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StoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 12 Back at Skara BraeYou get mixed up in stories and legends and soon you can’t distinguish them from facts anymore, because history and legend are uninterrupted threads twining through the fabric of time, and the events’ meanings connect across centuries, as if they are all a part of a greater whole we could see if we lived long enough. How long is long enough, Fiona? Although I shouldn’t ask you, should I?
In all the times I dreamt of you, I’ve never seen you old, my princess. I can’t see past that fateful day whose menace prompted y...2024-03-1408 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 11 - East Over Water I FaredI stopped by the church yesterday and the mystery of the black tombstones was explained: the graveyard experienced a massive fire, yet the church was unharmed, not even a speck of smoke or soot.
I bet you’d be asking yourself right now, Fiona, how does one set stone on fire, and you’d be right. The priest couldn’t explain it either, hence the miracle designation of the phenomenon. It happened so long ago no written records of it remained, and oral history can be very imaginative in these parts. It’s hard to separate truth from fan...2024-03-0608 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 10 - Saint Magnus’ BonesIt feels like everything in Orkney is made of stone, meant to last forever, and that includes the old stonework of Saint Magnus’ Cathedral.
The structure is Romanesque, and austere, with heavy, sturdy pillars built of red sandstone masonry, the kind it takes four people to surround, a strange stone forest again, built by the hands of men.
I returned to the cathedral because the heritage society documents suggested it housed more human remains than that of the saint, and when I saw you playing with the bones, Fiona, I thought this could lead to ne...2024-02-2906 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 9 Entering the EarthYou sent me a dream when I was a child, Fiona, one of those weird dreams you don’t share, especially at that age, when nothing matters to you in the world, other than pleasing your parents.
I couldn’t forget it, though, like I can’t forget any of my other dreams about you. Those dreams, they feel so real! So real! Like a second life unfolding, independent of this one.
In the dream, I saw you standing in front of a green mound, smiling; it was summer, and you wore a white dress, held a...2024-02-2208 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 8 - SouterrainsThe four-day festival was approaching the end, and after my friend’s departure I figured I’d better head back to Kirkwall and see if I can find more puzzle pieces for my study, but I just couldn’t face the stones again. Not yet.
I headed north instead, not really sure about the destination, and followed the road until it reached the shore.
Living on an island offers one the unique experience of being bound by a circular water line: no matter what direction you travel in, you are soon stopped by the edge of the...2024-02-1707 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 7 Charon’s Boat”You shouldn’t leave Stromness before you visit Hoy,” the lady at the front desk suggested with a motherly demeanor which tried to restore my sunny outlook on life, now sunk by the sudden circumstance through which I found myself alone again.
She smiled encouragingly, and pointed towards the pier, to the approaching ferry.
“Hurry up, now. If you rush, you can get there before it leaves.”
She nodded approvingly in response to my befuddled expression, and I obeyed her suggestion without too much mental struggle.
There were only a few people on t...2024-02-0604 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 6 - Talking to the OldLife looked a lot cruder in the harsh light of the morning, even though the festival performances continued through the day, and the city was bathed in the unmistakable humid scent of spring.
I met my new friend in the lobby and we walked through the narrow streets, sometimes so narrow a person could barely pass through, braving the rain and listening to the music in silence, like an understanding between us, and ended up huddled at the cafe on the pier, hungry and tired, looking forward to a toasty sandwich and a hot cup of coffee.2024-01-3109 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 5 - A Stonehenge StoryThe entire city was caught up in the preparations for the Folk Festival, so I had to postpone my visit to the heritage society, whose normal hours were restricted for the duration.
I gave myself the excuse there is nothing for me to do anyway, so I might as well drive back to Stromness and enjoy the performances.
I stopped at the Stones of Stenness this time, Fiona, trying to find a reference we share. They are 5000 years old, and they must have felt just as old in your day as they do in mine...2024-01-2707 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona Chapter 4 - Old DragonsI ended up back at Saint Magnus’ Cathedral, with my nose buried in the old records, strangely comforted by the smell of old ink. It is amazing, really, the church’s archives go back centuries! After a few hours of being fully immersed in the lives and the trades of the people of old, you forget what century you’re in; you lose track of time altogether.
Marriages, home deeds, conflict resolutions, old public announcements, the births of children.
This is what time really looks like, reading the birth announcements of people who passed out of exi...2024-01-1908 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 3 - The Broch of BirsayThe car trip to the Brough of Birsay led me through treeless landscapes, shy and soft in the sunshine, and filled with the bright smiles of wildflowers, a poem in white, rose, purple and green, laid down as scenery by a benevolent god.
I stood beside them, with the wind in my face, trying to remember an older time, as if I’d been there before. But maybe those were your memories, Fiona, not mine. Maybe that’s what the stones are for, repositories of memories, remembering the fingers of all who had touched them.
I wa...2024-01-1107 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 2 - Alone in KirkwallI used to see this sea wall in my dreams. You can’t imagine how weird it feels to look at it in real life! I’m not really sure I’m awake right now, Fiona. There is an elusive threshold of weirdness and serendipity past which we stop believing anything is real, a madness of sorts, a sweet, addictive madness.
Ever since I was awarded this research grant to explore your life and times, I'm in disbelief, constantly questioning what I'm seeing in this taffy-like reality that shifts and changes its colors with the slightest tug.
...2024-01-0711 minStoriesMy Dear Fiona - Chapter 1 - My Dear FionaThere are things we don’t talk about, and they weigh heavily on our souls. Who decided they don’t matter? Life is like virgin land. It only surrenders its bounty after we drench it in our sweat, tears, and blood.
People squander their lives, energy, and purpose as if they don’t value themselves enough to live for real, instead choosing to take a backseat and yield the spotlight to some higher power which, based on the results, doesn’t care about them too much.
While I’m writing to you, Fiona, I’m gazing at th...2023-12-2803 minStoriesThe Library - Tenth StoryThe authorities of Yavapai County had been looking into by a series of disappearances, going all the way back to 1965, when the leader of an archaeological team, Jack Mattingly, vanished without a trace from the excavation site.
His disappearance was followed by several others, seven people in total, all males in their fifties, sharing an academic background.
