Chapter 5, Part D
This is a train
Estrelica gazed ahead at the railroad tracks in the distance and the point where they met. She gave a quick glance over to Vic, then gazed ahead down the tracks.
Estrelica
So shall I tell you the tale?
Vic
Of the one in the veil?
Estrelica
That you’re bound to ask about sooner or later?
Vic
The one like no other?
Estrelica
Because she’s two, three and then another.
Vic
And sometimes so many, that no man would ever want to keep her?
Estrelica
If I should look through you, to the quick of your soul
Vic
Like an immigrant come to a new land to solve
Estrelica
The puzzle of your face will always tell me more
Vic
Than the labyrinth of your mind and the mysteries it stores
Estrelica
And if I reveal something I myself haven’t seen
Vic
It’s yours for the keeping, ransacked like a dream
Estrelica
If the drizzle and bonfires cut our faces the same way
Vic
All we will find is which years had reigned
Estrelica
Well, the key to my house is gold, but the key to my room only silver
Vic
And sometimes you keep it for months on end, and sometimes you give it like a slipper
Estrelica
Only so I can be trod upon, and then when it’s my turn to tread
Vic
I whisper what wants to be heard before I lay down what needs to be said
Estrelica
A salutation like salvation and saliva like a salve
Vic
And even a little Cheshire cheese and port: They must only be props to solve
Estrelica
So, come and break some bread and tell me things that you’ve never said
Vic
And you know what they’re talking about, or at least how it all fits in with their game.
Estrelica
And so it goes, and this and that.
Vic
Eighty-nine bucks an hour to find out where you’re at.
Estrelica
But like an electron, you can only but tell
Vic
Either which direction it faces, or at what speed it likes to dwell
Estrelica
She was born near Lake Superior, and went to work in Calcutta, and spent her life trying to get home
Vic
To the ones who knew her well, and how she treated them like hell, when she tried finding heaven on her own
Estrelica
Love is hard to look at, but she could laugh it all away
Vic
And sentenced herself unworthy at the end of every day
Estrelica
She could make them all undress, but she never would disrobe
Vic
She loved them all and kept their hearts as she pointed them to the road
Estrelica
I had seen her against the bricks when she was mercilessly kicked
Vic
I had seen her hover above: Crimson in flight
Estrelica
We were painfully aware there was nothing we’d ever share
Vic
But we were twins, separated every night
Estrelica
There’s a nightmare I remember and a long forgotten dream
Vic
There’s a pillow I don’t need to share right now
Estrelica
There’s a splash of the morning glow still left from the tears she’d never show
Vic
But at least she changed her past somehow
Estrelica
The violence we had seen had taken place between
Vic
The wisest who had conquered themselves
Estrelica
And played with whomever was around, keeping them hostage in a playground
Vic
Strewn with the toys they had made in their own cells
Estrelica
And her sisters by the window, insisting that they’re spinsters
Vic
Their laughter drowns out the minstrels bleeding just below
Estrelica
The sisters fall back on the bed, dissolve into each other
Vic
And wonder why the minstrels never came at all
Estrelica
The simple ways of the heart
Vic
Sometimes don’t come from above
Estrelica
And the webs you cut yourself out of
Vic
Are spun from the darkest desire for love
Estrelica
Ballerina spun tightly
Vic
A Roman candle shot to the sun
Estrelica
Alive in the dead of winter
Vic
And the moon was just a ladder rung
Estrelica
China bells, crystal shells
Vic
The dressing table never lies
Estrelica
Music box, the strike of the clocks
Vic
Never knew how to cry
Estrelica
The dilettante maneuvers carefully
Vic
Greets his mistress like a fear
Estrelica
Oblivious to his presence
Vic
He just bows his head at her mirror
Estrelica
Ballerina ascending
Vic
Disappears into the steps
Estrelica
Clutched so tightly
Vic
Spinning lightly
Estrelica
Escaping the grip
Vic
They watched the sunset ignite the eve
Estrelica
They watched them walking to their grave
Vic
There were women fathomless
Estrelica
There were men who were betrayed
Estrelica and Vic continued their pilgrimage as the weather finally decided to just pack it in and try again tomorrow, leaving the two of them to run rings around the horizon and back like a tag team. Down the tracks a little way, they noticed a couple approaching from the opposite direction and they both strained their eyes to see if the figures were familiar because the way they carried themselves reminded both of them of each other. As they got closer they both realized that although they couldn’t exactly say that they knew them, they looked familiar enough to at least offer a greeting.
Estrelica and Vic passed themselves going the other way as they walked along the railroad tracks, he with a black hole for a beard and she with her hand bunching up her dress around her thighs. They were both deep in conversation, she darting her eyes around the sky and nodding her head as she spoke and he with lips parted as if to finish her thought at any second. They noticed Estrelica and Vic at the last second before they passed them and absently greeted them, knowing full well that they were also passing themselves, but not being so impolite or stilted as to not let them know that the twist of reality they were all four a part of was not worth acknowledging.
Estrelica and Vic were in sight of the Comet Tavern and got down from the railroad tracks to aim their feet at the establishment. The neon sign above the threshold frazzled on and off as Estrelica reached for the door.
"I hope it rains tonight."
"Yeah, me too."
Round him she drove, talking and singing he whiled
