|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- THE CARBONIZE NEIGHBOR--CUP 10--"WE WORK AT STORE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  The Carbonize Neighbor  ||  -------> (Cup SRcn010, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "You know about Sweptim?" the girl in the glass asked. "I've heard about it. From the writings of a man named Bavler Bestroystraw. It was the Aconck before Aconk." Jake said. "Aconck?" the glass girl asked. "Aconck, yeah. The interconnection of Earths. It was based on research Bavler did into a thing which is sometimes referred to as Sweptim." "So this is the future then." "To you I guess. I mean, the end of Sweptim is estimated to be about 500 years ago." "End?" "Yeah. It didn't work." "No?" "No. From the information that survived, it seems that Sweptim became unstable and eventually destroyed most of the Earths it touched." The glass girl nodded. She said, "I bet The Tiredist Noava had something to do with that. The collapse. I remember him talking about something like that. But I didn't get into the technical side of it all too much." Jake raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Boy I tellya, there are some people back in Aconck who would love to talk to you! Too bad we're not gonna get back there." "No." "So what's your name, kid?" Jake asked. "Um, Pepperjinc of Clocks, I think." "Cool name." "I thought so." Leon James Hara then had an orgasm and threw the magazine down. He cleaned himself up with some toilet paper, but then stood, toilet paper wad in hand, and stared at the floor, looking very depressed. "Hey!" Jake said, and waved to him in his superimposed bathroom. Leon looked up at her. "I think I have mental illness." Leon said. "Why?" asked Jake. "Because of the situation with you. Because of my need to see those women printed on pages for sex and not a real woman. Those porn girls, pictures on paper, and you, a little more animated maybe, but not real. I hate myself. I wish I could just hold a real woman." "Why can't you?" Jake asked. "Because no woman will go out with me." "Have you tried asking a woman out?" "I fail in that. Women do not like me." "Have you tried hard?" "Not too hard." "So try hard." "No I can't." Suddenly, a guy appeared. His was tall and solidly built, his skin a dark gray, his hair a deep black. He was burly. And he wore a very sinister-looking pair of sunglasses. He wore a black dress shirt and black pants. And black boots. "Three people in trouble." he said is a deep, resonant voice. "Aw fuck, what now?" Jake said. "I'm The Carbonize Neighbor. I help people like you." Jake began shaking her head in frustrated resignation. Then there was a flash with lots of checkerboards in it, and everything changed. "Now we are four people." The Carbonize Neighbor said. They were in some kind of huge appliance and electronics store, standing near a display of cordless phones. All four of them were wearing red, black, and white outfits with red vests and nametags. It was the dress of an employee of this store. The Carbonize neighbor looked particularly funny in the outfit. His nametag said "The Carbonize Neighbor". Supple Jake looked down at her nametag and was surprised to see that is read "Jupple Sake". She turned slowly to look at The Carbonize Neighbor, but he just shrugged with a little grin. Leon James Hara, whose nametag said only "Leon", was wide-eyed in shock before he half-sat, half-fell to the ground. Pepperjinc of Clocks (nametag: "Pepperjinc of Clocks") cocked her head and looked as if she were in deep thought or trying to remember some vital piece of information. Real now, she was rather average in appearance, somewhat on the heavy side. One long auburn braid going down the back. She looked like a girl who might be a loser and loner in high school, getting into witchcraft and science fiction. But in her expression was a calmness and a poise, and you could see that she couldn't care less about the way she looked, that she was totally comfortable with herself. Smart, and a good person. "We work at store." The Carbonize Neighor then said, with his hands held out in front of him, a gesture of explantion. "We what?" Sake asked with emphasis and gestication and squinted eyes. Leon writhed. "I am... have mental illness... I am... have mental illness... oh mamma oh poppa I am... I am..." he mumbled. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----