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4.50.01
The same afternoon Marta's mother, who is also Vincent's
mother, left her in command of the household, Vincent's
father, who is also Marta's father, left him in charge
of obedience and collection. Dimitri and Adelina left
Marta and Vincent together before the height of summer
without any more words than could be considered
obligatory. Vincent found in his trouser pocket three
silver coins he'd not remembered stealing from Caroline,
the next-door neighbor, who lived in dresses she
continuously split and stitched together. Marta found
nothing in her front dress pocket, though she did recall
in her mother's notebook, a bank note from one of the
countries Marta created, mapped and never bothered to
populate. Adelina found in her pocket Dimitri's hand and
the semblance of Caroline's needle-sore love notes
traced on his palm.
9.50.01
Dressing as her dead aunt Miriam, Marta often called on
her even older lover Soren for foot massages in the
market on Sunday mornings. The sensuousness of Soren's
hands drew the explicit attention of another man,
Jackson the Stall Guide. Marta was, and still is with
great capacity, passionate for those passionate about
the largest of her toes. "Marta," Soren would heave with
his arms furious. Without returning this look, "I am
Miriam today, you love-fingered imbecile." Miriam, as
was convention, re-conquered her former round of lovers
in small rooms between Soren's work and the churchyard
service.
15.50.01
Caroline was unaware of the advances dental sciences had
taken, so it was curious that the townspeople,
especially those afflicted, returned to her. Caroline,
after all, fancied cracking and pulling to the tedious
ways of explanation. The floorboard collection services
of Emma (age 9) and Dimitri (age 12) did, as opposed to
other offices, keep the patrons' feet well protected
from the nibble of strangers' former teeth. Dimitri
insisted in most cases, of keeping those artifacts
especially large and grotesque, while Emma tucked those
baby angel bites as evidence for the meanest part of
heaven. In months where those afflicted were less so,
Caroline supplemented her finances by selling cubic feet
of the gathered molars and incisors to the foreign
jeweler, Lucian, for his fabulous collection of
bracelets.
18.50.01
In preparation for his audition at The Soren Jackson
Theatre, the seven foot two inch tall Dimitri forced
upon his heart the interpretation that the lead, an
eight-year-old named Miriam, could be played by his
frame. With his belief firm, Dimitri told Caroline, the
director, as much at the precise moment Miriam's lines
to her father Lucian fell straight from his brain.
Caroline's legs, pale and distractingly large, rubbed
together during Dimitri's plea in a way that incited his
leap from the stage to beneath her orchid skirt. For the
remaining auditions and pleas, Dimitri rested
comfortably with Caroline's legs, biting approvingly,
one thigh or the other upon hearing such complements to
his tiny girl voice.
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