|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- FRIEND IS TAR MONORAIL--CUP 5--"THE SAHATTER ELEVATED WALKWAY" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Friend is Tar Monorail  ||  -------> (Cup SRft005, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The two sat in silence for a time. Then Fred spoke. "Are you a sexual being, Alva?" "Huh?" "I mean... sexual desire... does it figure prominently in your mind?" "Sexual desire... sex drive... lack of sex... yeah, all of it..." "So you are sexual, then?" "I guess so." "That's nice. Good for you. I was made as an asexual. But I admired it in Tom and Kelley and Leon and Ben and Gamble." "Gamble?" "Yes, yes, Gamble. Full of wild energy, that girl. I admired her greatly." Alva looked at Fred. "You're not human, are you?" "No sir, as I told you before, I'm a character." "Oh." Fred looked up at the sign. "'The Sahatter Elevated Walkway'. So we are somewhere then." Alva didn't answer. "Hey Alva... I don't know about you, but I see this whole thing as a new chance for me, a whole new beginning. Away from the crew, I am really existing. By myself. And I want to make something of it, something of this new life. You know, Alva?" "I was insane recently." Alva said. "A crazy senile old nut. A bum, a vagrant. Now I'm young and my mind is clear. And all the stuff that drove me crazy in the first place, it's all still there, starting to eat away at me like before. You'd think that an old, homeless, mindless creep could at least look forward to the comfort of death, right?" "But you should count your blessings, dear sir." "I'm nothing. I'm nobody. And that damn dog, he told me that the train races weren't real, that they were just psychological representations of my failed marriage. And he said that I masturbated with a gay sex fantasy." "Did you?" "No." "Oh. I think Leon might have done that. He was always making fun of gays, imitating them and stuff, but I think there was some of that in him." "Yeah." Fred sighed, and then looked over at the black bus. "Hey Alva," Fred said. "now that we're here, do you know what we're supposed to do?" "No. Not at all." "But we have to do something." "Something." "We have an interesting puzzle on our hands, Mr. Meow!" "Uh-huh." "Mind if I lead our little adventure?" "What?" "I always wanted to be a leader, like Tom. I know it's just you and me, but you seem too depressed to lead, and that leaves me!" "If you want to lead, go ahead and lead." "Cool! Let's start off with the bus. I found myself under it--is that where you found yourself too?" "No... no that wasn't it... I came in on the bus." "Really?" "Yeah." Fred stood up and walked over to the shiny black doors of the bus, and peered in. "My friends use to take the bus to school, till Kelley got a car. Then Ben." Alva didn't respond. Fred knocked on the door, and waited for a reply. There was none. He turned to face Alva. "Nobody home." "There was a driver, at one point." Alva said as he got up with exaggerated effort and walked over to the door, next to Fred, and peered in. "I don't see how the bus got in this position." Fred said, looking up and down the length of the vehicle. "Some kinda parallel parking job, y'know! I remember Kelley had a helluva time with parallel parking in the early going." Alva remained silent and tried to pry his fingers into the door seal, without success. "No luck, eh buddy?" Fred said. Alva took a deep breath and stared at the door, nodding slightly. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----