259 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
259 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oOOOO OOOO. OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
|
||
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" .OOOOOO OOOOOo OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
|
||
OOOO oOOOOOOO OOOOOOO. OOOO oOOOO
|
||
OOOO .OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOOo OOOO OOOO"
|
||
OOOO oOOOO OOOO OOOO "OOOO. OOOO OOOOo .OOOO'
|
||
OOOO .OOOO" OOOO OOOO OOOOoOOOO "OOOO. oOOOO
|
||
OOOO oOOOOOOO..OOOO OOOO "OOOOOOO OOOOoOOOO"
|
||
OOOO .OOOO"""OOOOOOOO OOOO OOOOOO "OOOOOOO'
|
||
OOOO oOOOO ""OOOO OOOO "OOOO OOOOOO
|
||
|
||
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
||
| |
|
||
| There Ain't No Justice |
|
||
| |
|
||
| #107 |
|
||
| |
|
||
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
||
|
||
- Pop -
|
||
by Ironhorse
|
||
|
||
|
||
I have to admit Janet always was a little bit strange. That's why when she
|
||
came into the Taco Bell that long ago day and told me she was hearing
|
||
voices I didn't think anything of it.
|
||
|
||
It must have been about two months ago now that she met me in that rainy
|
||
Toco Bell. It was November and the tourists that populated our town in the
|
||
summer had long gone home for the winter, leaving me to stare alone at my
|
||
Chicken Soft Toco while I waited for her and the few workers busied
|
||
themselves in the back doing god knows what, I still can't conceive of
|
||
employment at Toco Bell as a challenging occupation.
|
||
|
||
Just when I was about to dive into the gracious feast before me I saw her
|
||
walk in. She smiled at me and headed straight for the counter. Damn, she must
|
||
be hungry, I thought. Janet hates Toco Bell.
|
||
|
||
I found myself even more surprised when she came to the table with no
|
||
food, just twelve large sodas.
|
||
|
||
"Thirsty?"
|
||
|
||
"No," she said and apologized as some water splashed off her coat as she
|
||
sat down.
|
||
|
||
"That's okay. What's all the soda for?"
|
||
|
||
"The lids."
|
||
|
||
I looked curiously at her.
|
||
|
||
"Let me explain."
|
||
|
||
"Please do."
|
||
|
||
Janet looked around to make sure no one else could hear, which was
|
||
obivious, we were alone, and then told me she had been hearing voices for the
|
||
past two weeks.
|
||
|
||
"Okay..." I didn't really put anything behind this. As I said, Janet was
|
||
weird. Janet was like many of the women I've dated who, ironically, were
|
||
all into the occult. Oh I'm sorry, the modern term is Wicca.
|
||
Whatever, I didn't care. I'm male, they're female; usually when it comes
|
||
right down to it, that's all that matters.
|
||
|
||
"No really," Janet said seeing my familiar disbelief.
|
||
|
||
"This happen because of one of your spells?"
|
||
|
||
She and her Wiccan friends were always casting some sort of spell it
|
||
seemed. I'm sure the results they received had a lot to do with a certain
|
||
illegal leafy plant.
|
||
|
||
"No, you son-of-a-bitch, listen!"
|
||
|
||
Janet never did like the fact that I didn't believe in her hocus-pocus
|
||
mumbo-jumbo.
|
||
|
||
"How did it happen?"
|
||
|
||
"Well, you know how I love to pop these stupid little bubbles in the tops
|
||
of take-out soda lids?"
|
||
|
||
"Yeah, everyone does, but not everyone hears voices."
|
||
|
||
"Yeah, well, not everyone has been doing it as long as I have."
|
||
|
||
"You mean to tell me by pushing down one of these," I lent over an pushed
|
||
in one of the buttons on one of her dozen lids, "I'll go insane? Come on, I
|
||
think you've been smoking too much."
|
||
|
||
"You got to believe me. But it's not insane. They're real voices. Real
|
||
people. I've heard them."
|
||
|
||
"So have mental patients all over the world. You're telling me these
|
||
freaks are actually sane?"
|
||
|
||
"If they're freaks because they hear voices, then I'm one of those freaks,
|
||
and yes, I think we are sane."
|
||
|
||
Oh yes, I've definitely found a winner here. Why didn't I just stay
|
||
with Amy? She only thought she was a vampire. So what if she had a biting
|
||
fetish.
|
||
|
||
"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I can hear voices. I think the reason
|
||
why people go crazy over hearing these voices is because they're in
|
||
a different language."
|
||
|
||
"So you have a multi-lingual hallucinations," I asked rather sarcastically.
|
||
|
||
"Not even! I don't think they're from this world."
|
||
|
||
Oh yes, now was definitely the time Janet and I should be going our separate
|
||
ways. Still, to humor her...
|
||
|
||
"Oh, and what world are they from?"
|
||
|
||
She seemed to know I was humoring her, but it didn't matter, I was finally
|
||
listening.
|
||
|
||
"I'm not sure, like I said, I can't understand them, but I think it's a
|
||
parallel one."
|
||
|
||
"Ah... I think I saw this on Star Trek once."