The police investigation into the missing persons cases has been frustrated by a series of natural phenomena, possibly related to an anomaly in the local magnetic field which rendered electronic equipment and even old-fashioned compasses useless.
...2023-12-2105 minStoriesThe Library - Ninth StoryGwen dragged her feet through the desert, walking behind No. 5 to the tequila barrel, when she noticed what looked like the corner of a trap door barely covered by dirt.
She stopped to get a closer look and by the time No. 5 noticed her absence; he was too far to stop her from sweeping off the dust to uncover it.
“Hey,” she waved at him. “Hey! Over here! I found something.”
“Leave it alone, Gwen, it’s getting late, we need to get back.”
“It’s a door!” She said emphatically.
“We don’t have...2023-12-0814 minStoriesThe Library - Eighth Story‘That’s pretty,’ she thought when she picked up the little transparent pebble. Its deep red gleam looked spirited in the bright light of the sun; it felt warm to the touch, and despite its heaviness, reminded her of amber.
She sat down on one of the flat rocks at the end of the white pebble path to study it at length, turning it on all sides, trying to figure out what it was and how it got there. It wasn’t larger than an acorn and if she didn’t know any better, she’d have thought it w...2023-12-0214 minStoriesThe Library - Seventh Story“Would you say she passed?” No. 4 asked No. 5. They both evaluated Gwen with critical looks, like project managers running through a punch list at the end of a project.
“I don’t know. What other tests do you think we could run?” No. 5 replied. “Call No. 1, he might have some logical routines to run her through we didn’t think about.”
Gwen smiled, insecure.
She was feeling very self-conscious in the face of this evaluation process, which made her feel like a product.
“What’s up with you guys?” She said, eventually. “Pass? Pass...2023-11-2415 minStoriesThe Library - Sixth StoryDuring her morning walk, Gwen was surprised to notice one of the large boulders behind the house, in the place where she usually gathered the eggs every evening, was missing.
Its empty spot looked unnaturally hard and flat, and upon closer observation, Gwen noticed, to her great bewilderment, that it was a poured concrete foundation.
“Oh,” No. 7 spoke from behind her, “I see they finally took it for repairs. I thought they were going to put that off until it completely crumbled.”
“Who’s they?” Gwen asked, feeling like she’d just fallen on her head....2023-11-2114 minStoriesThe Library - Fifth Story“What do you mean, I don’t understand,” Gwen mumbled.
“Well,” No. 6 responded, “we know you went to Sunday school at some point, and have been taught this. Rejoice, you were chosen.”
“Chosen for what?” Gwen jumped to her feet.
“Just chosen. How lucky are you?” No. 1 joined the conversation. “Why aren’t you happy?”
“Is this improv? Is it?” She looked around for a telltale glance. “Are we veering off the Greek tragedy sensibility and venturing into the fantasy genre?”
“Gwen,” No. 4 approached her, with his usual kindness. “Please believe them. They are telling you...2023-11-0414 minStoriesThe Library - Fourth Story“Ok, class, remember what we talked about, everybody must stay together now, we’re going to visit the archeological dig, you can take pictures for your scrapbook but always stay on the path,” Mr. Deerfield raised his voice above the unruly group who moved around him, agitated, like a tiny Lilliputian army.
‘Breathe, man,’ he told himself, already baking in the unforgiving desert sun. ‘Just breathe. We’re all going to be fine. All you need to do today is bring all the kiddos back home in one piece. She’s crazy, and she’s going to end us all one day...2023-10-2712 minStoriesThe Library - Third Story“What was that?” Gwen lost her footing, surprised as she was by the unexpected appearance.
“Just keep walking, you’ll be fine,” No. 7’s usual rotten mood soured further, if that were even possible.
Gwen didn’t want to get him started and have to listen to hours and hours of ranting about idiocy generously seasoned with phrases in languages she didn’t understand, but the sight, if real, was too shocking to leave unanswered.
“If I didn’t know any better, I swear I saw…”
“Oh, shut up, will you?” No. 7 turned around, with hi...2023-10-2214 minStoriesThe Library - Second StoryThe smoke was so thick Gwen couldn’t gather herself enough to understand where she was at first. She could feel the gentle touch of her guide’s hands on her shoulders, but she was still deep inside an inner world she couldn’t bear to leave.
The contours of the house, so familiar to her by now, began to dissolve, putting her into a deep panic, no doubt enhanced by the effects of her ‘traveling’ tea.
“Gwen,” a voice as if from very far away enticed her, “you have to come back now, return to your life, to...2023-10-1414 minStoriesThe Library - First Story“Do you believe her?” Jen whispered to Ted, eyeing the young woman with the gaze of a skeptic. She’d been a ranger for fifteen years, and during this time she’d heard her share of tall tales, although, she had to admit, not one that could hold a candle to this gals’.
Really? That was the best lie the woman could come up with? That she got lost in the desert and spent an untold number of years living with a mysterious philosopher colony?
Even as feral as she looked, with matted hair and dressed in d...2023-10-0715 minStoriesThe Library - Intermission“Where are we on Act II?”
“We’re still considering options.”
“Do I need to remind you it’s two months to curtain? What options? We need Act II!”
“And do I have splendid news for you! We opened it to the public and sponsored a contest, which was very well received. We have thousands of scenarios! I’m telling you we should do this more often.”
“You opened it to the public!” The director got instantly aggravated. “So every Tom, Dick and Harry can opine? What for do I need you, then?”
“Don’t ge...2023-09-3007 minStoriesThe Library - Twelfth Scene“Whatever possessed you to do that?” No. 6 asked Gwen, with an appalled look on his face. The storm clouds had started gathering on the horizon, darkening the sky in the middle of the day to a dusky, stark intensity.
Here and there thick ropes of lighting put out a spectacular display, made even more impactful by the contrast with the gloomy background.
“Do what?” Gwen replied, and the puzzled expression on her face confirmed she had absolutely no idea what the fuss was about.
“You broke it!”
Gwen looked around and wondered what...2023-09-2211 minStoriesThe Library - Eleventh Scene“What’s up?” No. 1 climbed on top of the flat boulder where Gwen had retired in search of solitude. To anybody else, she would have looked like she was meditating, but not to him.
