Queen City and Other Dimensions. E.C. Wells
I don’t go back there but you do you go there in your dreams and every time you do you’re messing with the universe kahbluey off-kilter off-balance put an end to it or create your own my own alternate universe can I do that WAKE UP.
* * *
One of the Colfax Avenue hookers, the one they call Paradise, the two-hundred pound black woman wearing a stringy blue and red wig, two gold front teeth, the funny one, the jokester, the good-natured, the notorious one who wears the same tight black faux leather halter that squeezed her tits so tightly together they became a yin-yang symbol, not an easy feat for sure, causing them to appear ludicrously erotic, a bit disturbing, held in with just enough black faux leather not to be arrested for doing what Paradise knew instinctively to do; to have and to give sweet diversions and one helluva time!
Paradise levitated over the bystanders. She wore her usual black faux-leather cummerbund——to match her halter——that barely covered her hoo-hah. Spandex carefully sewn on the back of the cummerbund to accommodate the girth of Paradise provided ample stretching room. Her hot pink rubber flip-flops with multi-colored sequins, meticulously applied by Paradise one sequin at a time, covered every exposed nano-inch of her flip-flops, reflecting the sun around where Paradise stood on the air above anyone’s reach.
“I am beautiful!” Paradise declared as she removed her wig and tossed it to a lucky member of her audience. Her audience, a collection of Colfax regulars, fell to its knees. Except for a few who tried to take selfies with her in the background, but they were out of luck in the light of the blinding sun. “I am beautiful! I am the Black Madonna!” Paradise rose higher.
Her audience shouted, “You are beautiful! You are the Black Madonna!”
Paradise kicked her flip-flops off into waiting hands.
“You are beautiful,” the crowd chanted.
Paradise removed her cummerbund and let it drop into eager arms. Two-hundred pounds of naked Paradise undulated with amazing grace upon the air. She raised her arms and slowly danced her dance of Salome on the corner of Uinta and Colfax. Cars parked in the middle of the street. Folks stood on the car roofs to get a closer look as everyone for blocks watched Paradise levitate higher and higher above the street, out of reach, over the traffic lights. Her hands and arms swayed to unheard music. The faster Paradise moved her loving arms to the Music of the Spheres the higher she rose over Colfax Avenue and the louder the crowd cheered. They succumbedto the pleasure ofthe Black Madonna’s enchantment as she spread her come-hither arms, smiled with two gold front teeth sparkling, turned and danced the light fantastic into the sun; challenging science and mystifying religious leaders and their flocks; the Black Madonna of Colfax Avenue.
As one student astronomer from Queen City University explained it, “The phenomenon is caused by the gravitational effect of something huge. Maybe gravitational waves, or perhaps global warming has reached its point of hopelessness; or maybe something from outer space is coming! It’s coming for you! Ha, ha, ha! Damn it, Janet! Just joking.” No one thought him humorous, nor particularly informative.
The entire touring company of Cats, currently running in Queen City for the umpteenth time, fell victim to spontaneous laryngitis; consequently, the actors gave an exemplary performance in mime. The electricity of the audience sparkled. The audience was seduced by it. Something new. Something happened. Something they’d never seen before. Even those who didn’t love it, were amazed. Tremendous applause broke the evening’s silence. In unison, the entire audience rose to their feet and gave bravos to the “...a stunning new re-interpretation of a tired thingy...theatre is born again!”
As irregular incidents continued to mount in Queen City there was possibly——though highly improbable——enough evidence to suggest that Queen City was overrun by malevolent spirits. Some suggested that Queen City was the epicenter for all the wicked spirits in the world. And, now they were escaping into the world from out the cracks ripping Queen City streets and causing new overpriced pressed board houses to snap, crackle and pop.
Panic, exaggerated, overacted, badly acted and mostly self-focused, filled the streets of Queen City. Throngs of screaming humanity climbed one over the other to beg forgiveness from the invisible. They sat in bars where all drinks were on the house, although one would need to step over passed-out drunks just to get into the house. Soothsayers predicted the end of the world. Even those who never spoke sooth saw it coming. The sidewalks were inflamed with anger and incredulity from those who were trying to find a way out of the wreckage. Some huddled and cried with friends and relatives, even those friends and relatives they hated. Some stood frozen staring at cracks that continued to grow. Some felt the Earth moving under their feet. Some removed their shoes to experience the sensation.
Streets and sidewalks rolled with the rumble of an earthquake, buildings swayed and fell, cracks continued to splinter and tear apart Queen City.
This was a disaster, indeed. And we are now in the dimension of the present.
* * *
Alarmed, Lily cried out, “What’s happening!?”while leaning over the porch balustrade that was covered with two layers of chipped paint, green on the surface and white lead paint beneath. “Gawd! Look at that! The entire street, V.” V was speechless as she leaned over the porch balustrade next to Lily; so Lily questioned herself, “An explosion? An earthquake? What?”
“Frackers!” V overcame her speechlessness. “Goddamned motherfucking frackers!”
“Really?”
“You can go to the bank on it.”
In silence, both V and Lily give the scene below their full attention. Squirrels gather catalpa bean pods, small green peaches and marble-sized crabapples. They take a bite, a tiny bite, just one tentative bite and then they spit it out and throw their spoils to the trembling streets and sidewalks. They fly through trees that line the streets like handsome, well-groomed, green soldiers. They leap without hesitation from treetop to treetop. They fly through their urban forest, some fly from one side of the street to the other. They know they can and that’s all it takes——the knowing. They do and once they do they never stop flying——the squirrels. Folks pour from out their homes. Some stare in disbelief. Some tentatively patrol the street, surveying the damages from slashes in cement and blacktop. In the middle of the street, directly in front of Shady Sanctum, a sinkhole appears that seemingly could lead to China. Neighbors run back inside their homes to watch the news, hoping for information about this extraordinary phenomenon. Unless it is on the news it didn’t happen.
Was it a bomb? Did it come from Russia? Is it radioactive? MisterDeathtakeshistime,slowlyandhorribly,whenit’sanuke.
“Frackers!” V repeated, “Goddamned motherfucking frackers!”
V and Lily sigh in unison from their watch over the balustrade.
* * *
That didn’t happen it will Max you were warned that wasn’t on purpose what was that it just happened that’s all nothing just happens it does sometimes it does like the Sphincter Island I don’t want to go back you will I may have nodded off from the dough gum you think I suppose pull yourself together Max stop with the dough gum or you could cause serious damage for the future of the planet you’ve got to be joking no I’m not it’s just a quick nap that’s all WAKE UP!
* * *
Nearly two lightyears from Earth, Sumer (a.k.a. planet X), the largest planet in the solar system, was approaching the closest it ever comes to Earth in its orbit around the fringe of the solar system, taking sixty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six Earth-years to complete a single day. All those sixes. Co-incidental numerology; or purposely planned by the Universe to scare off mathematicians and cave dwellers?
Sunlight does not reach Sumer directly. Reflective quixelite crystals float near the edge of Sumer’s atmosphere, collecting the faintest of light from distant stars, magnifying them by trillions, which then provides the illusion of direct sunlight needed to grow the lush patches of food and foliage that color and perfume the scenic landscape of Sumer. It is the illusion of sunlight that matters.