09/23/2025
Moist hands slicked the doorknob with the stinky nectar of fear and uncertainty. The Earth shook with a ferocity never before recorded. Volcanoes dwarfing Vesuvius rose from the quaking ground, each setting a new devastation record before being bested by the next. The room was smoldering, mostly ash by the time the p**s had soaked my shoes enough to clear my throat and turn the handle. I pushed forward, pressing my weight hard against the door, nearly collapsing through to the other side.
Breaking through the looking glass, I find myself in the dojo of tranquility, stomach churning and on the brink of violent regurgitation, yet, a slow calm starts to take over. The magnetic grip of the Lion’s stare. After four or five minutes counting the dimples in the ceiling tile, I meet his gaze with my own. At this point, he’s armed to the teeth. His forehead wrinkled with curiosity and his eyebrows tucked in, he ponders my existence with the gentle benevolence of a superior being. His eyes glow blue-white as he levitates off the faux-leather couch and the deafening hum of his aura shatters my eardrums.
I approach carefully, introducing myself in my native tongue. He seems to recognize the dialect and he relaxes his face muscles. I continue, explaining my history in wet, stuttering detail, momentarily putting him to sleep before reviving him with the shock of his own boredom.
At last, he speaks.
“Okay’, he utters, and the force of a thousand winds throws me many miles.
By the time I hike back, my shoes now ground down to mulch, he is ready with a question, “Can I please have a copy of my performance before I leave tonight?”
My nose streamed with a river of blood and my ears burst into flames; my granular speck brain grinding itself to dust, trying to string together enough pretend words to simulate a response.
I coughed them out, “Well actually, I can send it to you. Not today, to-today no. But yes! In a day, maybe this week? Later this week I can-n. Yes, but not toda-tonight. Do you have an email?”
His eyes burned brighter and his skin grew hot. It was like watching the birth of the Sun.
He turned his head and sneezed into his notebook. “Okay”, he smiled.