The Ties that Bind

By

Milliecat@msn.com

Ties. Railroad ties. The rails run the same direction, they share the same destiny, yet they never meet. How horrific. I weep for them, but then, I was already weeping. The hunger is strong tonight. I had to come here, to be away from the general night populous. Already this eve, I had robbed a member from a happy, carefree family. The lovely, innocent soul was playing in the back yard of the house of my dearest fantasies. I had watched it often, its chain link fence, children playing inside, smells of dinner, and sometimes dessert, and the children's joy - their retriever. They loved that animal, and it loved them. I looked down at my hands, bloodied and battered from burying the carcass, after sufficiently mauling it. If unearthed, it would look like a wild animal had gotten to it. One had.

Poor rails. They will share another role which they can not fathom. I step between them, and slowly lay on my back, with my neck across one rail, and the lower half of my body draped over the other. Even in the city lights, the stars and moon are clear and striking, my magnified perceptions of the moment making them so.

"If you do that, the Jabberwocky will trample you. He runs here a lot." Oh, my. Methinks, in my torment, I have overlooked one very large flaw in my flight from guilt. wHo? lies down beside me, in the same position. "Yep, really gotta hurt to be stepped on by a Jabberwocky. Ah, well, you do like to see what things are like, so I will find out with you." His smile is painfully sweet. "Hey, great view of the Jub-jub bird from here," he says as he points up at the moon.

Smirking, on the verge of mirth, I point to a dying oak tree nearby and query sarcastically, "And I suppose that is a frumious Bandersnatch?"

"Um, no." He looks at me with patient, concerned eyes. "That, Millie, is an oak tree." He pats my hand, and points to a rusted junk heap of a car nearby. "Over there, is a frumious Bandersnatch. Nothing at all like a tree, you see," and he squeezes my hand, as if consoling a hopelessly lost and insane person. I sigh. "You do not see, do you? Sometimes, you have to close your eyes, and forget what you expect to see when you open them. Try it." Ah, what do I have to lose? I close them, and hope to never open them again.

Soon, due to a gift of my curse, I smell a sweet, spicy, and utterly compelling scent. Almost immediately after, I feel its source on my lips. It courses through my being, like a million separately conscious entities, and I know them all at once. My lids raise.

Where the moon was before, there is a beguiling, plumed, ridiculously colored creature. It is singing, The song is as hilarious as its appearance. I giggle uncontrollably, until I see the Bandersnatch. "Ooo...it does have teeth that bite!"

"And claws that catch. But never fear. Look, it is gnawing on its own leg. They are dumb that way. Listen, the Jabberwocky is coming." wHo? looks toward the sound, with anticipation.

I look, as well. The tracks are gone, replaced by a path in a woods (tulgey?), with many sparkling, winged, and buzzing creatures. I am entranced. Then, the monster approaches. The denizens of the path scatter as the beast's romp shakes the ground with it's whiffling and burbling. It comes into sight. "Millie, I would suggest, since we have no Vorpal sword, that we let it pass," he says as he gently takes my hand and rises. I let myself be led, still entranced by the loveliness around me, and the graceful presence of my companion. "Yes, come, we have cell phones to acquire and minds to befuddle." We traipse along, my mind alive in totally pain-free consciousness, wonder..and thoughts of...pranking?