They were sitting cross-legged, a good height above the desert, and from their elevated viewpoint, they enjoyed the beautiful panorama of it at dusk.
Gwen put a long pregnant pause between the question and the answer, one which, to be sure, would have garnered applause in any theatrical performance, and then declaimed, with the pathos only afforded to the young.
“Wha...2023-09-1411 minStoriesThe Library - Tenth SceneThe next morning the room was an appalling mess: every object in it had been moved from its place. There were empty cups and glasses everywhere and above it all, the chickens roamed, agitated and making a racket.
‘It’s not even Tuesday,’ was the first thought that popped in Gwen’s head, and she examined it with detachment, surprised at how different one’s habitual thought patterns became to fit the context.
That connecting Tuesdays with chickens was not in the range of thought processes sane people accepted proved to her the psychological normal was not a m...2023-09-0711 minStoriesThe Library - Ninth SceneLife doesn’t give you time to actually look at it except during extraordinary circumstances.
It’s in those gaps, those experiences that don’t fit, that you see its inherent strangeness.
You notice then that things are never clean cut: the laws of physics have exceptions, moral imperatives have exceptions, even life and death have exceptions.
One doesn’t see that when things are normal, whatever that means, within the range of possibility, and one forgets that very unlikely outcomes are well within the range possibility as well.
We understand freedom as...2023-09-0111 minStoriesThe Library - Eighth Scene“How did you end up here?” she asked No. 5, in a daze, realizing the inappropriate nature of the question before she had the time to call it back. It was no business of hers how these men ended up in the middle of the desert, enacting classic tragedies in the original Greek, and she would have been offended if they questioned her choices.
In fact, she wouldn’t have known how to answer such a question. People always like to believe they have reasons for doing things, and were they to explain themselves, they would gladly volunteer the lo...2023-08-2611 minStoriesThe Library - Seventh Scene“Sit down,” No. 5 ordered, “you’re late for class.”
‘What class?’ Gwen looked around and saw everybody was sitting in a semicircle around the speaker, ostensibly to attend class.
“Just sit!” No. 5 rolled his eyes, displeased by the time wasting.
No. 4 and No. 1 scooted over to make room for her. By means unknown, someone had produced a notepad and a pencil, sharpened to a fine point, and the two implements were now getting passed around the group until they reached her.
“What exactly am I supposed to do with these?” she whispered towards No...2023-08-1812 minStoriesThe Library - Sixth SceneThe crickets were loud in the night air, Gwen never realized there were so many insects in the desert, and their combined noise was loud enough to pierce through the gasps of the fire and the monotonous rhythm of the conversation, slowed down by the smokes and the tequila.
No. 4 wielded a stick with which he kept poking at the fire, absentminded, and he looked as if he had retreated into a world of his own, the world behind his eyes, to ponder on the mysteries of existence undisturbed. He smiled a sibylline smile into the distance...2023-08-1111 minStoriesThe Library - Fifth SceneThe purpose of the serenity path finally made itself clear a couple of mornings later when Gwen woke up very early to find No. 1 meditating at its end, perfectly at peace.
One would have assumed he was watching the sunrise, but a closer look revealed he was gazing way farther than that, through the sunrise into another reality, shielded from perception by the limitations of our senses.
An even closer look revealed he wasn’t even there.
His animating force was still occupying his body, breathing his lungs and beating his heart, but his c...2023-08-0711 minStoriesThe Library - Fourth SceneThe next morning Gwen awoke to a sustained but orderly shuffling of boots, bags and paraphernalia and watched in bewilderment how the seven were quietly preparing for what looked like a military campaign.
They looked serious and none of them was speaking, which rose Gwen’s anxiety to panic levels. She didn’t dare ask what they were doing.
No. 5 spoke eventually.
“Are you coming?”
“Where are you going?”
“Fishing.”
“In the middle of the desert?”
No. 5 pointed to the creek in the valley. Its waters looked murky...2023-07-1611 minStoriesThe Library - Third SceneWhen Gwen was awakened by the chill of the desert night, she found herself in an empty house, dead quiet except for the eerie clinking of the bead curtains.
The quiet of the desert reaches beyond silence; it preempts the emergence of sounds, like an anechoic chamber.
In the desert, one only hears two things: the wind and total silence.
She tried to go back to sleep, but her three nights in the desert had conditioned her to a different sleeping schedule. The empty house felt creepy at night, with no light and n...2023-07-0811 minStoriesThe Library - Second Scene“Welcome, light of the Sun, the fairest/ Sun that ever has dawned upon/ Thebes, the city of seven gates!”
‘What in God’s name is this racket?’ Gwen jumped out of her made shift sleeping accommodation on the couch to watch a glorious sunrise accompanied by what sounded very much like an ancient Greek chorus.
“Sophocles,” a soft voice replied, so close she could feel its breath on her ear. She jumped off the couch and turned to face her morning companion.
“Antigone,” he clarified. “We haven’t been introduced, I’m No. 8.”
“Gwen. Whitman.” ...2023-06-2811 minStoriesThe Library - First SceneShe’d been walking through the desert all night. She figured it was better to walk at night, despite the cold; at least she wouldn’t get fried to a crisp in a place with no shade.
One could say Gwen was experiencing an existential crisis and was trying to find herself, even though she was only twenty-four and the middle of her road was so far into the distance she wouldn’t get a glimpse of it for another couple of decades.
Regardless, she was indulging what she perceived to be her dark night of the...2023-06-1710 minStoriesFair- Chapter 31 DenouementThe meeting room of the Council Hall was filled with the electricity of anticipation but eerily quiet, as if the solemnity of the event muffled the usual banter and pleasantries. A request for a full plenum from Mrs. Eberhart was a rare occurrence, and even if quite a few of the ladies of the Circle knew what the meeting was about, they were still somewhat nervous about the details.
Mrs. Eberhart stood up and walked to the podium, waiting the customary minute or two for the room to settle down, a pause completely unnecessary now, given the...2023-06-1010 minStoriesFair - Chapter 30 - A Maze of Twisty Little Passages All AlikeThe following Wednesday Giselle showed up at Lucille’s house for a nice cup of tea and a lengthy demonstration of her new embroidery pattern. The table in Lucille’s drawing room got covered quickly with bits of yarn, several types of canvas, scissors and pads of paper covered with sewing motifs, wristband pincushions, thimbles, cups and saucers, a teapot, a sugar bowl, a plate of cookies, still warm, and two tablets, one of which was Giselle’s, finally restored to proper functioning.
