The Marvelous Real
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Royal Redux by Peter Chrisler
June 28, 2011
“Royal Redux”. This is a throne room set in a Government building . It will be used as a greenscreen projection/prototype for a movie based on my novel”Cassalancq”. It is an historical fantasy, a coming of age tome set in traditionalist seventeenth century and sybriatic eighteenth century eras. The son Aleste inherits the kingdom from his old world order father,lives for sexual pleasure in all divergent forms,except true love. An excerpt can be read online at xlibris.com. Enter my name or title. Further examples of my artwork can be seen at theartofpeterchrisler.net
the history of things…
June 26, 2011
The boy looked up, and this is what the clouds told him:
That radio antenna over to the left, the giant metal X stuck firmly to the hilltop was no antenna. It was once alive—a being raising his hands into the fog. And the stadium light that the boy’s father was always complaining was too bright, was in another life, a flower whose petals gave off light. People wouldn’t believe the boy when later in life, he would tell them what the clouds had told him, but that didn’t bother him. Even though he was young, he knew there would always be doubters.
Still, he listened to the clouds, and they told him this as well:
The world was once very different. It was not unusual to be thankful, to call out to the heavens from the highest peak and smile. But even back then, long before men and women walked the Earth, there was already Jealousy. At that time, Jealousy actually roamed the Earth instead of people’s hearts. This Jealousy was constant and, contrary to common opinion, not green at all.
Jealousy looked on at all the happy beings in the world, and true to his nature, the happier and the more thankful they were, the more his chest ached. That was the way Jealousy thought of the feeling, but it wasn’t pain. There was just something in his heart that he couldn’t control. People nowadays don’t get it: the fact that Jealousy did not mean to hurt anyone. He was just the way he was.
After years and years, as this feeling at the center of him grew, Jealousy finally couldn’t take it any longer. He went away and hid himself in a deep, dark cave, though no one is sure where that cave is now, and he cut his chest open and took out the frozen hunk that was his heart.
What came next was instant. There was no vegetation left for miles and miles around the cave—only white powder and weeds and twigs were left. The land was becoming sad. And that cold sadness kept pouring down through the world, spreading out in waves from Jealousy’s cave. The effect was that all those creatures, like the antenna and the stadium light who were once alive and happy and who gave thanks to the world, now were lifeless. Skyscrapers became skyscrapers. Bridges became bridges. Antennas froze into antennas and Lights to lights—in each case, all these beings lost their capital letter to a lower-case death.
“But then, how did we come to be?” the boy asked the clouds.
The answer was not a good one. “Jealousy,” the clouds said, “looked like people.” “You are the descendants of Jealousy,” the clouds told the boy. “For you see when Jealousy removed his heart, his blood flowed and combined with the sadness of the Earth, and out of that came you.”
The boy wept at hearing this, and the clouds came together and tried to make pictures in the sky that would make him feel better. They became cotton candy and clowns smiling, and knights on horses and giant fluffy birds, but the boy could not be consoled, and he wept until he had nothing left in him.
Years later, he would write many books, but the theme of each was always the same, and it goes as follows: the world is full of wonder. We live surrounded by frozen bones. We just have to look to see them or what they are.
Not Making the Cut
June 18, 2011
“Would you row harder,” the Bear said to the Pig.
“I’m going as fast as I can. Why don’t you row?”
“I told you,” the Bear said. “My paws are sensitive to splinters, and anyway, I have a louder voice.”
“It’s not like they’re going to hear us.”
“You never know.”
“Bear,” the Pig said, still rowing but snorting heavily into the cold air. “Mr. Noah is pretty stubborn. You’re not going to change his mind.”
“Pig, why are you so…I don’t know.”
“Don’t even say it.”
“You’re supposed to be smart. Isn’t that what everyone is always saying? But you don’t seem so smart to me. You’re just a…I don’t know…you’re just a little animal. You don’t get it.”
“I am not sad, Bear, if that’s what you mean. And I don’t think you should be, either.”
