".....huh?"

"She learned it from him."

".......where did this bloody towel come from?"

".....we had to clean her off!"

"We need a doctor."

"A doctor!"

"Yeah like that guy that told me that my body was altering to adapt to physical changes....or whatever.....yeah."

"Alright well....alright we'll get him then except he sure as hell smokes a lot of ganja."

"He's always got god damn red eyes!"

"Maybe it's the weather."

"No it's fucking ganja."

"He's a pothead!"

"....."

I bury the cloth underneath an odd bush centering a dying creek. A pair of dark orbs curiously inspect my hands while a barking dog enrages me; if not for the child a broken mass is quiet charisma. She wears my white t-shirt to cover her exploration. I am unable to formulate a name at the moment. My mind is a sorrowful environment; my thoughts swim through blackening streams. We walk together, her chin upon my right shoulder; I carry her to a sidewalk swarming with police. This indeed a problem I beg to differ indifference for a following transcendence and wandering precedent; continuing aggravation doth annoy me. My silence is a pair of feet despite futile warning; my silence is a trance which nullifies appearance. Here we go again; there I am.

"Go away. You are not needed."

"Stop! We are important!"

".....hhhhmmm....I wonder if he really said what I thought I just heard because I thought I heard him try to convince me he was somebody who thinks he is important however he is the most unimportant sound I ever heard. Therefore he is just another noise.....just another thing. Just another stupidity, just another ignorance, just another thing. I never want you to go through all of this for anyone not even yourself I bid you to remain neutral and not to involve yourself with all of these things. There will be much confusion for we are existent in dreams.....there are many worlds which dual for comparison! Zyna will tell you more if we can find him."

"Here I am."

"There you are."

"....that is a girl child."

"You are a big one....except a boy."

"......ooooooh K."

"Oh and the letter K?"

"What are the police doing?"

"Are you sure they are real?"

"They look like ridiculous actors."

"That's because they are."

".......should we stop for them?"

"Not now. Maybe later. They can't even do shit it's not legal."

"......I bid them death. All of them.....never to return."

"As do I...."

"Where is Avie?"

"In your box."

"What year or time is this?"

"I don't know."

".....will she grow?"

"Too quickly I suppose."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know!"

"I'm staying at a homeless shelter."

"So am I."

"Probably the same one on opposite sides."

".....I am not going to that house peacefully."

"Neither am I."

"Where will she stay?"

"She needs to grow quickly Amethyst for appearance sake so people leave her alone."

"Come child you eat raisins, pears, dates, prunes, walnut pudding, cane juice tofu, snow peas, cocoa coated coffee roasted beans, peanut butter all natural, strawberry preserves, blueberry mush, maple syrup almond toast, baked plantain chunks, honeydew mush, and pumpkin porridge with cinnamon swirls..."

"She'll grow in a snap of fingers that will be the size of my hands?"

"I hope she's as tall as you."

"Her eyes are so black."

"......hhhmmm......."

"Wonder why that is?"

"Me too."

"She does resemble you."

"She reminds me of you."

"What do you suppose brings her here?"

"........us."

"I got to go back to my box and I hope I remember this and us."

"What are you doing anyways?"

"Looking for work."

".....they stole my money."

"They stole mine too."

"I keep dreaming dumb shit to confuse me."

"Me too."

"......you think that will happen to her?"

"Yeah."

"..........where will she go?"

"She'll probably live with a bunch of girls and cry for you more than me....how come you don't cry for me?"

"....."

"She doesn't talk much."

"......which one am I? Am I the dad?"

"Do you want to be?"

"....doesn't matter if I am mom or dad."

"I guess I will be dad."

"No wait I want to be the dad."

"Okay fine."

"Wait no you can be the dad and I will be the dad."

"You mean the mom."

"No I mean the other one."

"The mom."

"Yeah."

"Okay."

".....what did the doctor say?"

"....I didn't listen. He said she was dying or some shit."

"Why?"

"...she lacks some kind of immunity to something."

"It's not the water disease is it?"

"No....it's something else not like what Avie had or any of the other children."

"What can we do?"

"........I took care of him and got a second opinion."

"What did they say?"

"Some dumb shit so I went through some microscopes and saw that we need to come together and make a single strand of DNA."

"Then we give it to her through our blood?"

".....yeah but after we change."

"I think I shit out the old me."