After a few hours the crewel technique was mastered and Giselle left, tablet in basket...2023-06-0209 minStoriesFair - Chapter 29 - The Life and Times of Mary Coulter, Born Fair“So,” Lucille said casually, “I hear that our safely guarded secret school is the talk of the Village!”
Mary looked at her with genuine bewilderment.
“Giselle told me all about it yesterday over a cup of tea. Oh, by the way, could you ask somebody to figure out how to make this work? She left it with me to get looked at,” Lucille pulled the tablet out of the basket and set it on the table.
“How did she find out about this?” Mary asked, and a fleeting flash of fear shrouded her eyes.
Luci...2023-05-2607 minStoriesFair - Chapter 28 CrewelworkAfter many months with only an impressive collection of desert artifacts to show for, Rosemary and her team were called back by the Council, despite clamorous protests and, on occasion, veiled threats. Every time she had to go to a meeting, Rosemary got into the habit of carrying around an object or other from the collection, which she liked to parade around the room as a symbol of her righteous outrage.
“There is no hope for the Village anymore. You just destroyed our last chance to uproot evil from our midst once and for all!” she raised her...2023-05-2008 minStoriesFair - Chapter 27 - ArchetypeThe more Mary delved into the recovery of the database the more she became tangled in the old story buried inside it, almost as if her own memories were finally brought back to life. At times she felt as if she had awakened from a long sleep and found herself in a room she recognized without knowing why.
She had learned enough of the old code to understand that the Que’d held technical instructions, not the story of her ancestors, and she was a little disappointed about that. After all the secrecy and the sacrifices that ke...2023-05-1312 minStoriesFair - Chapter 26 About FlightIn all fairness, Mary was banished indeed. The makeshift team at the rock mound spared no effort in setting up means to detect her presence, if and when she decided to approach the apparently agreed upon meeting place and look for her aunt. Every day a small group of ladies took it upon themselves to check all the tracking markers, only to notice that their condition always changed. The wind, the rain, the little creatures of the desert trampled them over in their comings and goings, oblivious to the interests and goals of the humans and answering only to...2023-05-0507 minStoriesFair - Chapter 25 AloudIn the agitation created by the events that surrounded the search for Mary the Circle almost forgot about the cursed poppy experiment, and was only reminded of it when the second generation of plants emerged and bloomed even bluer than the first. Mrs. Eberhart shrugged at the sight of the field donning the color of the sky, irritated that the Council had wasted her time again with superstitious nonsense.
“When are we going to be rid of this curse already?” Rosemary clamored, displeased that the plan she was contemplating in her mind, the one where even the memor...2023-04-2808 minStoriesFair - Chapter 24 A Night in the DesertLater that day Lucille prepared a basket of food, like she did every evening, not forgetting Mary’s favorite cookies, fresh out of the oven, waited for the night to fall and stepped out into the desert quietly, careful not to attract attention.
She walked without noise through the soft, powdery sand, under the stars that shone so bright they cast shadows around the dunes and brightened the desert night enough to light her path. She stopped at times, to put the basket down, sighed in response to her thoughts and then continued on her way. She wa...2023-04-2107 minStoriesFair - Chapter 23 Himalayan PoppiesThe cleansing ceremony in the desert came and went with no consequences, which was a little disappointing for Rosemary, who was hoping for some sort of vindication of her beliefs. Weeks passed, then months. The girls were as tired as always, but finally figured out ways to keep out of sight and thus managed to rest at least long enough to prevent themselves from falling asleep in company.
Life in the village continued virtually the same, and if one wasn’t intimately familiar with its daily intricacies, one wouldn’t have felt the subtle shifts in attitude or i...2023-04-1409 minStoriesFair - Chapter 22 Workshop“May I have your attention, please?” Lucille cast her voice over the audience, and the murmurs and shuffles subsided. “Is everybody here?” she scanned the cave to make sure all the girls had made it inside, safe and unnoticed. When she was reassured that they were all there, she continued.
“Before class starts, I don’t think I need to reiterate the importance of keeping this knowledge to ourselves, at least for the time being. I’m sure the reasons why don’t require explaining.” A soft wave of discomfort weaved through the gathering and quickly subsided, as they recalled t...2023-04-0710 minStoriesFair - Chapter 21 Ancestral Wisdom and CholesterolIt’s been said that nothing happens on this earth without leaving traces of its passing. Sometimes those come in material form, through the testimony of even the most mundane objects, other times through the subtle changes in behavior, and taking upon a different way to see the world.
The lessons in the cave didn’t get lost on the girls’ hearts and minds, how can one discover an entirely new world and stay the same? They were more confident in their strange compliance, and completely unafraid. If there was one thing in the world that incensed Rosema...2023-03-3110 minStoriesFair - Chapter 20 A History of Bits and PiecesThe cave was sealed at dawn, with a very tired Lucille gazing at the endeavor in a sour mood, irritated by the fact that now she had to walk another fifteen minutes around the hill to the next entrance.
Rosemary directed the activities with almost ceremonial gestures, pleased to have won this epic battle over the Que’d and unaware of the fact that she’d already lost the war. When the Circle was finished dumping large boulders at the entrance of the cave and the large cloud of dust started to settle, the place looked so barr...2023-03-2409 minStoriesFair - Chapter 19 Spider Silk World“Aah, Lucille!” Rosemary pinned her under an icy stare. “How nice of you to finally join us, dear! We were starting to worry that you might have gotten lost on the way here,” she commented, her sarcastic comment well padded by a sweetness that almost made Lucille gag. Since Lucille lived two blocks down from the Council Hall, the insinuation that she might not be all there didn’t escape anyone in the Circle.
“Don’t you worry about me, darling,” Lucille retorted, in an even colder tone of voice. “If I need advice on how tie my shoes, I’ll be...2023-03-1714 minStoriesFair - Chapter 18 A Painting in the CloudsLucille returned after dark, and to her shock, she found the new cave completely transformed: a console had been installed, as promised, but also furniture, personal accommodations and storage modules. She saw what looked like a kitchen towards the back of the cave and set down the basket of food on the table.
