|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- THE DARK OF COLLEGE--CUP 1--"Witchcraft Paranoia Films" --------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  The Dark of College  ||  -------> (Cup SRdc001, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Witchcraft Paranoia Films sat on the train, and asked the woman sitting next to him what she was drinking. "Hot hydrogen peroxide," she answered. Indeed, that's what the smell was. He knew he recognized it from somewhere. "You can drink that stuff?" he asked, furrowing his brow in skepticism. "Oh yeah," the woman said. "You never get sick." She smiled at him. From the expression, he could see she was looking at him as he if were an idiot, perhaps part of a whole idiot segment of society. "Huh," Films said, holding the woman's gaze a second or two too long, then turning away. "Are you visiting?" the woman asked after a long pause. "Huh?" Films said, started out of some musing he'd just begun. "I was just wondering if you were visiting. You have a very interesting accent." "Yeah?" The woman nodded. "Yeah, I'm not from around here," he said. She reached over and touched the top of the first joint of his right ring finger with her left ring finger. Films wore bafflement on his face. "Do you know what that means, boy?" "No." The woman smiled. She looked kind of old--late 40s, early 50s. With the look of youth desperately holding on, in the hair, the sparkle of the eyes. "It's a request, from one unmarried to another, to indulge in undressed passions." Films felt a wave of concern fill him, he took a sharp breath, and looked at her with eyes so wide. "You don't know anything about this?" she asked. "Are you from another planet or something?" He nodded, and she laughed. "We go into the tussle room, get undressed, and share the pleasures of the flesh--all except that act reserved for the married." "Yeah?" "Where are you from anyway, kid?" "Um--something like what you said--another planet..." She smiled and shook her head. "They really do shield you youngsters in Deav these days." "Deav?" She stared into his eyes with a passionate glance, and he felt some part of her consciousness enter his head. She seemed to go through a bunch of several-second stages of ascertaining, then she looked away. "If you touch my ring finger we can go to the tussle room." she said quietly. "Here, on the train?" She smiled and faced him, looking a little worn out. "Of course--who'd want to travel on a train without rest rooms and tussle rooms?" "Um--everyone where I come from," he said, imagining kissing her with that hydrogen peroxide breath. "The tussle rooms, not the bathrooms." "What's your name, friend?" "Uh--um, it's Witchcraft Paranoia Films." "What?" "Witchcraft Paranoia Films." "That's your name?" "Yeah. It must sound strange to you. Most people just call me Films." "Huh..." she said, nodding. "Well Films, you can just call me The Sommern Swift." "Why?" "Cuz I like it." Suddenly a screeching filled the air, and the two were thrown forward as the train seriously decelerated. "What the hell..." Films growled. "Blam..." Swift mumbled. Soon the train came to a halt, and a scary silence rang--no engine or generator noise--just the talking of anxious passengers. Soon, an announcement came: "Ah, attention passengers. Due to a signal failure, we dumped our merval core into thin air. Just totally out there. There will be a delay of an indeterminate period before a replacement train can come to pick us up." "Settle in." the conductor added sardonically. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----