|
||
|
||
"I'm serious damn it!" At this point she began to furiously punch in
|
||
all the buttons in her many drink lids.
|
||
|
||
"Okay, okay, calm down. Go on, I'm sorry."
|
||
|
||
She continued, but she also continued to punch in the buttons on the
|
||
drinks.
|
||
|
||
"Well, I see it this way... The people who hear these voices are actually
|
||
some how attuned to a parallel world, just like this one, with its
|
||
own buildings, people, and everything. The reason why some
|
||
'freaks', as you call them, hear things and then don't is because we are
|
||
moving and so are they."
|
||
|
||
"The parallel people? You mean they're walking away from the people who
|
||
can hear them?"
|
||
|
||
"Maybe. But I was thinking, what if their planet spun in the opposite
|
||
direction of ours? Then those people who could hear the voices would hear
|
||
nothing when, say, our New York was passing over their Atlantic Ocean."
|
||
|
||
"That is if they have an Atlantic Ocean," I interjected. She did
|
||
seem to think this thing through. Delusions were like that.
|
||
|
||
"Exactly."
|
||
|
||
Yes, definitely a space cadet. At least she was pretty to look at. The brain
|
||
dead ones usually are.
|
||
|
||
"You came up with all this from popping the tops of a few soda lids?"
|
||
|
||
"Not a few. I figure in the thousands. You know my dad was a truck driver?
|
||
Well, he always took me on the road with him and a large portion of my diet
|
||
was fast food."
|
||
|
||
"So you say that all the people who pop these little buttons on their
|
||
sodas in fast food joints all over the world are going to sooner or later
|
||
hear the voices of people on another planet that's somehow in a parallel
|
||
dimension to this one?"
|
||
|
||
"Yes. Actually, I think there's a little more to it than that. You have to
|
||
be open to the possibility."
|
||
|
||
Oh no, not that again. That is the backbone of every Wiccan's arguments
|
||
to a non-believer. 'You have to be open to the possibility for the magic
|
||
to work.' Bah, magic is magic, it should work whether I believe in it or
|
||
not.
|
||
|
||
"And I suppose you are open to the possibility? How come no one else has
|
||
heard these voices?"
|
||
|
||
"They have, there's institutions full of 'em."
|
||
|
||
"How come no sane people have heard them? Like your Wiccan friends? I
|
||
would suppose they are 'open to the possibility'."
|
||
|
||
"Well, unfortunately most Wiccans are vegetarians and won't step foot into
|
||
a fast food restaurant..."
|
||
|
||
"Which is the only place they could get these kinds of lids... I
|
||
understand. Plus I'm sure they couldn't possibly have been exposed to as
|
||
many as you have."
|
||
|
||
"Yes!"
|
||
|
||
"And the people in the asylums haven't figured this out because they are
|
||
being 'treated' and told it isn't so, so they lose their openness?"
|
||
|
||
"Exactly!" She was getting quite happy. She felt I understood. She
|
||
thought I actually believed her. She told me to wait a moment while she
|
||
went up and got twelve more sodas.
|
||
|
||
"What are you doing," I asked when she returned. "If you're 'tuned in'
|
||
now, aren't you afraid of 'tuning out'?"
|
||
|
||
"I'm going to prove this to you," she said, popping buttons like, well,
|
||
like a mad man. "It doesn't work like that, it seems the more you pop the
|
||
more in tune you get."
|
||
|
||
"Oh...." We sat in silence for a while and then I decided I needed a
|
||
break and may as well get some desert. I excused myself and went to the
|
||
counter for a Choco-Toco, shrugging at the questioning stares of the
|
||
employees.
|
||
|
||
"PMS," I whispered to the manager as I passed and he smiled as I returned
|
||
to my seat.
|
||
|
||
That was the last moment the doctors tell each other I had in touch with
|
||
reality. I know different, but who's to say? They keep bringing me take out
|
||
soda lids, and I keep popping away.
|
||
|
||
The papers say Janet was another of the freakish cases of Spontaneous Human
|
||
Combustion, but I know a different story. That night while I was smiling at
|
||
the manager in our lonely Toco Bell, Janet was punching her eighty
|
||
second thousand four hundred ninety third button on the lid of her Mountain
|
||
Dew, and she crossed over.
|
||
|
||
She's in that parallel world now. I know it. I'm been punching my buttons
|
||
and I know it's true. I've heard the voices, and I've heard her tell me so.
|
||
|
||
I'm coming Janet, only fifty thousand more buttons to go.
|
||
|
||
Pop.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<20> <20><> <20> <20> <20><> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>ݲ<EFBFBD><DDB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><DBB1><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> Phoenix Modernz Systems: 908/830-TANJ <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> VapourWare BBS: 61/3-429-8510 ۲<><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> underworld_1995.com 514/683-1894 ۲<><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> RipCo ][: 312/528-5020 <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> etext.archive.etext.org <20><><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> TANJ Mailing Address <20> <20> <20> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> PO Box 174 <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> Seaside Hts, NJ <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> 08751 <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><DBB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>; <20><> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>ݲ<EFBFBD><DDB2><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><DBB1><EFBFBD>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> tanj@pms.metronj.org <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
|