Mary wasn't there, and Lucille started to panic, prompting the one in the mirror to provide an explanation.
“There is an underground stream two caves down, Mary got bored and went to get some fresh water. We thought she would be more co...2023-03-1007 minStoriesFair - Chapter 17 The One in the Mirror“Answer him, girl!” Mrs. Gentry prodded a very confused Mary, whose young heart oscillated between shame and terror. “Mary! Her name is Mary!” the lady clarified.
“Who are you?” the grumpy guy retorted bluntly, making Mrs. Gentry recoil with indignation.
“I believe it's untoward for you to address me, given that we're not related, nor have we been properly introduced,” she protested, ready to leave.
“Suit yourself!” the man cut her off. “I only care about the girl anyway.”
“Jim!” the other man protested. “Would it kill you to be nice?”
“She wasn't supposed to be involved...2023-03-0308 minStoriesFair - Chapter 16 Blood Spell“Now what!?” Mary thought.
“Oh, I knew it! I just knew it! It had to be!” Lucille couldn't contain her excitement, and all of a sudden she looked much younger, an echo from the care free days of her girlhood, when, much like her niece, she was willing to take on the world, no holds barred.
“Do you think we can order the mirror to do things?” Mary asked.
“Probably,” Lucille said thoughtfully, “if we knew how... Did you make any progress with understanding the language?” she turned towards her niece.
“Not really,” the girl confess...2023-02-2408 minStoriesFair - Chapter 15 The End TimesLucille and Mary spent the following week trying to learn more about what the mirror could do. There was one aspect of this endeavor that none of them could shake: as exciting as it was to communicate with the magical object, the Que'd manuscript beckoned from the chest where it had been carefully stashed, wrapped in linen and strewn with lavender buds to ward off the moths.
Lucille couldn't let go of the thought that the truth remained hidden somewhere underneath that black water the playful symbols were floating on, the way sunken treasures sleep undisturbed in...2023-02-1908 minStoriesFair - Chapter 14 Mirror in the Council Hall“I think I speak for everybody when I say that bringing this curse into the Council Hall is a disrespectful and irresponsible act one hoped not to expect from a member of your standing!” Rosemary hissed at Lucille, who had just walked in, holding the object of contention.
“Naturally,” she thought, “who else would be the first to find out about the black mirror but our sweet Rosemary! On second thought, I wonder how she knew what I was holding?”
2023-02-1207 minStoriesFair - Chapter 13 Black MirrorUnderstanding the old language became increasingly challenging over time, and the hopes of making heads or tails of it diminished, even for Mary, who, despite the unfortunate circumstances of her birth was an unbridled optimist. She spent endless nights, risking her aunt's chastising, trying to decipher the meaning of the fragments they had translated, and it felt more and more like trying to mend an intricate tapestry after it had been torn to shreds, its big picture forever lost.
A puzzle with a million pieces, no two alike, without recognizable match lines, color themes or continuing patterns...2023-02-0809 minStoriesFair - Chapter 12 Mirror EnchantmentsThe cave find became the focus of attention for the entire village. Their community hadn't had anything exciting to talk about since most of its members could remember, and the discovery of something both fascinating and inaccessible kept everybody on the edge of their seats with anticipation.
Public discussions about mirrors became so commonplace that even Mrs. Gentry gave up protesting eventually. “One can't squelch public curiosity, especially that of young people, it's a sad state of fact,” she thought, sighing with nostalgia for the good old days when even a mention of mirrors or reflections would immed...2023-01-2908 minStoriesFair - Chapter 11 - A Friend from the Past“We're never going to figure this out,” Lucille said, dejected. “Not only don't I know most of the words' equivalents, but I don't understand their meaning, either. Even the short sentences I translated make absolutely no sense to me. What on earth is ‘meta property vr canonical content’? Why are we doing this?” she looked at Mary, exasperated. The girl, as always, donned a perplexed gaze.
The look in her niece's eyes helped Lucille remember that time allocation for this research had been recommended by the Circle, and as such, she didn't need to justify it to herself.
2023-01-2308 minStoriesFair - Chapter10 ContentThe Circle meeting was quite boring, filled with organizational issues and the usual polite gossip. Lucille found it hard to pay attention to things she'd been hearing for decades, especially now when she was on pins and needles, filled with curiosity over the contents of the Que'd.
She was lost in thought, trying to make sense of the few words she managed to recall from her childhood, words that jumped at her from the ancient writing. For all intents and purposes, the text was as obscure as an abstract painting, and the fact that she couldn't read...2023-01-1608 minStoriesFair - Chapter 9 - A Walk at Dawn'Great mercy, it's all here! Oh, girl, what have you uncovered!' Lucille thought, turning apprehensive eyes towards Mary, to see if her niece had any idea about the importance of her finding. It only took one glance to ascertain that Mary knew she was holding the long lost copy of the Que'd.
They looked at each other for a while, in a tacit understanding that any knowledge driven from the precious tome will never pass their lips. Finally Lucille decided to comment.
“What a strange thing, you know, with all of this resurgence of the...2023-01-0908 minStoriesFair - Chapter 8 The Que’d“What is the Scholars' line, aunt Lucille?” Mary asked, braving her aunt's stormy looks.
The room was quiet for a few moments. Normally Lucille would have chastened the uncouth youth for asking such an impertinent question, but under the circumstances it dawned on her that the spirit of cooperation might bring to the surface details that her niece would otherwise not think of sharing with her. She answered.
“It's our family line, dear. Way back when the Book of Prophecy was written, some of the members of the council were in disagreement, they insisted the Circle...2023-01-0408 minStoriesFair - Chapter 7 PalimpsestDespite Lucille's constant rebukes Mary became fascinated with the story of the Prophecy and didn't miss a chance to sneak up into the attic and read it again and again, until she learned its unpleasant contents by heart. It gave her a strange feeling, this story about her, written generations before she'd been born, the script of her life. It didn't even make her bitter anymore, just filled her with intense curiosity and a weird sense of control over her own future, for if one doesn't know the script to one's life, however vexing it happens to be, one...2022-12-2609 minStoriesFair - Chapter 6 The Book of ProphecyAfter the council meeting ended, Lucille skipped the usual tea and cookies and headed straight home. She made a beeline for the attic where she opened an old coffer, covered with a thick layer of dust. Its contents were arranged with great care, like one would for long term safe-keeping, breakable items interspersed with delicate linen and fabrics protected from moths and mildew with shards of cedar and lavender buds.
