10-28-11
The gnome
A medieval puppet dances on a stage, drunk and merry. It trips on its own feet, tips over, knocks a bottle of whiskey off a stool with its nose, and falls hanging upside-down from the front of the stage, dead. On its face is the most perverse, wretched, frozen horror in the universe. Time stands still that the universe may fully mock us.
The second gnome
I'm a prisoner among three others, in a strange house on a hill, kept in by a phantom warden. The warden is completely psychotic, yet often takes the form of a kindly old sailor; to him I speak a great deal, while always secretly plotting escape.
One day the sailor seems so kindhearted that I express directly our intention to escape. He calmly replies that we can not break free, as he is able to stand guard even when he sleeps.
I think about this for some time, and one day after breakfast, we just calmly walk out the door.
As we make our way down the hill, the excitement of freedom begins to take hold of us. One man, unable to stop laughing, falls into a deep crack in the ground and breaks his neck. Another flies into the sky and becomes a bird, but bursts into flame.
The last man and I make it into the town at the bottom of the hill. It is only here that I begin to get uneasy, feel the urge to start running. The other man holds out a book towards me, and taps it on his head, indicating he's certain of his liberation.
For my part, I think I will be able to blend in with the townspeople, and live out my days pretending to be one of them, in freedom. I can feel the warden's presence up on the hill, as though it were a church bell, but it rings hollow.