Up at mid-morning, breakfast and the paper. You cannot believe the vindictiveness against health care. Why not make it a right, that is what a government for the people is all about. What do you think, orndorff?
It is supposed to be by the people too. We are a divided country. We have always been a divided country, back to the differences between the Plymouth and Virginia Colonies, that’s how I see it anyway. I don’t know how to resolve it as most everyone respects the Constitution if not the government itself.
You have nothing else to say?
Is this a lead in for the next scene?
What do you think, orndorff?
I think Mother is as our Constitution, she is the North Star of the Dead of Elysium, at least in context. As such, the other Nests of Dead as she calls them could be construed as States, I suppose. Won’t this weaken the story though, as there is already enough here?
You mean dilute the story, to take away from the plight of the Dead?
I do.
Who are the Dead, orndorff?
Okay, that brings a smile to my face and heart, Amorella.
Gallows humor has risen and is shining.
That is pretty bad of me, to forget who the Dead are.
Well, only in part. The Dead are indeed dead, but the Living have a lot in common with them. – Amorella.
So true. Back to the roots of the kinder than human alien Marsupials. Aliens who are more goodly human in their actions than humans are. Only because of their age and their environment. Three worlds instead of one. A pouch for easier sharing of the family load are two major reasons. Three worlds allows them to run to survive while humans learn to fight to survive. Humans like the romance of being loners while the marsupials survive by community first. They are tough on themselves for the good of the whole. No choice. We are as we are, again, no choice. Lots of gallows humor demonstrated. I forget that.
Post, and relax. Scene fourteen will bring some of these early thoughts back into play, first with Salaman and Mario, later today.- Amorella.
Unbelievable. I just started with the scene and Mario is looking at a wall mural to the left of the entrance to the Mikroikia and the color at the top is similar to the color used in the last scene – a blue-green. This, of course, is from the Flickr photo of an eatery at Pompeii that I am using for the model.
Below is the full photo. I never noticed the color before. And, the five people depicted in the scene seem to have something to do with food, perhaps they are cooks. On the left the fellow is carrying a mug. Next to him is a person with the right arm outstretched left hand holding a mug, the one in the middle is cooking on a grill, the one to his left has the left arm stretched the right hand holding a mug, the two with outstretched arms appear to be framing in the cook, and the last person on the right as viewed appears to be gathering water from a well or cistern. Perhaps this is useful. Surprising I had not noticed this mural so closely before. Well, I don’t think I have. Who knows.
Your spontaneity of the find of this mural fits with Mario too. He does not know about the color in the top but he is intrigued by it anyway. Do you see, his intuition has an understanding of something in the color that the reader already knows from the previous scene.
But this is only because I am the author, that is, all this, whether by you or not, is coming from my own mind. That is the only real connection. Mario is a part of my head.
Mario doesn’t know that. You want authenticity, this is what you are getting.
But it is fiction, Amorella.
Suppertime, and after the news we can work. Only deal with the color not the people underneath. – Amorella.
You have been busy, but you are half way through the scene. Salaman just arrived and you are not sure where this is going. Mario realizes Salaman has been with Sophia and Kassandra but he doesn’t understand the reasoning because though he trusts Kassandra more than Sophia he really doesn’t trust the women like he does the men. > Okay, you have finished the scene, post it and that’s enough for tonight. – Amorella.
Your help worked. Once I had a sense of what was to be out the words came. Thank you, Amorella.
Scene 14
Breakfast at the Mikroikia. Mario sat at the bar looking at the wall painting just to the left of the front door and to the right of the entrance to another side room. The painting shows, to Mario, what appears to be a small temple. Above the frieze is the pediment and its center, the tympanum, is painted an odd blue-green and Mario is suddenly mystified by the contrasting colors.
Why with the mix of dark and medium turquoises in the tympanum when the outline of the pediment is gold which is held up by a single Doric gold column on each side? The surround is a firebrick red with two facing, coiling gold serpents underneath the frieze. The frieze itself shows a cooking scene which is plain enough. The turquoise though, is the tone of sky or even water.
Mario asked old Aranos the server of conversation, “Who painted the mural?”
Aranos grinned, “I did.” He continued, “I remembered it from life, from my own eatery. I loved the place so much the family built this. I am here most of the time. Nothing to do but help people carry on conversations. I am content.”
“Why is the tympanum painted turquoise?”
“The original artist did that, no one knows. He was asked once by someone as he sat at the bar with a good mug of wine. He said he didn’t know, it just came to him, and afterwards he liked it so he kept it that way. To be honest, I liked it myself, the color is rather soothing.”
“I assume it represents the sky.”
“A troubled sky by the look of it, like a storm might be brewing somewhere a ways off.”
“And, it is soothing because it looks like a coming storm?” smiled Mario.
“No rain here. Not a hint of rain. Either fluffy white clouds interspersed with blue or blue sky. No storms here. The color reminds me of what we never have.”
“Hello,” interrupted Salaman, who just arrived by the back way.
“I’ll be on my way.”
“Thanks for the information, Aranos. I like the mural too, just never noticed it closely.”
He laughed, “You rarely sit at this end of the bar, Mario!” and he made his way to one of the back tables.
“Aranos is half the reason I come here, Mario.”
“So, Salaman. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Not so good.”
“You had a good sleep?”
Salaman smiled somewhat sheepishly, “Good enough.”
Mario grinned, “You were with Kassandra or Sophia?”
Salaman deadpanned, “Both.”
“Thought you would be with us guys last night?”
“Now you know the reason.”
Mario casually pointed, “Let’s go to that empty table.”
“Fine with me.”
Once the two sat and settled for a moment, Mario asked, “What did you find out from the women?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know you like Kassandra, but I also know you are not too fond of Sophia, and if you are sleeping with her there has to be a reason for it.”
Salaman appeared angry, but averted his eyes, and finally dropped them to the table. “I wanted to check their stories. I figured I would get a truth out of Kassandra, but I needed it collaborated by Sophia. Otherwise, they would have been making the story up.”
“What did you conclude?”
“They seemed to agree with each other on all the points, but what seems to bother them the most is that Mother has never faded, not once.”
Mario added, “That’s what she told me too.”
“But why? Everyone needs seclusion from time to time, and it is bound to happen in a shared setting once in a while.”
“I don’t know. The only time she faded is when she left those strange Dead people, then she ended up here in Elysium. What surprised me is that it wasn’t always called Elysium,” said Mario. “The later Dead, her closer children, created the place, at least the classical tone to Elysium.”
“It is true,” reminded Salaman, “We learn about the Living from the recent Dead. Word gets around.” He paused, “Does Mother know where the Egyptians are?”
“She is sure they exist. Mother says we each have our language nests.”
“Nests?”
“That’s what she thinks of Elysium, that it is as a nest for us Greek Dead.”
Salaman was not sure what to say but what came out was, “Is the bridge to find the Egyptians first.”
“Good question, Salaman. I asked her. She said she wasn’t sure.”
“What are we going to do, Mario?”
“We will look for evidence of strangers in our dreams. And, for now, we will continue with the bridge.” The coming storm, he thought. I will have to watch the color of the sky more closely. A turquoise sky in Elysium, now wouldn’t that be interesting.
***
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