The Bear turned to look at the Pig. He would’ve growled, but he was too perplexed. “We didn’t make the cut, and now we can’t be with our friends. It’s terrible.”
The Pig stopped rowing, so he could catch his breath. He wasn’t as slim as he’d once been, which in truth, was never very slim to begin with. “I didn’t want to tell you this because you were so upset with the rain and all, but I think we’re better off. Really, I do.”
The Bear ignored his friend, which wasn’t new, since he tended to ignore all other friends under a certain weight and height. “I was sleeping when Mr. Noah was sending out the invites,” he said. “I didn’t even know about the cruise until last week. What’s your excuse?”
“I was rolling around in mud.”
“Bears are supposed to sleep for long periods of time. I was acting in accordance with nature.”
“And what would you call me rolling around in mud? That’s pretty natural, too.”
“Then why?” The Bear asked.
“Why what?”
“Why did Mr. Noah leave us behind?”
The Pig stopped rowing yet again. All around him, all he could see were waves made of liquefied aquamarine and clouds that looked like huge cotton balls glued together by what he imagined was a very large person. Mr. Noah spoke of this large person a lot before the rains started happening. But Mr. Noah, The Pig had observed over the years, was always talking craziness, and for the most part, it was better just ignore him.
“Why aren’t you rowing?” the Bear asked.
“Because, Bear, there’s no use for it. Mr. Noah’s ship is too fast.”
“It’s not so fast. If we were on land, I’d be able to catch it. We don’t look like it, but we bears are really quick.”
“I believe you. But we’re not on land, and we pigs aren’t known for rowing.”
“Where should we go then?”
“We have to find land. We’re land animals.”
“That’s what Mr. Noah is after, too. I wish we could be with him.”
The Pig didn’t respond.
“Why so quiet” The Bear asked.
“I’m not so sure I believe in Mr. Noah the way you do.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing, Bear. I don’t mean anything.”
“Yes you do, Pig. You’re not the only one on four legs who knows a thing or two.”
Pig snorted a laugh.
“Don’t laugh at me,” The Bear said a bit louder than he wanted to. “Please don’t laugh at me,” he said again, but this time sounding a little meek and a lot scared.
“I would never think of such a thing. OK, I’ll tell you—something my father told me, but I don’t want you to despair.”
“Why would I despair? I’m a bear. I’m big and strong and fast—even if I don’t look it..”
“No doubt about that. But I am a pig, so my family has lived close to Mr. Noah and his family for a long time. This is why we know a few things that you and yours might not.”
“OK, like what?”
“Well, to start, this is not Mr. Noah’s first cruise.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean every time it rains a lot—a lot a lot, Bear like it did this year, Mr. Noah talks about the Giant Man in the Clouds who is punishing us. Then he has a boat built and he goes out with his family for a long time.”
“How long?” The Bear asked.
“I don’t know. Like 40 days.”
“And nights?”
“Yes, Bear, 40 days and 40 nights.”
“And then he comes back?” The Bear asked, sounding hopeful.
“That’s what my father told me. The same thing happened with his father when he was a suckling.”
The Bear looked confused. He looked up at the sky and sniffed around for answers, but there was nothing to smell except for clouds and he didn’t much like the way they smelled. “So then all we have to do is stay on our boat until Mr. Noah returns? Then we can see our friends again.”
“No, Bear. If Mr. Noah comes back, he’ll only have his family with him. 40 days and nights are a long time, and Mr. Noah and his family like to eat a lot. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“So what? I’m sure he brought food. He’s not dumb like a wolf. He knows he has to bring food.”
Mr. Pig put his head down, his front hooves rested on his potbelly. He wondered why it always seemed to fall to him to have to explain the hard things. “Bear, why do you think Mr. Noah took our friends with him?”
“He said something about the Gig Man in the Clouds wanting him to. He was saving us, right?”
“I don’t know,” the Pig said.
“What don’t you know?”
The Pig looked up at his friend and snorted. “I’d just feel better about Mr. Noah if he were a vegetarian.”
