“Whose image is on the coin? Then give it to him!” “Yours, Lord; your image!” # Judas kisses Simon Peter, leaving Jesus to found the Church. # A rumor of good free bread results in a disturbance of about 5000 people, authorities estimate. # God wonders if the world has learned the lesson he taught at Sodom and Gomorrah, or if additional lessons are needed. # Jesus attends a conference on “Postcritical Theology and Socio-Political Praxis: … [Read more...]
“The Meeting” / A Memorable Fancy #317
20 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Twelve faceless, identical men sit around a table in a circular room. Everything is white: room, table and chairs, the men themselves, still as mummies. One of these men is me. Which one? If I were to raise my arm, I would know which one is me. All twelve raise their arms; then they lower them. I want to know who I am, and who the others are. I speak. Twelve mummy faces open speechless lips. Air is moved in waves and splashes round the room; then movement dies away. Twelve faceless men sit … [Read more...]
“The Forgetting-Project” / A Memorable Fancy #316
19 April, 2013 by 5 Comments
I did something so awful once, a long time ago, that I want to un-remember it, to un-know it. I went to a psychiatrist last year. He told me to face up to what happened; work through the memory; own it. Repression, he said, is not what I should be doing. But repression is what I’m looking for. The truth isn’t what I want. I don’t need to remember what I did; I’ve remembered that already, time after time. I can’t get it out of my head. Now I just want to remember something else, anything … [Read more...]
“Carousel Number Three” / A Memorable Fancy #315
18 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
An alarm bell rings. Robert Morgan jumps from its suddenness; the sound clatters against his quiet thoughts. Carousel number three starts up with lurches, rattles, and a scrape of belts. Luggage from Flight 760 begins to pour and bump onto the moving belt as passengers subtly jostle for position near the baggage-disgorging mouth. He waits. The belt stops. His own luggage has not yet appeared. After a few minutes the belt starts up again. More bags appear, pushing and … [Read more...]
“‘We sing what happened'” / A Memorable Fancy #314
17 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
We sing what happened; music makes it real for us. Once there were great battles and only our ballads recall them. We sing to each other of brave warriors and ships covering the sea, shouting men, glints of spears, the men’s first glimpse of the walls, those high walls that reached to the sky and could never be thrown down, never scaled, never breached by intrigue. Our warriors came home in despair, but we do not sing of things as real as this. <END> … See … [Read more...]
“Jane Looks Ahead” / A Memorable Fancy #313
16 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In the 1970s, when Jane Melton was in college, she became interested in futurology. At first, this kind of crystal-balling was just a hobby, but she gradually dedicated her life to the study of the future, and became an expert. She authored several popular books and numerous scholarly papers. Her Wikipedia entry, highly flattering, was actually written by someone she didn’t know. By the 2000’s, however, Melton had become concerned that her predictions were impossibly accurate. Now … [Read more...]
“An Economy of Dreams – VII” / A Memorable Fancy #312
15 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
[Neuroscientists find a way to record dreams as the dreamer experienced them.] Dream-snooping is considered bad form unless done by university psychology departments (as part of a government-funded scientific experiment, of course), or by the FBI. The only technical issue standing in the way of all your dreams being posted on Dreambook or Blather, or used as evidence against you, is that the dream-snoop has to be within 24 inches of your head while you’re asleep, or the dream will be too … [Read more...]
“The Signs” / A Memorable Fancy #311
14 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Signs appeared on a vacant lot proclaiming that a new development would soon arise there, no trespassing (signed) God. But then nothing happened. The signs grew old, rusted. We dared not build in that place, in hope or fear that God would return. Now, as to the signs God has placed in us as well: We dare not appropriate these either, even though we grow old, rust. <END> … See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His book, At All Adventure: An … [Read more...]
“The Regional Flight Departs” / A Memorable Fancy #310
13 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Passengers were strapped in securely, engines started up. “This is your captain,” the captain said. “We’re fourth in line for takeoff. I’ll be back to you once we’re airborne with lots of irrelevant chatter intended to take your mind off the fact that if God had intended us to fly he would have joined the Air Force! – That’s a joke, folks, ‘cause this is a folksy airline. And we’ll have games and puzzles for you just as soon as we’re pretty sure we won’t be crashing today.” <END> … … [Read more...]
“The Overnight Flight Arrives” / A Memorable Fancy #309
12 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Sleepy men and women rise from their seats, bend and straighten legs and backs, wrestle carry-ons from overhead bins. A few bags are always just the right size to go in but too big to pull out without savage, epic struggles after which the carry-on, finally acknowledging defeat, suddenly pops out directly toward the head of its intended victim. It is secretly pleased that its master had to invoke the muttered curses of a vengeful god in order to achieve the desired result. … [Read more...]
“A Problem with Death” / A Memorable Fancy #308
11 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The dead are aggrieved at the shabby treatment they’re getting, and annoyed because they can’t do anything about it. Not being bodiless – they expected that. But floating immaterially through the world forever, they’re bound once in a while to hear their name mentioned, or find some slighting reference to them in a database. Sometimes they find outright lies, as in old personnel evaluations or speeding tickets or what their ex-wives texted to their friends. Even kind things spoken or … [Read more...]
“Finders” / A Memorable Fancy #299
2 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Some people just lose track of everything. “Have you seen my…?” is a cliché. It would be unfair to call these people “Losers,” as that word isn’t normally applied to people who merely can’t find their car keys in the morning. Perhaps “Weepers” will do. There are other people, however, whom we can fairly call “Finders.” A Finder knows where your car keys are, makes fun of you because you have no idea that you left them on the bathroom counter, while she knew all along where they were, knew … [Read more...]
“The Parallel Life” / A Memorable Fancy / #298
1 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
[“Had I another life! Another lifetime! … Or, what is better, a parallel life. Simultaneous with this.” – Joyce Carol Oates] It’s like having an identical twin, y’know, or a clone; my parallel life, I mean. But that’s not quite it: it’s my parallel self, alright, but it’s not really me. Pete-2’s done quite a few things I haven’t and vice versa, after the big split – that happened the day he took that transfer to Atlanta and I turned it down. I hadn’t married yet back then, and it was … [Read more...]
Memorable Fancies 