Friday, March 24, 2023

When the Ark was opened



When the evil Nazi villain, Belloq finally fulfilled his obsession to raise the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, and peer inside, he released a light more brilliant than the sun.  His whole body seemed lit by a million-volt current, and for a moment, his complete form was white, then blue, then dropped to the floor of the cave in a cloud of ash.  There remained for an instant, the ghostly image of his face, written in air.  The face was smiling as if imbued with some kind of sublime, transcendental knowledge.  He had peered into the mind of God in the instant of his destruction, and what he saw brought him to completion.

What had Belloq seen, peering into the Ark, that left him with such a nirvanic countenance of enlightenment?  We might never have known, were it not for an archeologist's discovery of that very cave, and a shard left behind, burnt and crumbling, with signs it had survived an explosion, still big enough for radiologists to conclude it dated it to the time of Moses.  An examination by a philologist revealed from the scratches and scrawls into the stone, that they had a partial tablet from an ancient tome of Deviltry.  And written in an obscure Hebraic tongue, translated as best as can, was engraved: 

FOR THOSE AFFLICTED BY THE HOMUNCULUS WHO REPEATS WITHOUT END THE INCANTATION, "AGAIN", WHICH WHEN SO INSISTENTLY REPEATED WILL DRIVE ITS VICTIM TO AN EXHAUSTION OF CHASING, SEARCHING, FINDING AND THROWING, WHICH IF LEFT UNSTILLED DOES END IN DEATH BY BOREDOM. TO THIS CHARM THERE IS BUT ONE ANTIDOTE. THE AFFECTED SOUL MUST, WITH BOTTOMLESS FAITH, PRAY TO THE ALL-POWERFUL TO KEEP HIM STEADFAST AND FIRM, AND WITHOUT RAISED VOICE BUT WITH THE CONVICTION OF A COMMANDMENT, STATE CLEARLY AND DECISIVELY, "LAST ONE." AND THUS CAN THE SOUL ESCAPE TO SURVIVE.

So today if you are cajoled and seduced by a homunculus who skuttles up the stairs each day and suckers you into hide-and-seek, smack-the-balloon, chase-til-you-drop….  Remember that when she gleefully shouts:

"Again!" 

… in heartless disregard for your red, sweating, puffing face… Remember the good news which popped out of the very library of the Ark of the Covenant, and reply, 

"Last one," 

… as you raise your hands into talons that bookend the hungriest, menacing sneer you can muster… and she darts into the hall, shrieking with delightful terror… and you pray, "The last one.  Please God, the last one."

 

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Violet's Plan

I look up from my computer to see Violet’s eyes on mine from behind the counter with brows that hold an “I might be about to cry” curve.

“You OK, Honey?”  I get up from my work, head over to sit beside her. 

“I’m feeling scared.”

“Scared?”

“Scared of people.”

“But Grandma and I are the only ones here.”  Damn.  I catch myself trying to make her feelings go away, trying to get her to justify or explain, when that is not what this three-year-old who has signaled me with plaintive eyes needs.

“Would you like a hug?  Would that help you to feel safer?”  She does not climb into my arms, but stands and hangs her head, fingers touching pursed lips.

“I have a plan to help me feel better.”

“A plan?”

“Yes, you could play with me.”  I burst into laughter.  She's caught me in my own trap.  If she had just come up and asked me to play with her I would have said, “No Honey, I have to work.”  Apparently, she knows I’ll drop everything for a child in distress.

Now she is dancing and prancing in front of me like a hula-popper with a Cheshire smile.  What can I do?

“OK.  One game of Hide-and-Seek and that’s it.”