Une Parodie des Artistes, 22 avril 1988

Bienvenue à la fondrière de mon existence.

J’attends mon propre chef d’oeuvre. Je me casse la tête en essayant de retoucher mon caractère. J’essaie de camper mon personnage, mais c’est un livre épuisé. Je veux devenir un roman policier, mais je manque d’intrigue. Si j’étais dramaturge, je pourrais créer une pièce, la critique, et la bâcler sans inquiétude. Si j’étais un poète qui pouvait pondre de la poésie, je gagnerais le respect du monde entier.

Mais maintenant, je me moque du monde. J’embarrasse de questionner les pauvres passants qui font toujours le train-train le lundi matin. Je les trouve laids, et je me trouve mal. Ils ramassent des livres qu’ils ne comprendront jamais. Tout à coup, j’ai le désir brûlant de fermer les coffres noirs des bouquinistes sur leurs doigts. Je veux démolir tous les trésors du bourgeois ordinaire et, alors, prendre un café sans sucre et lire les journaux de la gauche aux prisonniers.

C’est le premier acte de ma représentation de la mort du païen. Après, je danserai parmi les marguerites et la menthe poivrée dans les champs. J’aiderai les spectateurs à louer leurs places en enfer. Le grand Satan me donnera un pourboire formidable. Tous mes admirateurs applaudiront mon grand succès en criant, “Bravo! Monsieur le chef de l’angoisse perpétuelle!”

Je ne suis pas du tout musicien. Je ne connais que les chansons du désespoir interminable. Je n’interprète aucun morceau de musique. Je joue uniquement du clavecin, et j’en joue bien. Je donne souvent des récitals pour mes mignons amis rouges. Ils aiment mieux que je fasse toutes les fausses notes. J’ai la plus grosse voix caverneuse du monde souterrain. Mes petits demons m’accompagnent au sacré concert.

J’aime mieux peindre à l’huile les natures mortes. Les servantes de Méduse preferent ma facture. Elles disent que ma facture est gauche. Je leur réponds “Merci. Allez-vous-en.” La fraude, la douleur, le mépris, l’avidité: Tous sont sur ma palette. Je peins à la misère toutes les pauvres âmes au côté d’ouest de New York. La toile—elle montre mon travail—elle est couverte de sang. Je suis l’incarnation du péché. Je suis le provocateur sacré du culte du diable. Je suis Beëlzebub.

Je suis la nourriture des despotes. Je me pavanerai aux plumes rouges et brillantes jusqu’à la fin du temps.

Mr. Funny Bones on the Attack!

January 2019 – An afternoon visit to an urgent care center on December 28, 2018, culminated in an emergency cardiac catheterization and stent placement around midnight to stop a heart attack. A nuclear stress test on January 31, 2019, showed no signs of permanent damage to the heart.

“Of course we saw it coming, kitten. We’re dead, not blind.”
“Squeak? Squeak! Squeak.” [Translation: “Sympathy from a skeleton? Good luck! They’re heartless.”]
“And then I said, ‘We heard you were into adult toys, so we got you a blood pressure monitor.’ HA HA HA!”
“I’m not the least bit surprised he’s still alive. That boy seems incapable of following through on anything. He quit the basketball team in elementary school after one practice, never made it to Bear Scout, and for 18 years now he’s been remodeling his house which, I am told, is littered with half-read books.”
“‘Don’t vacuum for two weeks,’ they said. ‘Not a problem!’ he said. Pfft.”
“I’m just saying you’re less likely to get bruises wearing this.”
“Hematoma. Hm. Sounds sexist.”
“I’m an officer of love, baby, and you under cardiac arrest for breakin’ my heart.”
”No, kitten, you’ve confused the two: Boston Scientific makes the stents; Boston Market makes the chicken.”
“I’m not the least bit surprised he got a rash from those cheap generic drugs. He’s always had champagne tastes. Just ask him how much he pays for a pair of socks.”
”If you need more fiber in your diet you can always eat the box.”
“No, kitten. There are no study guides. It’s a stress test.”
“I’m not the least bit surprised he keeps checking the nutritional information on the box to see if the numbers have somehow magically changed. He can’t leave the house without checking the iron a hundred times.”
“Yes, Kitten. You just go on.”
“Why, kitten, you’re positively radiant! You must still be glowing from that radioactive dye they injected during your nuclear stress test.”

Missy Impossible, Chapter 16

Missy reminds Coco about the Terranean arms dealers she’d been cultivating since Nowruz.

“Missy, I feel so awful about those bears.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Coco. They wouldn’t let them go up in flames like that.”

“They who?”