"I think I did that too."

"....now we got to shit out the rest."

"Yeah that really sucks."

"The police are gone."

"....when we wake up they will come back."

"What do they want?"

"Everything and everyone to worship them."

"........I hate them."

"So does everybody else."

".....I got to go little person."

"...."

"Let's go back to Griffin's house."

Time is a mythical sun dial simplifying the wheel. Fists plunge into the machine complex surging swollen knobby structures; the color red is a foe. Nights shall pass into flashlights, moons shall wear disguises, suns shall rise from the dead; I am a fallen star scorching hidden earth.

"Hey Griffin will you watch the kid while I survey the damage."

"I checked out the house. Those people suck but they are afraid to wreck it."

"......so those pictures are there?"

"Who are those kids?"

"....the babies that played me and grew into ladies."

".........will you remember that?"

"Will you?"

"....my backyard is a god damn electrical set of warrior poles."

"Yes!"

"....what's her name?"

"I don't know yet."

"...........what about....Cocina?"

"....a little chocolate storm?"

"Yeah how about that."

".........what and how do they use it here?"

"Well you told me about Coco and you told me about Nina so I put it together but otherwise it indicates really good food."

"Oh......."

"She's darn cute and innocent looking."

"...............I fed her raisin walnut butter."

"How did you make that?"

"With prune juice in a bottle."

"This kid is going to grow like a marijuana plant."

"....so what then?"

"Ah we'll call her Mary Jane."

"Will I ever see her again?"

"Maybe in a dream."

"I need Avie."

".......where is she?"

"I need her to find Zyna and live with him."

"Where is she!"

".....that guy told me Zen walked around the living room and Cordelia was being me."

"Charles or whatever his fucking name is?"

"Yeah."

".....well what do you know."

"He said he felt his hair and his presence."

"How would he know it was him?"

"Oh come on Amethyst. It's not that hard to identify your husband. He looks like James Dean."

".....Vera Very."

".....that's what they call me."

"Aloe...."

"Yeah.....well he said he was walking around looking to beat him up."

"Again?"

"....how did he get here?"

"Through....the....thing."

"Oh that thing."

"Yeah that thing."

"Oh! That thing!"

"Yes that thing."

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"D'oh!"

"....does she have to do the Homer impression?"

"Well.....she did.....you know."

".....he thought you were there but it must of been your eldest girl."

"I noticed a few things."

"I know you did."

"He must of been very angry."

"Your husband?"

"Yes."

"I bet he was! Should of kicked his fucking ass."

".....well then they can come out of our things too."

".......quite possibly yes."

"What things?"

"Who is that woman?"

"Somebody who just ate a box of Mejdool dates from the market."

"Is this a dream Roy?"

"I don't know boy."

"Chocolate Boy."

"That's Chocolate Boy's Storm."

"....dearest me and dearest me again."

"Hey kid so are you that kid that was just here?"

"What thing?"

".....shit."

"I told you not to feed her juju dates!"

"Shit."

"I fed her apples."

"Shit."

"....she grew like a thousand years."

"She was born yesterday!"

"Underneath that thing!"

"What thing?"

"The thing Roy!"

"Oh that thing."

"These are my neighbors Coco Girl."

"....what things are these things?"

"Just things."

"Special things."

"Uh.....so......do you watch MTV?"

"Amethyst watches it to miss her family."

"You are Amethyst?"

"Yes."

".....where do we go now?"

".........shit."

"We'll figure it out Amethyst. Anyways she will start dreaming all that shit."

"Like us?"

"Yeah fucking dream machine like a nightmare show."

"A bad movie if you ask me."

".....where do I come from?"

".......sparks."

"Like lightning?"

"Yes."

"Uh...."

"Precisely."

"That cat is looking at you again."

".....god damn it."

"He wants you to join their cat army."

"What am I going to be the god damn mascot?"

"Yes."

".....where did the kid go?"

"We lost her."

".....aw fuck."

"Blasphemy I tell you!"

"She heard the ticking inside the damn washing machine!"

"It looks like a sun dial Vera Very...."

"....trips on the cold water."

"It had icicles on it."

"....where did that kid go?"

"Zap she's freaking out inside dream fucker world."

"Is she going to remember me?"

"How can she forget?"

"Will I forget?"

