Jedi Academy
The shadow tried to creep in on him very often. He spotted her (for it was a she-shadow- a shedow) shimmering quietly in cheap disguise, on car mirrors in the parking lot. She pretended to be singing to herself in a corner there, here, there again, while he sipped on coffee from a paper cup pretending to have a conversation with a manager. The shedow was so devious in her methods of staying unnoticed that she begged and demanded his full time attention. She was peeking through cracks in the wall in the grocery shop. She wanted to argue on his behalf with a taxi driver long after he had left the greedy taxi in exasperated door banging. The shedow was taking over his life.
The shedow tricked him into doing things he hadn't caught himself doing for long. She held his strings, white and coiled and all tangled up in neat strands hanging from a little wooden cross. She pulled and tugged him into a mad dance- all elbows and knees jutting right left up and down. He could hear her laughter from distances he did not seem capable of judging, like song birds and dark clouds promising rains. He took off the hat and bowed twice in rhythm, when he could.
She made him look around for Joni Mitchell albums from that tumbled down box where his music lay amidst three hundred jewel boxes. Strings, darned strings made him sing along with longing desires to shampoo and proud announcements of drinking capabilities.The shedow fed him books he had moved on from. She promised in silent gestures to read stories for him, between sleep and work hours, at lunch, breakfast and smoke breaks. The stories made no sense. They unraveled at best into confusing words that just wanted him to feel better. They cut like a jangling guitar and mostly starred a nude girl who floated up to space on a fine day, leaving behind a dog, a chess board and a lover boy who was too busy writing her letters to notice that she was looking down at him from far above.
The shedow suggested he stand for election and drew him a mechanical elephant doll as his party mascot. Astute political conversation about imaginary worlds and states and monarchies, steeped in arcane conspiracy theories, filled his newspapers. The letters slipped and slimed in and out, forming jumble word puzzles and comic strips for his reading pleasure.
He caught her darken his shoes now and then, as she climbed up very quietly- slowly like a creeper- a grey brown colourless, darker shade of whatever color his shoe or the light that caught his skin, was. She felt like an icicle but not delicate enough. The shedow was far too happy in her incredible state of being and rapid growth to allow time for subtleties.
Her preferences took over soon. She stacked his shelves with peppermint tea and strawberry honey. She carried in African masks and talismans that one could suppose were made by the Mohenjadaro civilization, if either had existed. She smashed his empty glasses for fun and swept them up quietly into the bin- if he could help a bit, of course. She ordered eggs for breakfast with toast and butter and asked if he liked marshmallow ice cream.
At nights the shedow chose empty spaces to linger in and he could hear her trying to find words to rhyme with blue olive scarlet and floor. The shedow would burst into song at odd times and keep him awake wondering what the dogs could be up to. She introduced into his life, unknown to his free will, a mandolin, a parrot and an eye patch.
One day he figured that if he stepped out into the light at mid day, into thebarren dusty deserted road that stretched nowhere and beyond, he could make the shedow disappear. She could melt, soak off and evaporate and sublimate where possible and travel up and down as wavy little curls. The shedow could drip and weep away, washed off, clambering down in a double helix that was fast disappearing.
Somewhere near the very end of this extremely unscientific process, he gave up and walked back to where he belonged. The shedow was quite happy too, having passed the test. She slipped into his head the next night with her set of poems and eye patch and parrot. He ceased to exist.
The shadow tried to creep in on him very often. He spotted her (for it was a she-shadow- a shedow) shimmering quietly in cheap disguise, on car mirrors in the parking lot. She pretended to be singing to herself in a corner there, here, there again, while he sipped on coffee from a paper cup pretending to have a conversation with a manager. The shedow was so devious in her methods of staying unnoticed that she begged and demanded his full time attention. She was peeking through cracks in the wall in the grocery shop. She wanted to argue on his behalf with a taxi driver long after he had left the greedy taxi in exasperated door banging. The shedow was taking over his life.
The shedow tricked him into doing things he hadn't caught himself doing for long. She held his strings, white and coiled and all tangled up in neat strands hanging from a little wooden cross. She pulled and tugged him into a mad dance- all elbows and knees jutting right left up and down. He could hear her laughter from distances he did not seem capable of judging, like song birds and dark clouds promising rains. He took off the hat and bowed twice in rhythm, when he could.
She made him look around for Joni Mitchell albums from that tumbled down box where his music lay amidst three hundred jewel boxes. Strings, darned strings made him sing along with longing desires to shampoo and proud announcements of drinking capabilities.The shedow fed him books he had moved on from. She promised in silent gestures to read stories for him, between sleep and work hours, at lunch, breakfast and smoke breaks. The stories made no sense. They unraveled at best into confusing words that just wanted him to feel better. They cut like a jangling guitar and mostly starred a nude girl who floated up to space on a fine day, leaving behind a dog, a chess board and a lover boy who was too busy writing her letters to notice that she was looking down at him from far above.
The shedow suggested he stand for election and drew him a mechanical elephant doll as his party mascot. Astute political conversation about imaginary worlds and states and monarchies, steeped in arcane conspiracy theories, filled his newspapers. The letters slipped and slimed in and out, forming jumble word puzzles and comic strips for his reading pleasure.
He caught her darken his shoes now and then, as she climbed up very quietly- slowly like a creeper- a grey brown colourless, darker shade of whatever color his shoe or the light that caught his skin, was. She felt like an icicle but not delicate enough. The shedow was far too happy in her incredible state of being and rapid growth to allow time for subtleties.
Her preferences took over soon. She stacked his shelves with peppermint tea and strawberry honey. She carried in African masks and talismans that one could suppose were made by the Mohenjadaro civilization, if either had existed. She smashed his empty glasses for fun and swept them up quietly into the bin- if he could help a bit, of course. She ordered eggs for breakfast with toast and butter and asked if he liked marshmallow ice cream.
At nights the shedow chose empty spaces to linger in and he could hear her trying to find words to rhyme with blue olive scarlet and floor. The shedow would burst into song at odd times and keep him awake wondering what the dogs could be up to. She introduced into his life, unknown to his free will, a mandolin, a parrot and an eye patch.
One day he figured that if he stepped out into the light at mid day, into thebarren dusty deserted road that stretched nowhere and beyond, he could make the shedow disappear. She could melt, soak off and evaporate and sublimate where possible and travel up and down as wavy little curls. The shedow could drip and weep away, washed off, clambering down in a double helix that was fast disappearing.
Somewhere near the very end of this extremely unscientific process, he gave up and walked back to where he belonged. The shedow was quite happy too, having passed the test. She slipped into his head the next night with her set of poems and eye patch and parrot. He ceased to exist.
