Friday, April 20, 2018

'38 Rue Utopia ~ Ep.3

On branches fractal fragile sing a fluted refrain
All love’s tomorrows your perch to regain
~ Byrrdz ‘Catenary’ 2034

The Orator ~ Magnus Zeller

Saturday night is like any other night at the Carny since the working week ceased to exist - although some say that the Carny hasn’t changed much since it opened its doors all those years ago, some say it was always full of people getting off their heads - no matter what the working week dictated.
Tonight, as usual, the bar is doing a rigorous trade in all manner of narcotic and rot-gut liquor; business, fiscal and carnal, is being conducted in the alcoves by people who know that morality only commands a small place in society; and from the small stage in the main hall Peye is reciting one of her Tall Tales to a silent but restless audience.
Her make-up glows; red lips on white face in the spotlight; her eyes black holes.
The first time Ellie saw Peye perform she wondered at the wisdom of standing up there with nothing between you and the crowd; she learned that first night that there is no nothing between Peye and the audience: the meathead muscle-boys on security are more than happy to expel troublemakers, a fact that has little to do with remuneration since their preferred currency is violence.
For the most part however, Peye holds the audience by force of will; the weirdness of her Tales seems to strike some long dormant curiosity in them with the result that security is seldom required to act, even if the audience is seldom impressed to any level above the nonplussed.
“And across the looming orange and, thus far, expressionless face of the moon there is drawn, for the benefit of those upturned faces below, faintly, but unmistakably, a smile" Peye concludes to a silence that lasts a heartbeat before the crowd offers up a slow clap to the accompaniment of a chorus of hisses, a response that has become customary in the Carny.
“Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience” Peye gives them her best in sarcasm before descending straight-backed from stage to floor and weaving her way through the crowd which now chooses to ignore her.





Byrrdz
Catenary (Future release date 2034)

2 comments:

Letitia Coyne said...

Just nod if you can hear me. Relax it's just a little pin prick - there'll be no more aaaaiiiiggghhh! But you may feel a little sick. Got sidetracked. So far, so good, again. :)

Garth said...

Whatever you're on, I want some

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