"Knowing you.....yes until later to think about it. And.....you will be stuck trapped inside that damn number two thinking other shit.....and fucking with that trying to be elusive so you can hide your emotions to protect her. She will cry a lot for you."

"Will I cry?"

"Get it all out now Girl."

".....it's blood."

"...........what isn't?"

"Where'd she go?"

"So do we call her your daughter?"

".......shit."

"Must of been your husband who else would walk around your living room wanting to kill that bastard?"

"....lots of people."

"I remember a sweet coffee fragrance like chocolate cocoa bean with espresso."

"Who else smells like that?"

"....I feel as though he was there."

"Well he was then."

"A whole big riot happened a few moments when you went walking but we stayed inside hiding until you came back. Then everything was alright again."

"What went about?"

"....they told him they wanted him alive or something.....then one guy mentioned hickory chips and another mentioned a neighborhood barbecue."

"Yeah then one guy said he would bring beer to the block party and that you were invited but he couldn't find you anywhere."

"............"

"Where were you?"

"Walking..."

"No you weren't..."

"On a space ship maybe...."

".....the cops are after you again."

"Why?"

"Cause you walk at night and buy bananas..."

"What a stupid reason."

"Well yeah most definitely."

"That's not going to stop me."

"No certainly not."

"....the cats need dog food."

"The little black guy and his brother?"

"Yeah."

".....Mr. Chocolate and Little Negro."

".........."

"What?"

"Well just cause you're black you can call them that."

"You told him to get to the back of the bus!"

"I went in first!"

"You also told him that if he didn't wear gold teeth and baggy pants he couldn't come to the tea party for slavery identification emancipation."

"Oh yeah I did say that."

"......."

"Well he is black and he is chocolate."

"The other cats won't mess with him."

"The other cats won't mess with him either."

"I am really pissed off at both of them for going along with this whole shit."

".....yeah but that guy wants them."

"I had to give them baths and bomb their skin."

"........I don't care for them either."

"Where did that kid go?"

"...she's safer than being here for sure."

"You sure about that Very?"

"......what do you think Amethyst?"

"....yes....no....maybe."

"..........I need to make sure she will be fine."

"So do we."

"....yeah well them stupids you stay with will stop at nothing to be stupid."

"They just want to be proud and save an ugly face."

"It's more than that. They fear shame."

"....I hate them more than any of you ever could."

"I believe you."

"So do I."

"Me too."

".......I despise their guts from within to the outer limit."

"So do we."

"....he's got some kind of machine."

"It makes up light and sound doesn't it...."

"Yeah worse than that.....we'll get it and destroy it."

"I'll use my hologram if I have to...."

"........what a dramatic fuck."

"...I hope she sees all that shit and doesn't fuck with that other shit."

"And hears it too."

"....where is that kid?"

"...."

"...."

".....where are our kids?"

"Shit."

"Where is your husband? If he was walking around he can come back again to stay."

"Yeah most definitely."

".......Amethyst go to sleep....you're typing on the keyboard."

"No I'm here Very."

"Oh I guess I dreamed that ahead of time."

"He's staring at a bunch of railroads wearing a black bag and smoking a set of joints. He bought a bunch of lime green buds from some guy who grew some herb. He got the most of it and wonders who gets the rest of it. He says it's his last pounder."

"Who is he?"

"A girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Well those eyes are blood shot. She's wild.....the cops are after her too......but she goes back into her room. It's not that far away. She carries water bottles and some kind of energy bar that she couldn't eat. Too sick thinking about running away.....those people are terrible. Those people stink."

"....where is my....where is the.....what about Cocina?"

"Coco?"

"Yeah Coco."

"....I don't know."

"My fucking arm stings."

"Karma is a bitch."

"Karma can be a liquid."

"Karma can be a solid."

"Karma can be a name for a kid."

"I want to call her that officially."

"You should like fucking just call her your daughter."

".....no not there honey."

"Which honey?"

"Karma!"

"What was she doing?"

".....she was getting something. Waiting for some lady to stop asking her weird questions she couldn't hear anyways."

"Like what?"

"Where her mother was, what her name was, if she was in trouble, and something about welfare......that lady pisses me off. You couldn't hear her anyways. I don't even think she knows there are two of her. It's terrible.....she's got to stop her and get rid of her......you need to stop doing that..."

"Doing what?"

".....all over the graph."

"Doing what?"

"Oh fuck it."