“The Terraneans who captured them. Remember those arms dealers I mentioned back in my Prolegomenon? Well, they aren’t your typical arms dealers. They’re wildlife traffickers. And they’re not your typical wildlife traffickers either. They’re into trafficking wildlife parts. Eyes of newt, rabbits’ and pigs’ feet. Stuff like that. It helps them fund their terrorism operations.”

“But why bears? Are they after the claws?”

“No, the Terraneans are too proud of their traditional pastries to want ours. Not even the ones with almonds. They’re after the arms.”

“Bear arms?”

“Yeah, which is why the Crystal Crevice Creek Resort schedule caught my attention.”

“You mean because the Gays of Hormuz event? They’re Terranean, aren’t they?”

“They are. But did you notice that the calendar listed three separate bear arms rallies for this weekend? One of them has to be cover for a major arms deal. We have to shut that down.”

Missy Impossible, Chapter 15

Coco and Missy bought local corn to reduce the risk of starting a new infestation of an invasive insect or disease.

“Hey, Missy. This yurt is pretty spacious. The skylight lets in a lot of natural light. And the view’s great, too. What’s the name of the river again?”

Coco and Missy’s yurt has a great view of the Crimea River.

“Crimea. But before we get too comfortable, Coco, let’s go look for those bears.”

Coco and Missy arrived too late at the bear pen.

“Dammit. We’re too late.”

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Missy Impossible, Chapter 14

“Hold on tight, Missy, while I break formation. Prepare for landing.”

“Roger, Coco.”

“Missy, look down to the right. Do you see what I see?”

“What? You mean those bears penned in by those colossal pieces of firewood?”

“Yeah, bears. And I think two of them are waving at us.”

Coco and Missy spotted bears penned in by firewood as they prepared for landing.

“Remain still. Don’t wave back. Just get us on the ground so that we can get Shining Armor some corn and check into our yurt. I’ll fill you in after that.”

“What?”

“A yurt. I booked us a yurt.”

“A what?”

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Missy Impossible, Chapter 13

Coco and Missy change their flight plan despite running low on corn.

“Shining Armor, say again.”

“Crystal Crevice approach, we’re running low on corn. Permission to go around.”

“Shining Armor, state your intentions. You just said you’re running low on fuel. How is aborting this landing going to help you?”

“Approach, we’re going deep. Into Crystal Crevice, that is.”

“Shining Armor, do you want advisories?”

“Negative.”

“Roger wilco, Shining Armor. Good luck!”

“Coco, why did you abort the landing?! We’re on our last ear!”

“Change of plans, Missy. We’re going to draft off that flock of birds to save fuel and have them pull us down into Crystal Crevice. But first, I have to maneuver this unicorn into their slipstream. Quack like a duck so they don’t notice us.”

“Coco, they’re not ducks! They’re Canada geese! And geese don’t quack, they honk!”

Hear the Canada geese as they pull Coco and Missy down deep into Crystal Crevice!

“Duck, goose. Quack, honk. I’m a city girl, Missy! I don’t know anything about migratory aquatic birds, least of all foreign ones. Just do what you have to to distract them while I get us into position.”

Coco maneuvered Shining Armor into position so that they could draft deep into Crystal Crevice.

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Missy Impossible, Chapter 12

Coco and Missy are preparing for landing at Crystal Crevice International Airport.

“Crystal Crevice Tower, Shining Armor, ten miles north at 2,500.”

“Shining Armor, report your airspeed for spacing.”

“Crystal Crevice approach, we’re really hauling ass.”

“Shining Armor, I couldn’t care less about your cargo. I need to know your airspeed.”

“Oh, Roger.”

“Shining Armor, what are your intentions?”

“To get my pilot license, graduate from the academy, get married, and raise a family.”

“I meant in the next five minutes, Shining Armor, not over the next five years. What is your airspeed?”

“Oh, Roger. I think we’re averaging about one minute per mile.”

“Shining Armor, one minute per mile? What are you doing, flying a horse?”

“Sort of. And we’re running low on corn.”

Missy Impossible, Chapter 11

Coco rented domestic unicorns instead of domestic uniforms.

“I said domestic uniFORMS, Coco, not uniCORNS! The plan was to infiltrate the resort at Crystal Crevice Creek disguised as femmes de ménage, just like Madame de Boneville taught us.”

“Missy, there were metal snaps in that dryer! I couldn’t even hear myself think over all the clanking, let alone what you were saying. Who’s wearing things with metal snaps these days anyways? Well, these corn-fed unicorns are ours for the rest of the week, so we might as well make use of them.”

“What do you suggest we do, besides get you some Q-Tips to clean the cobwebs out of your temporal bones?”

“We switch to Plan B.”

“What Plan B?! Something insane like aerial reconnaissance over Crystal Crevice?!”

“Exactly.”

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