|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- THE MILDRED CORK--CUP 2--"NIGHT" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  The Mildred Cork  ||  -------> (Cup SRmc002, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = In my human body's belly, I kept rising for a long time, until I finally approached the event horizon that was my bellybutton. It couldn't have been more than an hour. But in the few moments it took me to break free, I felt a catharthis like none I could have ever imagined. To be free of such a flawed body! It felt like stripping off horrible, sweaty clothes after being in them for far too long. Only, a lot better than that. A whole lot. So I was in my room--it was taxing at first to fly, but I was able to go about it, slowly at first, but easily. I had some senses in this form, but they were limited. More like psychic impressions than true senses. I looked down at the gross body I hated so much, looking like a stain upon reality, just snoring away. I felt an urgency to get outside into the natural night, so I headed for the window, which was closed, but found that I couldn't get through it. So I wasn't an immaterial phantom--I was really there, pressing against the glass and not getting anywhere. So I scanned around, and finally found my way out through the crack under the door--a bit of a squeeze In the hall I was still disoriented. I saw someone either coming into or going out of the main door, so I shot past them and into the aching infinity of the night. I don't know whether or not they saw me, nor did I care. Outside I felt a lot better, a lot more bright and energetic. I knew I was glowing brighter too--a lot brighter. Then I cut loose, and flew with all my might upward and into the wanting sky. I was virtually blind, but I knew it was right. I flew and flew and flew, until finally I hovered what must have been a few miles above the city. And I took in the night. What I mean is, I reached out and felt it, caressed it, and started gathering it, in great sheets. I started gathering it--how it was happening I couldn't say, but I collected a great amount of it and felt, for the moment, satisfied. It was, I realized, what I was so hungry for. Then I had a flash of realization--I had to make myself a body out of night. It was incredible--all the possibilities flashed before me--all the bodies I could make. Unicorn, fiend, eagle, troll, griffin, manatee (!!), satyr, centaur, lamp dainty, elf, fairy, human... I knew it had to be human. I quickly decided it would be female and perfect. Maybe 6-foot-2, luxurious, long hair, shapely form, strong, fast--all that. Perfect. Now that I had the design before me, I took my bundle of night and spread it out in all directions, until there were sheets of it extended for several cubic miles. Now I could begin the work of weaving the body. It came naturally to me, and I worked hour after hour, slowly sculpting the beautiful thing of the supple stuff of night. Inside and out, what a wonderful creation. As I reached the final stages of the weaving, the body began to slowly descend earthward. And as I put the final touches on it, it landed softly on some wet grass in front of a corporate center. It lay there peaceful, breathing, and I felt myself all over it. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----