Friday, May 21, 2010

Bathroom Monologue: Work the Curse

An audio edition of "Work the Curse" is available. To listen, click the triangle. To download the MP3, click this text.

I thought about it while you were sleeping. You can’t remember our first life? I can’t either. All these lives we’ve led are a haze. We keep being reborn, falling in love, and remembering everything too late to save each other. They say he’s trapped us in tragedy. They say we’re always murdered in front of each other, but I don’t remember. Do you?

We’ve died in sorrow hundreds times, and we’ll do it thousands more. We’ve never been able to break the curse – but now, I think we can beat it. I watched you sleep last night, and remembered you dozing on my shoulder in a dozen other lifetimes. I couldn’t help but touch your hair and think: part of this is the best thing that could ever happen to me. Meeting you a hundred more times? If we love for a year each life, we’ll outlast every marriage in history. And when I die? I know I'll see you again. I don't want you to suffer, but the end comes to everyone. If not in this Great War, then in sickness or old age.

He wants us to dread this. In that monster’s mind this was going to be eternal heartbreak, but this is an eternity of chances. We'll live again, and again. From this life on, we'll remember each other, but like any good couple, we'll remember selectively. In five lifetimes we'll concentrate on remembering the reunions. In ten we'll remember all the worlds we've shared. In twenty we'll hunt down the lineages of the families we started, see our great grandchildren's work, and fill our souls with it. With every lifetime we'll repeat that we only die together, not how. Not murder. Not horror. In thirty, or fifty, or eighty lifetimes, we'll only have a vague idea that each life is going to end. In a hundred lifetimes we’ll only remember this as a miracle that keeps bringing us back together. Maybe we can't break the curse, but if we live each time without fear of what's coming, it can't win.

29 comments:

  1. Certainly an interesting (albeit trippy) premise and your read makes it all that much more enjoyable, John...

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  2. This has left me thinking. A lot.

    (btw there's an extraneous "you" in the second sentence)

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  3. I really like this, John. It seems to have an etheral quality to it, not unlike your MC trying to remember his past existences. I'd love to rad more about the background to this story.

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  4. Well done John. I read it and then listened to it... I prefer hearing it... but either way, the message comes across.

    Jim

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  5. a ponderous one from the wiz..well done

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  6. hmmm interesting - making me think - and read again!

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  7. What a beautiful, tragic idea. Very well executed, John.

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  8. A philosophical turn from you.

    You are a romantic, John. This story shines.

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  9. I like the meta-analysis here - if the game can't be won, refuse to play.

    Nice.

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  10. Unique way to fight a curse. I enjoyed reading it. =)

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  11. Beautiful, sweet, and heartwarming rather than heartbreaking. I love the premise and would really like to see more from this world.

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  12. I thought this was a beautiful mix of sadness and hope. I think it will linger in my mind for a while.

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  13. Wow, this is very cool. Not just the thought of reincarnation that leads to the same outcome every time, but the fact that they can remember snippets of it. And that's the only attitude that these characters can have, or they'd be crushed down. Well done!

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  14. A flash worthy of Octavia Butler. I love the concept, and the positive take on the curse of immortality as explored in Highlander. I like the deeper meaning of looking on the bright side and making your own destiny.

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  15. Beautiful story, John. Resolute in the face of inevitability, and the refusal to be cowed.

    Another excellent piece.

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  16. This had such a tender quality.

    And instead of eternal heartbreak, it will be an eternity of one more times.

    Lovely, John.

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  17. Wow, this is beautifully written. Excellent voice, excellent pacing...just thoroughly enjoyable to read.

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  18. Being able to rise above impending trajedy gives it a beautiful hopefulness.

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  19. Back home after a very long day. The comments in my inbox were overwhelming. Thank you all for your kind words and helping get the story out to Twitter.

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  20. Nice piece this week, John. My favorite line was: "I watched you sleep last night, and remembered you dozing on my shoulder in a dozen other lifetimes." I love you ended it with a glimmer of hope.

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  21. An interesting and thought provoking concept beautifully rendered. Well done!

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  22. I thought I left a comment on this yesterday...

    I had to come back and read it again today. Beautifully written, hopeful while shrouded in hopelessness. Well done, John.

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  23. This is very touching John. Who would be this clever to beat such a horrible curse?

    I like the idea of eternal love, although people usually turn it into a sickening cliché. That's why I don't write much romance,heh.

    You, instead, gave me the goosebumps. Well done! :)

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  24. Not sure I can say anything that hasn't been said. Bittersweet and hopeful, and somehow very in keeping with the human spirit. What are we without hope, after all?

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  25. Mazz, thanks for catching my typo. You'd think I'd catch things like that when I read into a microphone. It's not like it's in the audio. Somehow, I still manage to slip.

    I was afraid people would turn on this one for being unfunny and fatalistic. I'm relieved by all the comments from people who were left mulling it over or thinking about it.

    Barry, the Butler comparison is very flattering.

    Peggy, yeah. I am a romantic. Thank goodness I manage to be other things too, or I'd have gone crazy with all the reincarnations.

    Laurita, thanks for stopping by again today with a comment. I really appreciate it.

    I really appreciate all of you. Thank you for the kind words.

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  26. Lovely stuff. Make the most of a curse and it becomes a blessing...

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  27. I wonder who "he" is? Eternal life would be intolerable if it weren't possible to forget.

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  28. I think this may be your best one yet. It's really thought-provoking, and yet utterly romantic at the same time. You really got my imagination going, and you left a lot of subtle hints for the reader to dwell on. Very good flash! I love the idea of a love that lasts for eternity.

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  29. This struck me as sweet and defiant at the same time. Very well-written, and I love the premise. I just hope they still like each other after all those lifetimes.

    CD

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