Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 207

With the Annotator vanished into the labyrinth of locked doors, the Bureau of Unhelpful Gestures turned its attention to a new crisis. Gregory the chandelier had filed a formal complaint. In Latin. On parchment made from recycled footnotes.

The complaint read:

"Lux me tangit, sed non illuminat." (The light touches me, but does not enlighten.)

Gregory demanded a trial. Not for justice; he was quite clear on that, but for ritual. He wished to be suspended not just physically, but mythically.

The Bureau convened in the Hall of Misremembered Oaths, where trials were held using emotionally tuned acoustics. Finn adjusted the resonance of the chamber to "melancholic bemusement," while Lady Sigh served as both prosecutor and weather oracle.

Susie presided as High Witness, wearing the ceremonial shrug of ambiguity.

Opening Statement:

Lady Sigh: "Gregory has swung without consent, groaned in dead languages, and once dropped a candle on the Glossary of Refusals. He is, in short, emotionally incandescent."