LIE NOW HERE [147.1 - 148.1]

LIE NOW HERE

A Rural Noir Cinematic (Web) Novella

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs
and developing our wings on the way down.” 
Kurt Vonnegut

[147.1]

It’s starting. Ready? Turn on the camera.

Ignore the music. That music [1] only plays at the end. But this is the beginning. Before the beginning, actually.

Why are you shaking? You can't shake. You're the one holding the camera.

You said you wanted to be the one recording this story. You can't shake. Not now. It's too late for that.

Forget about gravity. We're going to be like harriers, right? Don't trust me; trust your wings.

Look, it's really starting! Ready?

Good. Jump with me.

[148.1]

We're soaring now. Don't let go of the camera.

Can you see the winding road down below, meandering up the mountain like a gray snake? Maybe it looks more like an asphalt-covered stream running uphill between two banks of pine trees and dark granite boulders? 

It could easily be perceived as a crooked mirror: one side of the road all charred fingers and scorched rock teeth, while the other still shows dark green needles fluttering high above a sea of gorse around lichen-stricken granite islands. 

Which side is the deformed reflection, though? The burned slant or the green slope? 

None? 

Both?

I know what you're thinking. Gandalf could have taken a stand on that road last summer, thundering at the wild fiery Balrog: "You shall not pass!" 

I’ve nothing against J. R. R. Tolkien, Sir Ian McKellen or Peter Jackson. Only this is not that kind of story. 

If I had to guess, I'd say the explanation for this rift in the landscape lies in those wind turbines over there on that ridge. Can you see them? 

Can you hear them slicing the wind into slivers of energy? 

Someone made sure they wouldn't burn. 

I know it's tempting, but don't break character to play The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. At least, not just now. We're here to record a different story, remember? 

Look, there's a car on the road! A black SUV has come up from the depths of the valley and is climbing the mountain: a huge scarab following a trail to the heart of this plot. 

Let's zoom in on it. 

▪️▪️▪️

TO BE CONTINUED

NOTES:

[1] Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

(Photo by me.)

LIE NOW HERE cover art also by me. Photo: Hypnos, British Museum.