2022-12-1607 minStoriesFair - Chapter 5 The Ladies’ CircleNothing in society exceeds the speed of gossip. By the time Lucille arrived to the Council Hall, its usually quiet chambers were buzzing like a beehive. All the ladies were there, a feat that hadn’t happened in decades, and the animated conversation subsided suspiciously upon Lucille’s arrival.
2022-12-1108 minStoriesFair - Chapter 4 Mirror-Mirror"Why is it wrong, aunt Lucille? What's so wrong about knowing what you look like?" she stared at her aunt, giving the latter the chills.
“Those eyes could keep a person awake at night,” Lucille shuddered, “I can't get used to them, no matter how innocent she is, so help me! She knows, the imp, how could she possibly know?” Lucille looked for a reasonable explanation for the mirror ban, but couldn't come up with anything that stood to reason. The rule had always seemed absurd to her too, but it had never been open to discussion; the council...2022-12-0309 minStoriesFair - Chapter 3 Matching WitsAs predicted, a couple of the most involved members of the ladies' circle showed up at Lucille's door within hours, with appropriately concerned looks on their faces and spelling trouble from a distance. Lucille crushed a few choice words between her teeth and remembered to smile. She sometimes wished that the mores of their society allowed women to express frustration in the same care free and irreverent way men did, but alas, she was a lady, and ladies never lost their composure. She took a deep breath to let irritation settle down, raised her chin and opened the door.2022-11-2510 minStoriesFair - Chapter 2 The Fire MaidenMary arrived home before the break of dawn. She tried to make as little noise as possible, knowing full well that she couldn't bypass aunt Lucille's superhuman scrutiny. The old lady had the senses and instincts of a mountain lion. As expected, her great-aunt was waiting for her in the kitchen, seated at the table with a prayer book in one hand and a handkerchief in the other, in order to press the point that her ailing old body had a very hard time coping with Mary's lapses in discipline.
She hadn't been crying, of course, because...2022-11-1909 minStoriesFair - Chapter 1 Mary"Stop lollygagging, Mary! The world is not going to wait for you to catch up, it's almost sundown!" Mary's great-aunt Lucille scolded her, as it was her habit.
Mary didn't flinch, she knew how difficult it was for people to be around her, and how much gratitude she owed to the one person gracious enough to take her in. The shocked reaction everybody had when they laid eyes on Mary was a never ending source of pain for the young girl and a great inconvenience for her great-aunt, whose neighbors and acquaintances, people whom she'd known for d...2022-11-1109 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story EpilogueJack’s thirst for the interesting and the unusual was never quenched, and since he was so good at making stuff up he decided to put his talents to good use and become a professional liar. A fiction writer, that is. He flirted with journalism for a little bit, but after his own unpalatable experience with revelations and consequences, he decided that this field really wasn’t for him. He did some travel, learned a lot from his journeys, and a few years later, when he had the means, just to put the frustrations of his youth behind him, he b...2022-11-1104 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 20“On a happier note, how is your life lately?” Richard tried to change the subject, only managing to add more gas on Jack’s emotional pyre.
“I’m in counseling with a child psychologist, thank you for asking. I got to revisit every second of my life, forwards, backwards and out of sequence, I discussed any and all childhood trauma that I might have been subjected to, I looked deep inside myself to find my true feelings and guess what? I can’t share them, ‘cause they’re the ones who unleashed this lovely medical specialty upon my life in the f...2022-11-0513 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 19“I’m just saying,” Richard gasped, struggling to dislodge a large rock from the middle of the border he was trying to define, a place from which the cursed thing refused to budge. “You know, if our parents wanted to devise a punishment for our creative truth telling, this would probably be it!”
“Don’t mess with karma, dude!” Jack said philosophically, suddenly distracted by the fact that digging got a lot easier than it had been so far, and upon further examination he noticed he was shoveling through soft silt. “This medium is completely worthless!” he cussed under his bre...2022-10-3014 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 18The rumor about new metallic creatures roaming around in the swamp dome brought agitation and endless discussions in the community. The general hypothesis was that the life entity, or whatever you wanted to call the plant-pipe-dome-wildlife combination, had somehow evolved to create its own species, a thought both worrisome and blasphemous for many of the city’s inhabitants.
Richard’s family members, who had never been anywhere near the swamp dome, and who gathered all the information about the mechanical critters through hearsay, never connected the terrifying description of the crawling pan flutes to the innocent looking weat...2022-10-2513 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 17The rumor about new metallic creatures roaming around in the swamp dome brought agitation and endless discussions in the community. The general hypothesis was that the life entity, or whatever you wanted to call the plant-pipe-dome-wildlife combination, had somehow evolved to create its own species, a thought both worrisome and blasphemous for many of the city’s inhabitants.
2022-10-1814 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 16“It is a living entity,” the biologist replied.
“What part of it, the plant and the extension ducts?” the other speaker replied. “We already know that!”
“No, not only those, everything that it interacts with, the wall, the dome, the wildlife inside it, well, by extension, every person that enters it,” the biologist smiled.
The audience gasped. For months, rumors of the plant being capable of integrating people into its dense network of stems have been circulating, rumors that the factory was very assiduously trying to dispel.
2022-10-1114 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 15It’s not that people don’t expect life to change, it is the way that change comes about that always catches them unprepared. Sometimes it is as trivial as rain on the day of the picnic that everybody had spent months planning and looking forward to, or as significant as a shift in circumstances that makes one’s life plans lose consistency, but these are things that people usually adapt to, that they talk about with their loved ones, and then, after sufficient time had passed, they put behind them and move on.
