valentine

15 February 2003 - 17:22

<<--unravel * reintegrate-->>

"Oh, it's summer camp, not the one I went to, the one I wanted it to be. It's summer camp, and the cabins are clean, and the water in the lake is always the right temperature, and I can swim with grace and ease. It's summer camp, and I met the twin sister I didn't know I had, and I'm blonde, and I know we're going to be together forever now. It's summer camp: can you feel the breeze? What's that in the bottom of the lake? A seahorse."

"I like underwater. I like seahorses. I like cuttlefish. A cuttlefish is like a squid, but it moves differently. It can be any color it wants, polka-dots or bright crimson or a dead gray color. Do you know how a cuttlefish..."

"At summer camp there is a hedgemaze. I don't know who made it, and there are topiary animals in little leafy alcovers. Look, a seahorse. A cuttlefish. But around that corner...oh. Around that corner, a minotaur. It's my perfect labyrinth, and in the middle is a glass house where my friends and I play. We drink tea out of seashells, but look at that shadow against the glass...a minotaur. I think he's holding a key."

"Oh, the way you touch my arm makes me realize we're starfish. This whole night, all these people we saw, these clubs we went to, all that driving, was just a starfish dream. You and I are starfish on the Oregon coast, and the way you're touching me now, it feels like seconds, but each movement takes an hour. We're starfish, dreaming we're on your bed."

"You're my valentine. Hold my hand, valentine. Will you build me a little cat house? With windows and a skylight? You're good at that, at building cat houses? Will you make Kitty curtains? Will there be room for Kitty's ears? Don't forget the skylight..."

"You know, I have this feeling. The only way to say it... Cathedral. Avalanche. I think they're the same word."

<<--unravel * reintegrate-->>