Other changes can’t be assi...2022-10-0213 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 14Richard wasn’t the only one who found a way to put the plant/machine hybrid to good use, and as bio-based gadgets ceased to be an oddity, the town was soon awash with them, and they all looked strangely alive, as if nature had decided to grace the planet with a whole new branch of species, all at once. As it happens when life challenges ingrained concepts about what things are possible, it only takes one instance to prove the contrary. The plant had broken the ineffable barrier between organic and inorganic, the four minute mile of life an...2022-09-2613 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 13At times like these he stopped thinking of this large living conglomerate in terms of good or bad. One doesn’t question whether the squirrels or the lions, or the grass of the plain, are good or bad, they just are, and so is the sun in the sky and the snow on the mountains. When you open your eyes to life and see them for the first time, you don’t judge whether they belong or whether you belong. The wholeness of being is a shared experience and it is laid down before you, to provide the fabric and...2022-09-1712 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 12The plant reached the back wall and went through it, as if it didn’t encounter any resistance, as if the wall wasn’t there at all. It was very strange how the two systems crossed without interacting, like they belonged to parallel realities, or different time lines. There didn’t seem to be a wall cavity where the hybrid pipe penetrated it, and through the vaguely translucent material of the new branch one could actually see that.
Nobody questioned the new development, for more reasons than one, but mostly because after having lived with this constantly changin...2022-09-1013 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 11“What do you mean the plant ate Brenda?!” Jack jumped to his feet, forgetting he was in a library, where quietude and decorum were strictly enforced. “And why is that supposed to be the good news?” he looked at his friend, wretched. “What do you think the plant is going to do with the capability to affect its environmental controls?”
“Brenda is not just about the temperature and pressure changes,” Richard started explaining the extensive features of his device.
“Never mind!” Jack retorted, stunned that his friend didn’t seem to grasp the consequences of this new development. “I think it’s safe to say that if...2022-09-0414 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 10The story of how Richard built a synthetic biology interface between the plant and the machine paled in comparison with the tale his friend concocted for him to supplant it, tale that involved a never before heard of second cousin of his from out of town, the latter's life-long dream to participate in a science competition for school age children that didn't exist, the challenge of a theoretical engine that ran on bio-fuel, ample library time for writing down the research papers, and the justification for building a gizmo whose function nobody could possibly understand.
2022-08-2813 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 9Nobody managed to figure out how the vine got into the steam pipes, and even less on how it changed itself to survive in such a hostile environment, but the botanists finally managed to figure out what kind of plant it was. It seemed to be a distant relative of the Carolina Jessamine vine, poor man's rope, as they called it, at least that's what it started out as, before it mutated twice and shed its biological shell to evolve into a partly inorganic hybrid.
Despite all the hype around external intervention, alien, divine or otherwise, the s...2022-08-2113 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 8“We should, theoretically, be able to recover most of the metal,” the expert explained, without any emotional involvement. “The plant will, of course, have to be destroyed in the process.”
“That's great news!” another person from the audience exclaimed. “So, what portions of the equipment you think might not be salvageable?”
“I'm afraid I wasn't very clear in explaining the situation. It will be possible to recover most of the metals, separately, of course. All the alloys will have to be recomposed. Some of the material will be lost in the melting process, it's unavoidable,” the expert continued...2022-08-1313 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 7One thing was sure: Richard was terrible at hiding the truth, and the last drop of it was pulled out of his tormented psyche despite his efforts; it came out in painful, somewhat inarticulate blobs as Jack attacked the matter from all sides, placing strategic questions at the critical points of the story, to eliminate the possibility of any important details being left out. After he squeezed the whole truth out of his friend, like one would get the last glob of toothpaste from an almost empty tube, he seemed content with the results, and pondered deep in thought...2022-08-0612 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 6“I can't believe I'm saying this, but do I have a volunteer who would like to spend some time with a horticulturist and get an understanding of what makes this thing tick?” Groans and protests ensued.
“Please, it's important,” he cajoled. A volunteer stepped forward, with all the joy and enthusiasm of a human sacrifice. After this, the gathering finally scattered and everyone went home, after the customary polite inquiries about children and family events. Richard was relieved to finally see them gone, so that he could get out of his hiding place, which was cramped and uncomfor...2022-07-3113 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 5“Dude! We triggered the silent alarm, the police are going to be here any moment. Drop everything and run!” he said, simultaneously opening the window and jumping out, as police sirens were blaring close by in the neighborhood. Richard grabbed his notepad and jumped quickly after him, making a promise to himself to strangle Jack later, if and when they reached safety again, and fumbled so much to get out of that window that he almost got noticed by an elderly lady who was making her way to the grocery store.
The boys didn't stop to watch as th...2022-07-2412 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 4The first thing he noticed was that the vine's unbelievable resilience was supported by two basic features: its tension steel strength and its purposeful redundancy. Every one of the twisted ropes it wove around and through the pipes was fed by a myriad of strands coming from different directions, none of which was essential to the stability of the system, but all of whom contributed to it. Much like the circulatory system of an organism, it had minor pathways and major arteries, it didn't leave any spot uncovered and doubled down on itself at times, to create secondary system l...2022-07-2113 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 3There was a place inside this knot of metal limbs, a clearing almost, a hollow, from which he could see the entire manifold branching overhead, and when he sat there, on a little concrete base that for some reason had remained unoccupied, it made him feel as if the entire power distribution system was an extension of his person, and that as small and weak as he was, compared to this enormous metal monster, he was its heart, the soul in the machine, the essential component that allowed the whole system to work. Even though he knew the distribution...2022-07-1010 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 2The walls were made of smooth wood planks, with just a coat of clear stain to protect them, and between the wood finish on the walls and the exposed rafter ties the room felt warm and cozy, like a vacation cabin in the woods. On one of the walls, surrounded by ninja posters, gleamed a very ornate oval mirror, surrounded by a gilded frame, heavily carved. Richard had protested the addition, of course, but it seems there was no room for it anywhere else in the house, and his mother insisted that everybody had to have a way to...2022-07-0512 minStoriesThe Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 1He was sure he had seen that plant before, although he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where. It was a nice looking vine too, if one was into that sort of thing. Plants, that is, something his mother always found a reason to coo over, God knows why!
Richard walked around the bend, passed the Belvedere point, without stopping to admire the view this time, and picked up the pace on the old cobblestones of the pedestrian trail that connected the town to the steam plant. Back in the day when everyone walked to work...2022-06-3012 minStoriesThe Room In Between - FreedomWhen you get used to the thought of being endless, a life that spans a few decades feels like a cruel and senseless death sentence, the proof the universe really doesn’t care about you.
It is the ultimate banishment from Eden, to live your fated lot as a frail, naked, scared and inescapably impermanent creature.
If he couldn’t find the ultimate meaning in all the centuries he’d spent wandering through the many splendored versions of reality, what could he possibly hope for in however long of a human life was now laid before...2022-06-2006 minStoriesThe Room In Between - RoutineThere is no planning life if it lasts just one day, and that’s what his life really was, he was just too cowardly to admit it, so he borrowed time from the future and put things in it, time that didn’t belong to him yet, and for all he knew, he might not get at all.
Planning that borrowed time was just as absurd as venturing into a virgin territory with maps of some place else and relying on them for guidance.
The debt of these variances accrued, and he got more and more l...2022-06-1605 minStoriesThe Room In Between - RolesHe remembered his dream and reviled getting dragged into fake reality again, and acting towards it as if it was real. And even if it was real, he wasn’t Helmuth, and he didn’t know what Inclusion 35B was about. He didn’t choose any of this. Why was he playing along?
“I’m not Helmuth,” he declared.
“Aah, yeah…” his partner assessed him with a critical eye. “Maybe you should sit this one out, my friend. You don’t look so hot.”
“Aren’t you going to take me to the hospital?” he asked, with a...2022-06-1109 minStoriesThe Room In Between - Reality CheckIn the realities with friends and families, he became Helmuth, and took upon the obligations that came with his persona, but for the most part being just kept churning new contexts and new worlds every day, an endless array of possibilities in every combination of details.
Some worlds were so beautiful and so bizarre he spent days, sometimes weeks, going through the same panel again and again, trying to get back to them, and the quantum probabilities translated as refrains, turning the corresponding lyrics into old-fashioned French poems, strewn with repeating lines.
The largest archive o...2022-06-0506 minStoriesThe Room In Between - ProjectionsHe didn’t ask himself who Jennifer was to him. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway, it could be a Roger or a Taylor next for all he knew.
His appetite now gone, he excused himself for a moment, pretending he had to take a phone call and promising to delve into the subject of phase two when he returned, and made his way out the door, relieved to hear the muzak chiming softly in the background.
He wrote the new destination on the panel under the other three and gaped incredulously when he re...2022-05-2807 minStoriesThe Room In Between - CommitmentBut what if this was hell? What else would hell look like, if not as an absence of all meaning? He suddenly felt like a condemned man, sentenced to live his disjointed life outside the bonds of family, purpose and love. However much his now husband might hurt from his jealousy and insecurity, at least he could feel human emotions. He lived a story, good or bad, where things happened because of other things. He instantly resented this man, who was a complete stranger, for loving him and having his happiness tied to his whims. They weren’t even hi...2022-05-2108 minStoriesThe Room in Between - DuplicateHe leaned back in the chair, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible, and fell asleep immediately, helped by the slowly dimming light. He had no idea how long he’d been sleeping when he woke up, his head pounding and his mouth feeling like cotton balls. There was a blanket on the chair next to his, neatly folded so the edges aligned to form a perfect square.
Startled by the discovery, he jumped to his feet in a fight-or-flight response that bypassed his brain.
There was nobody else in the room, and after he...2022-05-1407 minStoriesThe Room In Between - StrategyThe mind is a strange thing that can twist and stretch to no end and accommodate almost anything, no matter how logically unsound, when caught in the push and pull of human rationalizations.
Who would have thought only a few short months ago that this room, which he could not escape, would become the only place in existence where he could find some peace?
We all imagine we have all our ducks in a row, imagine we know what we could live with and what we could not, and think we’re in control. It on...2022-05-0809 minStoriesThe Room In Between - The Third DegreeHe looked at it, focusing his attention on its details to remember them later: the design comprised swirling and winding stems with tulips at the ends, so entangled it was impossible to tell them apart.
‘I’m not going,’ he decided, calm, then turned his back to the gaping hole in the wall and went to the bar to fix himself lunch.
A blood-curdling scream emerged from the depths, the sound of a person facing mortal danger.
He hesitated, faithful to his original intent, arguing with himself that this was not his problem and that...2022-04-3008 minStoriesThe Room In Between - WildlifeThere was so much peace in this state, in this spirit-filled darkness, that he checked himself to make sure he wasn’t dead, because what person feels safe in the forest at night, with no knowledge of what lays beyond the reach of his arms and no protection from the elements?
It seemed, though, that the elements themselves had granted him asylum, him, the unfit human with no knowledge of their workings, the human who nevertheless decided to venture, sight unseen, into their world, and who for some bewildering reason was not afraid of it.
A g...2022-04-2509 minStoriesThe Room In Between - FrameworkSee, when one faces chaotic patterns, it’s not their strange and aberrant behavior that throws one for a loop. That is to be expected and bows to logic.
It is the consistency of behavior inside the chaos that can drive a person insane, more precisely, the local, provisional consistency, for one must understand that chaos plays by rules too, just rules we can never postulate, because doing so would inherently contradict their very principles, and which only apply for as long as we expect them not to.
The second we’re locked into a patter...2022-04-2108 minStoriesThe Room In Between - ContinuityIn a panic, he jumped and started jiggling the handle in an irrational attempt that actually panned out: the door opened with no effort. He looked at the other side of it, while still standing in the doorway, and he wasn’t even surprised to confirm that it was indeed one of the narrow staff doors leading to the restricted section. A golden cursive marked the door JC. He looked inside again and found it transformed into a closet barely two by three, with an old mop sink in one corner and cleaning supplies stacked neatly in the other. An...2022-04-2108 minStoriesThe Room In Between - SunlightThe room was large and not brightly lit, a feature that had obviously been designed to create a relaxing ambiance and induce a meditative state.
Its calming features worked in concert with the soft muzak tunes and the cozy leather chairs, whose generous width and soft cushions cradled the body into a state close to sleep.
On the back wall there was a bar with under-lit glass shelving and strange looking bubbly bottles in unusual shapes and colors. They were all filled with liquids that looked better suited for a chemistry lab than for cocktail in...2022-04-2108 min